The role of electronic data interchange in Quick Response

Abstract

In response to international competition and pressure from retailers, US apparel manufacturers and their suppliers initiated the Quick Response (QR) program. QR seeks to provide retailers with the exact stock‐keeping units (SKUs) which consumers demand and to deliver these SKUs quickly. An effective QR program requires rapid transmission of data throughout the value chain, from the retailer back to apparel manufacturers, fabric producers and fibre manufacturers. Therefore, electronic data interchange (EDI) is a key component of QR and should be tightly linked with other information systems at each level of the value chain. This research is an empirical study of the degree to which EDI has been implemented by US apparel manufacturers and the extent to which EDI is integrated with other information systems. It was found that apparel manufacturers use EDI to establish tight linkages with their customers, the retailers. Manufacturers are less likely to increase their own efficiencies by linking EDI with internal information systems or by establishing EDI linkages with suppliers. The lack of supplier linkages may reduce manufacturers' ability to replenish retail inventories quickly, which is the primary objective of QR.

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“…The establishment of supply chain partnerships/alliances is identified as a prerequisite to achieving successful feedback (Davis Burns and Bryant, 1997;Hunter, 1990) with retailers increasingly insisting upon the adoption of EDI systems by supply partners (Riddle, Bradford, Thomas and Kincade, 1999). The fashion retailer is typically the larger and more dominant partner in such alliances (Hunter and Valentino, 1995) and may establish strong working relationships with a small number of key suppliers (Bickerton, 1999;Hasty and Reardon, 1997).…”