This paper aims to contribute to the resilience development of the textile sector in a transitional economy, based on a case study of the Kyrgyz Republic, where the transition to a free market system generated broken supply chains, low diversification, a high open economy level of the textile sector and dependence on international trade regulations. The approach used is based on theories of organisational resilience, literature studies and fieldwork. Scenarios are developed and analysed by event tree and SWOT analysis, to identify resilience properties of the textile sector. Findings focus on the implications of future membership or non-membership, respectively, in the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, where both supportive and adverse effects have been identified. The results contribute to the knowledge of the transitional economy conditions and serve as a guideline for stakeholders about enhancing resilience, both at the industrial and organisational levels, of the Kyrgyz textile sector.

The transitional period of the Kyrgyz economy from planned to free market economy modified the structure of the textile sector. The state owned big textile producers were fragmented into small sized private apparel manufacturers. The main success factor of transformation was the international trade regulation and international textile market conjuncture. Latest regionalization processes of Kyrgyz apparel exporting countries modify the existing competitive advantage of Kyrgyz apparel cluster and obligate to redesign the supply chain in order to withstand the disruption. The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the success factors of resilient supply chain during transitional period and the possibility of transferring from the global to a regional supply chain as the main resilience factor of Kyrgyz apparel companies.

Deliverable 2.2 of the Intermode-TRANS project presents a first version of guidelines on intermodal transfer techniques needs and technologies. The guidelines are based on an initial investigation of joint European projects and other sources, as well as on discussions with researchers and stakeholders, the results of which were presented in Deliverable 2.1 - State of art on intermodal transfer techniques. A series of workshops with stakeholders and experts in intermodal transport and transshipment facilities and techniques brought a number of additional identified problems and research needs,. Principally, the workshops confirmed the findings of D2.1, which therefore form the core also of these guidelines. The guidelines include a summary of more than 24 joint European research projects, addressing intermodality, where several results have not yet become exploited. Identified areas of development and recommendations for further work address a.o. technology for transshipment, including container standards and handling, harmonization of rail infrastructure and rail and road vehicles, marketing and knowledge management in the field, information systems for logistics support, training and awareness-raising, the cost vs. benefit structure, and a number of actions of a political and organizational nature.

Purpose: Much research has addressed how to implement lean in a focal company, but little has been published about how to integrate suppliers in strategies and the focal company’s culture, such as lean production or lean thinking. The purpose of the article is to investigate if suppliers can become more integrated in the supply chain by training in lean thinking at the focal company and to explain a possible structure of the training. Design/methodology/approach: A multiple-case study has been conducted of the focal com- pany and five of its supply companies. The findings are supported empirically by on-site interviews and by observations, as well as by a binomial two-proportion test that was used to analyse the statistical data of the delivery precision. Findings: While the training programme does not show a conclusive result for the supply chain, it has made a difference for all participating suppliers. In most cases the training programme was a trigger that started or boosted the internal work with continuous improvements. In some cases it helped create structured ways of working and improved the internal production flows.

Today, textiles and fiber science in US, Europe and Japan from its once lofty perch in the global economy, stands in stark contrast to its preeminent position of few decades ago. Its influence on the society as a whole has eroded enormously. Many of the synthetic fiber products that once fuelled the rapid growth of the industry have become mature commodity products now characterized by low growth and lower profit margins. To add to the current dilemma, organizational ‘health’ and growth processes are constantly threatened in this era of turbulence. Thus the drive for survival and success has translated, in recent times, to quest for resiliency – to survive and thrive in turbulences. On the other hand, most managers and academicians agree that innovation ensures superior organizational performance while recent research has shown that most resilient companies can dynamically orchestrate diverse innovation strategies. Resiliency in such a context has become a prerequisite for a sustained long term business prosperity fuelled by diverse technological innovations. This has intensified the organization’s search for differentiated products and services, processes, business models, technology, strategies etc. pushing firms to gain competitive advantage and also to develop new knowledge and innovation performance to drive sustainable growth. Organizations now follow multiple innovation strategies to pragmatically devise their innovation repertoire for delivering growth, hence, success in turbulent times while emphasizing resiliency. What does the future hold and how can we reverse the trend to achieve and sustain the impressive credentials of the past? To understand the significance of what the future may hold, and to reverse the downward spiral of the industry, we must evaluate the successes and failures of the past and come to grips with rapid global changes and turbulences currently underway. The present article seeks to explore such an inexorable phenomenon of quantifying and correlating innovation and business resiliency over a time line, from the annual financial data of 35 healthy and unhealthy companies along with 5 textile companies over a span of few decades. These are then extrapolated with certain predictive capabilities to suggest future trends and strategies for the textile companies. Learning from these companies, if adopted, will yield capacity to transform the scenario. Assessments and classification of the economic health of a company is typically made based on some quantity derived from selected indices, such as Altman’s Z-score. These methods can describe an instantaneous status, or a “time snap” of an economical subject but lack information about the time-dynamics of the assessment, which is important for investors, shareholders and the management. We suggest using historical data to estimate current trends in the form of the first and second time-derivative of the appropriate quantity in the time domain. This new information is independent on the quantity itself and beside more precise description can be used as new predictor to improve effectiveness of classification of successful and unsuccessful subjects. This approach is further discussed in this paper.

Traditionally, mail order and e-commerce organisations view the consumers as one entity, meaning there is no differentiation of service. Research has shown that return levels depend on both age and lead-time, and consequently end user requirements are of great interest. This study investigates expected lead-time service requirements of one organisations mail order/e-commerce customers and measures the gap between the expected and the specified service. A case study was performed with one of the leading Swedish mail order/e-commerce organisations. The descriptive study combined qualitative and quantitative data answering questions regarding the consumer’s requirements and how they vary depending on age. This research is based on primary data from a customer survey with answers from more than 6 000 respondents. The proposition that the gap between specified and expected customer service requirements varies with age and lead-time was supported, thus indicating that mail order and e-commerce organisations should work closer with their customers. They should likely segment their customers and differentiate their service delivery. The presented research results describe what service requirements regarding lead-time are, and how they vary with age for customers of one organisation. There is a gap between the customers’ service requirements and the service specified/delivered by the case organisation and the gap varies with age as proposed. The only normative statement is that close cooperation between the case organisation and its customers is vital. How customers should be categorized and how to differentiate the service delivery will be topics of further research.

Förord av Björn Brorström, Prorektor Högskolan i Borås Ett professionslärosäte bedriver utbildning och forskning på vetenskaplig grund. Vetenskapliga metoder tillämpas och framkomna resultat prövas för att säkra tillförlitlighet och relevans. Förmågan att problematisera, formulera frågor och välja lämpliga metoder för att besvara frågor är egenskaper för god forskning och utmärkande för en stark utbildnings- och forskningsmiljö. Vid ett professionslärosäte finns samtidigt en stark strävan efter att i utbildning och forskning ta till vara den kunskap och de erfarenheter som professioner besitter och därigenom säkra en hög grad av praktisk relevans. Växelverkan mellan teori och praktik och erfarenhetsutbyte mellan forskare och praktiker är ständigt pågående. Det finns ingen avslutning på processen utan den pågår utan avbrott. En nödvändig förutsättning för ett fruktbart samarbete är en ömsesidig respekt och vilja att stödja och ifrågasätta varandra. Forskaren måste vara beredd på kritik för bristen på praktisk relevans och professionsföreträdaren måste vara beredd på att förtrogenhetskunskapens lämplighet ifrågasätts. Det är en fråga om med- och mothåll från båda håll i syfte att långsiktigt utveckla teori och praktik. Det är en utmaning att utveckla, etablera och därefter kontinuerligt försvara och förbättra professionslärosätet. Ett led i utvecklingen är att inom ramen för Högskolan i Borås föra en debatt om innebörden av ett professionslärosäte och vad vi behöver göra för att förbättra verksamheten. På uppdrag av rektor Lena Nordholm har medarbetare vid Bibliotekshögskolan utvecklat och ansvarat för en seminarieserie benämnd Profession och vetenskap. Seminarierna spände över ett brett fält. En av många viktiga frågor som diskuterades flitigt var huruvida vi ska forska om professioner, i för eller med, eller kanske alltihop samtidigt. Bidragen publiceras nu i denna antologi som ges ut inom ramen för Högskolan i Borås rapportserie Vetenskap för profession. Rapporten Profession och vetenskap – idéer och strategier för ett professionslärosäte, som redigerats av universitetsadjunkt Maria Lindh, kommer att få stor betydelse inom lärosätet och i vårt samarbete med företrädare för näringsliv, kulturliv och offentlig verksamhet. Jag ser det som en intressant fortsättning att anordna ett antal seminarier med inbjudna representanter för professioner där artiklarna i denna rapport kan ligga till grund för erfarenhetsutbyte och diskussioner.

Vid Högskolan i Borås bedrivs ett utredningsarbete med syfte att klargöra förutsättningarna för att inrätta ett centrum för studier av risk, profession och säkerhet. Parallellt med resonemang rörande lämpliga styr- och organisationsformer behandlas hur utbildningen inom området bör utformas. I skrivande stund är inriktningen att utveckla och erbjuda ett magisterprogram inom området management där en inriktning är mot risk och säkerhet. En satsning på utbildning fordrar forskningsanknytning och förekomsten av forskning inom området risk och säkerhet utgör därför en viktig utgångspunkt för det fortsatta arbetet. Vid högskolan finns idag forskning som belyser risk och säkerhetsfrågor inom skilda verksamhetsområden och med olika teoretiska utgångspunkter. Området spänner från hur risker hanteras i det vardagliga arbetet för olika professioner till hur risker kan elimineras och osäkerhet reduceras i samband med extra ordinära händelser. Högskolan i Borås ska vara ett komplett professionslärosäte och bedriva nydanande och samhällsrelevant utbildning och forskning. Ett flervetenskapligt ideal präglar utbildning och forskning, där problemet som ska belysas är i centrum och inte den akademiska disciplinen. Att bedriva utbildning och forskning inom risk och säkerhet är i enlighet med lärosätets ideal och inriktning. Genom att anlägga ett risk- och säkerhetsperspektiv på olika typer av samhälleliga fenomen i utbildning och forskning uppmärksammas dels nya frågor, dels beforskas områden och fenomen utifrån ett i förhållande till traditionell disciplinär forskning alternativt perspektiv, och därigenom kan ny kunskap erhållas. Ett led i utvecklingen av forskningsverksamheten vid högskolan är sammanställningen och publiceringen av föreliggande antologi. Två av de ledande forskarna inom området, Bertil Rolandsson och Håkan Torstensson, har tagit initiativ till antologin och fungerat som redaktörer. Fem bidrag publiceras i rapporten som tillsammans visar vad forskning kring risk och säkerhet kan vara och vilken inriktning forskningen har vid Högskolan i Borås. Tre bidrag har fokus på transportbranschen, ett på polisiär verksamhet och ett på vårdverksamhet. Det finns således en spridning över praktiska fält och även spridning vad gäller teoretiska utgångspunkter. Rapporten är nummer tretton i högskolans rapportserie Vetenskap för profession, vars syfte är att redovisa resultat från pågående och avslutade forskningsprojekt. Rapporten är också ett underlag för fortsatta resonemang inom högskolan om satsningen på utbildning och forskning inom området risk och säkerhet och kring frågan om vilken inriktning forskningen ska ha.

Studien belyser följande frågor:− Finns det några realistiska förutsättningar att etablera en svensk sorteringsanläggning för insamlade textilier med hänsyn tagen till redan etablerade insamlingsstrukturer?− Vilka ar de avgörande kritiska faktorerna?− Hur ser framtiden ut?− Hur kan en framkomlig väg se ut för att etablera en lämplig strategi för en cirkulär ekonomi avseende använda textilier?Grundförutsättningar för studien:Idag bedrivs den ordnade insamlingen av textilier huvudsakligen av välgörenhetsorganisat-ioner som Myrorna, Röda Korset, etc. Av en total konsumtionsvolym på ca 13 kg/capita i Sverige (omfattande kläder och hemtextil) samlas 3-4 kg in av mestadels seriösa operatörer genom direktöverlämning eller genom insamlingscontainrar. Vissa butiker/varumärken har också kommit igång med mottagning av använda textilier, t.ex. H&M, Hemtex, Kapp-Ahl m.fl. Övriga kvantiteter (8-10 kg) har vi inte exakt kännedom om, men troligen hamnar de förr eller senare i containrar för brännbart.Motivet för de seriösa insamlingsorganisationerna att bedriva denna verksamhet är dels att skapa finansiella resurser för att kunna bedriva sin hjälpverksamhet, dels att skapa sysselsätt-ning för en växande kader av personer i arbetsträning och liknande. Detta innebär att verksam-heten i stor utsträckning bedrivs av volontärer samt av subventionerad personal vad avser ar-betskostnader. Samhällsnyttan som skapas genom detta är mycket stor och bör inte äventyras av förändringar i denna struktur. I regeringsuppdraget 2014 till Naturvårdsverket angående hantering av textilier framhålls detta också som en förutsättning.

Den sorteringsverksamhet som bedrivs av dessa organisationer syftar till att sortera ut de bästa produkterna, som har förutsättningar att säljas genom egna butikskanaler. Ungefär 20 % av volymerna tar denna väg, och dessa har en helt avgörande ”värdeuppväxling”. Övriga 80 % exporteras till avsevärt lägre värde än de första 20 procenten.

Eftersom välgörenhetsorganisationerna utför denna första fas på ett utomordentligt kostnads-effektivt sätt, samt därigenom skapar samhällsnytta som också är mycket kostnadseffektiv, kan vi inte se något som helst motiv att ändra på detta förhållande utan kanske istället förbättra möjligheterna att utveckla deras värdefulla arbete.

För en regional/nationell sorteringscentral återstår alltså en potential bestående av ex-portkvantiteterna samt de volymer som hamnar i ”brännbart”.

De beräkningar vi har utfört baseras på en sorteringsanläggning som bedrivs efter normala affärsbetingelser, dvs. avtalsenliga löner, marknadsmässiga hyror och avskrivningar samt rå-dande finansiella kostnader.

Den kritiska volymen för en sådan anläggning har beräknats till en kapacitet om 40 ton/dag motsv. ca 50 anställda. Denna kapacitet motsvarar ca 40 % av totalförbrukningen (13 kg/ca-pita) i Västra Götaland eller ca 170 % om insamlingsnivån ligger på nuvarande ca 3 kg/capita.

För att nå erforderlig volym krävs alltså:

− Utökat geografiskt upptagningsområde

− Maximerade marknadsandelar

− Större insamlad volym per capita.

Beaktande dagens kostnadsläge för en effektiv anläggning om 40 ton/dag samt de mark-nadsmässiga priser/intäkter som idag är för handen avseende ”2nd choice” kvantiteter är projektet inte ekonomiskt försvarbart. Kostnads/intäktsförhållandet ligger på ca 7,80 SEK/kg mot ca 6,50 SEK/kg.

De faktorer som påverkar detta förhållande är följande:

− Andelen förstasortering i fraktionerna (andelen är noll i vårt exempel)

− Totalvolymerna

− Kvalitetsfördelning. Bärbara plagg i förhållande till icke bärbart, dvs. kvantiteter för re-cycling etc.

− Produktiviteten

−Lönekostnaderna

− Låga marknadspriser på framförallt material till recycling samt ”rags” (putstrasor)

− Teknologi för hantering respektive potentiell sensorteknologi för automatisk sortering av-seende främst förekomst av skadliga kemikalier samt fiberinnehåll

− Recyclingsteknik för återvinning av använda fiber till nya fiber; inte kommersiellt tillgäng-lig ännu

− Vertikal integration (insamling-sortering; recyclingprocesser/second hand-retailing)Dessa förhållanden kan självfallet förändras och ändra bilden av konceptets realism.

Slutsatser avseende marknadsutveckling:

Beaktande att framtidens fiberbehov om mer än 200 miljoner ton/år (från nuvarande ca 90 miljoner ton/år) huvudsakligen genereras genom befolkningsökning och ekonomisk tillväxt i utvecklingsländer som utgör dagens exportmarknader, får detta till följd att dessa marknader blir självförsörjande avseende bärbara second hand-kläder. Alltså: våra exportmarknader minskar betydligt.

De tekniker och marknader som måste utvecklas i strävan mot en lönsam cirkulär ekonomi utgörs följaktligen av

− Sorteringsteknik som kan detektera och sortera på skadligt kemiskt innehåll respektive fiberinnehåll. Dessa två sorteringsförutsättningar är grundläggande för säkra och lönsamma produktinnovationer.

− Nya tekniker och processer för utveckling av nya innovativa, värdeskapande produkter från både mekanisk, kemisk och termisk recycling.

Dessa båda områden är centrala för att värdet på insamlade textilier kan öka vad avser både volym och priser.

Förslag till fortsatt arbete; ett diskussionsscenario:Förslaget är att skapa en flexibel öppen struktur, baserad på tre grundkomponenter:

1. Bygg upp regionala sorteringscentra som ger grundförutsättningar för insamlingsorganisationerna att bedriva sin verksamhet på ett effektivt sätt.En bra samlad sorteringsvolym (summan av varje organisations insamling och sortering)ligger lämpligtvis på ca 40 ton/dag. Vissa gemensamma funktioner kan utvecklas som t.ex. balning/packning, intern transportlogistik etc. Detta skulle ge skalfördelar utan att påverka varje organisations egna affärsprocesser. Det bör kunna vara självfinansierat genom hyror respektive sålda logistiktjänster.

2. Skapa en agentur eller liknande med uppgift att sälja exportkvantiteter på uppdrag av insamlingsorganisationerna. Motivet skall vara att bättre kunna optimera en kundsamman-sättning som ger en optimal mix av EKONOMI – EKOLOGI – ETIK. Genom att den totalt genererade volymen blir större borde en professionell organisation kunna nå bättre totalt utfall avseende de tre E:na. Erfarenheter från vår empiri ger vid handen att det finns potential för bättre utfall. Den borde också kunna vara självfinansierad genom t.ex. provisionsintäkter.OBS. Om förutsättningarna förändras enligt vår studie kan en fysisk sorteringsanläggning strukturellt etableras och ersätta agenturen.

3. Ovanstående punkter ger förutsättningar för att bygga upp en testbädd som är inriktad på att kunna serva företag, forskningsorganisationer etc. med kapacitet att köra betatester, som är ett nödvändigt inslag i produktutvecklingsprocessen. Eftersom Sverige saknar en infrastruktur för både subindustriell produktion av fiber och recycling av textilier är detta en viktig förutsättning för utveckling av de produkter/processer som ligger till grund för värdeutvecklingen av använda textilier.

All articles in fulltext.

Today’s demand on high supply chain performance requires higher awareness about supply chain risks and uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of temporary storage in the transport network in a supply chain perspective. The primary research question concerns the purpose or role of temporary storage and whether management of temporary storage can contribute to reducing risks and uncertainty in the supply chain. The research is based on a system-theoretical approach, which emphasizes a holistic view instead of the characteristics of the different parts. The research method used in this paper is abductive. Existing theories are used to formulate a framework which leads to a conceptual model description of the temporary storage function. This model is then supported and verified by two case studies. The temporary storage function will act as a supply chain disturbance neutralizer, thereby reducing risks and uncertainty within the supply chain. The use of temporary storage also means exposing the transport more for antagonistic threats, i.e. primarily a larger theft risk. To avoid both supply chain disturbance and increased theft risk there are three types of solutions; improved and more exact scheduling of delivery time, availability of secure parking spaces whenever a resource needs to make a temporary stop, and utilizing tracking and tracing systems. This paper illuminates the purpose and the drawbacks of temporary stops in the flow of goods within the transport network. The conditions for temporary storage in transit, related to controlling different types of risk and uncertainty in the supply chain, have been scarcely analyzed in previous research.

Today’s demand on high supply chain performance requires higher awareness about supply chain risks and uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of temporary storage in the transport network in a supply chain perspective. The primary research question concerns the purpose or role of temporary storage and whether management of temporary storage can contribute to reducing risks and uncertainty in the supply chain.Within the described framework of supply chain systems in a transport network, and the management and control of risk and uncertainty, theoretical modelling has been used as a basis for logical deduction of the conclusions. The findings are then supported and verified by two case studies. Temporary storage in transit is located between nodes in the transport network. The temporary storage function will act as a supply chain disturbance neutralizer, thereby reducing risks and uncertainty within the supply chain. The use of temporary storage also means exposing the transport more for antagonistic threats, i.e. primarily a larger theft risk. To avoid both supply chain disturbance and increased theft risk there are three types of solutions; improved and more exact scheduling of delivery time, availability of secure parking spaces whenever a resource needs to make a temporary stop, and utilizing tracking and tracing systems. These reductive measures can be applied jointly, and as a combined toolbox they can contribute to reducing the risk and uncertainty in the supply chain.A comprehensive inventorying of appropriate methods to optimize temporary storage in transit has not been carried out. The deduced research results are based on theory and limited case study support and will primarily serve as a general guideline.From a security point of view, temporary storage offers a crime opportunity, which needs to be reduced in order to achieve lower total supply chain risk and uncertainty. This paper describes the role of temporary storage in a supply chain risk context and provides guidelines related to the trade-off between security concerns and supply chain efficiency.This paper illuminates the purpose and the drawbacks of temporary stops in the flow of goods within the transport network. The conditions for temporary storage in transit, related to controlling different types of risk and uncertainty in the supply chain, have been scarcely analyzed in previous research.

A method, derived from lean thinking and agile methods containing four steps, using short, time-boxed iterations, was developed and implemented in a support team. The effects of the method in use include a clearer structure of work tasks in terms of priorities, objective and better alignment with business goals. It also increased closure and definition of tasks and better levelling of work tasks between team members. However, a negative effect was an increased level of stress in the work environment. The agility-based method supported the team’s lean implementation by creating a pull system with work-in-progress control. Other lean elements were improved, such as levelling of workload. Hence the agility-based method approach can be viewed as an enabler for lean management.

This paper was developed in order to collect resources for future research that aims to design and evaluate an appropriate forecasting system, which is able to contribute to the sustainability of the fast fashion model. It describes in a systematic way how the tasks of forecasting demand and placing orders are currently performed in the fast fashion model. It was also needed to ground this description on theoretical concepts of forecast and management. The study reviews some of the available advanced computing techniques used for forecasting clothing demand and analyzes the implications of better forecasting techniques in the FF model. We expose why there is a need for better forecasting in the fast fashion model and the promising techniques that can be tested to improve managerial operations in the fast fashion model.

Global financial crises of 2007–2011 have created tremendous impact on Swedish organisations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In such a context, study of organisational resilience, to survive and thrive, becomes increasingly significant. Key to economic resilience is upheld by crisis management (CM), business continuity planning (BCP) and growth perspectives. Thus crisis strategic planning (CSP) becomes fundamental in underpinning resilience. The study categorises resilient and less resilient SMEs in terms of their financial performance, and identifies what strategies differentiate them. Resilient firms showed better short-term CM through higher operational flexibility, while the less resilient firms lacked strategic readiness. Resilient firms showed more long-term strategies through BCP and growth strategies through market penetration, diversification and transformational initiatives. Multi-strategic initiatives help to develop CSP model, categorising firms along different resilience types, characterised by low and high degrees of planning and adaptation, respectively. Resilient Swedish SMEs mostly showed planned resilience in financial crises.

The looming spectre of decline of the man-made fibre industry in US, Europe and Japan has been exacerbated by several problems like intense global cost pressure, fibre and raw material shortages, oil price volatility challenges etc. All of these have contributed to sluggish growth and higher bankruptcies. Resiliency in such a context has become a prerequisite for leading long term business prosperity fuelled by diverse technological innovations. In this paper, the authors have investigated an inexorable phenomenon of quantifying and correlating innovation and business resiliency from annual financial data for DuPont, as a case, over a span of five decades. The findings are manifold. The financial impact of blockbuster products based on disruptive technologies takes over a decade to yield results while contributions from sustaining innovations are swift. Both types of innovations are necessary. Incremental innovations delay product maturity with concomitant investments in costly and risky blockbuster product developments. From DuPont’s perspective, the company showed explosive growth from 1970-90, primarily fuelled by the rapid introduction of products with long product lifecycle developed during 1950-1965. However, DuPont performance started to indicate declining resiliency even while increasing investments in innovation, from 1960-2010. This is possibly due to change in product portfolio from commodity to specialty orientation.

Despite the increasing need of remanufacturing in fashion industry for leading towards dematerialization, higher revalue addition, possibility to generate highest profit margin, along with create more employment in the industry, it is still practiced on a very small scale. A net-positive environmental impact however, can only be made through remanufacturing with higher scale. However research investigations on this matter are insufficient and knowledge of the practices on new value chain models, associated processes, and designers’ approach to the product development process is still limited.

The general aim of this study is to investigate how remanufacturing can be made feasible industrially for sustainable competitiveness in the fashion industry.

This feasibility study was conducted by Re:Textile group in collaboration with several Swedish players, e.g. fashion branded retailers, local textile and apparel manufacturers, and charities. 3 participatory action projects were developed between 2017-2018 in order to elucidate the different possibilities of organizing remanufacturing in fashion industry context, and check the viability of these options. 3 different fashion remanufacturing models were considered to be interesting via literature review, and were planned for further exploration. These were: scaled remanufacturing, distributed redesign and PSS redesign-as-a-service.

The study identifies the key decision making variables in each of these models, the critical success factors and also in connection assessing the feasibility of each model by constructing various scenarios.

The dynamics in the Global Textile Complex are increasingly becoming uncertain in its space and occurrence considering the changes and challenges of globalization. Success or survival of the firms, thus, has become imperative by embracing these changes/challenges. The paper highlights organizational resilience (OR) to be the common denominator for success or survival of firms, achieved by absorbing, reducing or anticipating these changes, understanding and learning from success and failures and hence realistically and dynamically aligning its resources and culture to be market-adaptive, yet uniquely for each firm. The paper concludes with charting the successful journey of the ACG Group, analyzed along the prescribed resilience framework to strengthen the argument.

Purpose - Three dimensionally concurrent designing of products, processes and supply chains render immense benefits in developing holistic, market-responsive architecture of organizations through linkages created by dynamic capability development and innovation. Practice of this framework inevitably synthesizes and sustains the critical success factors (CSFs) for organizations to focus on their operational performance. The research shows how development of the building blocks of three dimensional concurrent engineering (3-DCE) perspectives and complementary value systems, and fostering these capabilities/competencies can develop myriads of CSFs for organizations, thus yielding business success. Design/methodology/approach - A combined explanatory and exploratory study is conducted on 42 Swedish textile, clothing and fashion firms for organizational competency mapping along the 3-DCE domain and are analyzed to understand the key areas in which to invest and how to invest their resources and time. Findings - The results are manifold. It shows that most of the key success factors are synthesized and sustained through 3-DCE designing. It also highlights the necessity to incorporate intangible value propositions into the 3-DCE model to generate an ‘extended 3-DCE’ framework for mediating operational performance and hence organizational success also corroborating that a trajectory/commonality exists in synthesizing these CSFs leading to success. Research limitations/implications - The research requires further analysis of the market to prove its fit in a dynamic environment to represent a design for resilience perspective. Originality/value - The research is exemplary empirically in the field of 3-DCE and CSFs towards creating a framework for relating organizational structure and value system to the demands of the market in creating CSFs leading to organizational success.

Economic recessions have created challenges for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and contributed to disruptions requiring the SME to be resilient. At times of economic crises, SMEs face major threats to their financial performance and ultimately to their survival. The average number of Swedish textile and clothing (T&C) firms that went bankrupt during the recent crisis (2007-09) escalated twofold compared to the average over 2000-10. Following the 1990’s economic crisis nearly 12% of the T&C companies went bankrupt in 1994-95. The structural industrial statistics also plummeted in these crisis years, aggravating other inherent or internal/day-to-day problems as a ’ripple effect’. In this study we concentrate on what problems the Swedish T&C SMEs, predominantly, faced amidst the economic crises of 1990-93 and 2007-09. Moreover, we aim at finding how firms deal with the disruptions and what factors are critical in contributing to firms’ resilient economic performance. The overall objective is to deepen the understanding of underlying patterns favouring resilience development in T&C SMEs. The paper adopts an exploratory survey-based research, responded to by about ten Swedish T&C SMEs. Annual reports provide a detailed account of the financial performances of these companies. A conceptual framework was developed earlier, based on a review of extant literature. Findings provide insight on how the peers considered learning aspects and resourcefulness to be key enablers of resilience and financial performance, instead of dynamic competitiveness. This is beneficial for organizations to understand the key areas in which to invest for developing resilient business models.

Economic recessions have created challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and contributed to disruptions requiring them to be resilient. At times of economic crises, SMEs face major threats to their financial performance and ultimately to their survival. The average number of Swedish textile and clothing (T&C) firms that went bankrupt during the recent crisis (2007–09) escalated twofold compared to the average over 2000–10. Following the 1990s economic crisis nearly 12 per cent of the T&C companies went bankrupt in 1994–95. The structural industrial statistics also plummeted in these crisis years, aggravating many internal problems in SMEs as a ripple effect. This study concentrates on the constraints faced by Swedish textile-related SMEs, primarily during the economic crises of the past two decades (1990–93 and end 2007–09), and identifying the antecedents and their different degrees of influence on economic resilience. It also deepens the understanding of the underlying patterns in the antecedents, observed in SMEs, favouring or inhibiting resilience due to their significance or deficit, respectively. The paper adopts an exploratory research conducted in two phases, first through a survey and followed by a series of interviews, responded by eight Swedish T&C SMEs. Annual reports provide a detailed account of the financial performances of these firms. A conceptual resilience framework was developed earlier, based on a review of extant literature. Findings provide insight on how the responding firms considered resourcefulness, viz. cash flow and investment finance, relational networks and material assets, along with ‘dynamic competitiveness’ through strategic and operational flexibility to be key enablers of resilience and financial performance, mostly through generation of profitability, cash flow/liquidity and sales turnover. Responses also highlighted the indirect influence of the ‘soft’ learning and cultural aspects like attentive leadership and collectiveness on economic resilience, considered tacit and ingrained in small or medium-sized family businesses. Additional process initiatives, in particular growth and continuity strategies, were also emergent patterns to properly utilize and direct the antecedents for resilience development. These are beneficial for firms to understand the key areas, in which to invest for developing resilient business models.

Resilience in organisations is requisite for success and survival and a lack of it can lead to catastrophic organisational failures or bankruptcies in today’s turbulent and uncertain environment. The paper outlines an investigation to relate organisational resilience (ORes) to its business ‘health’ between 1989 and 2009, in terms of economic viability. The results are manifold viz. conceptualisation of business ‘health’ and ORes and, subsequent, operationalisation of the relationship through empirical findings. Financial statements (1989 to 2009) of 20 textile, clothing and fashion (TCF)-related companies in Sweden are analysed to draw necessary conclusions. The study uses the Altman’s Z-score as an indicator of business ‘health’ which includes discriminant ratios related to both short-term and long-term goals of a firm. Furthermore, the Z-score transition profile helps the company to judge its business ‘health’ and ORes, amidst crisis, and analyse further the underpinning attributes. This can be a helpful tool for companies to benchmark themselves to its competitors. Further research would help to find what differentiates the successful firm from the failing ones.

Organizational failures are consequences of lack of resilience in today’s uncertain environment. Recent researches have delved into understanding various resilience attributes and frameworks but, explicitly, the property of resilience cannot be directly observable making it important to be related to more tangible and measurable organizational aspects. We define resilience as the business system’s ability to maintain a growing or constant ‘healthy’ state over time, despite being subjected to negative and/or destructive events, or to make a quick positive turnaround from one state to the other to finally enter the ‘healthy’ state. In the paper, organization’s ‘healthiness’ is represented in terms of its economic viability (profitability, shareholder’s value, perceived customer equity), using Altman’s Z-score with the aim to categorize the companies into ‘healthy’, ‘unhealthy’ and ‘catastrophic’ states, over timeline. The Z-scores are calculated from the annual financial reports for 20 Swedish textile and clothing companies, sampled out selectively, for 21 years using similar criteria of economic viability based on profitability, solvency, liquidity etc. as used to define organization’s ‘healthiness’, qualitatively. An attempt is taken to relate the Z-Score trends to transitions in business ‘health’, using an aggregate scoring system, over two major economic crises in Sweden (1989-93 and 2007-09) and the recovery period in between; to investigate whether these companies showed signs of resilient behaviour. The aim is to find out how economic indicators investigated over a time-period can reflect ‘healthiness’ of businesses and its resilience.

Global financial crises have affected the survivability of firms particularly the small and medium ones. Swedish textile-related SMEs were no exception as they showed a higher bankruptcy during the crises. In such a context, resilience development is vital. It is upheld by crisis management, business continuity management and strategic planning thus forming an integrated crisis strategic planning (CSP) framework. This paper highlights such a CSP framework along a six-step resilience development process by identifying environmental turbulences, developing leadership and capability analyses and multiple strategy development combining effective planning and adaptation. A Swedish SME is studied longitudinally to make a comparative analysis of the resilience development process in two crises. This involves practical use of CSP using simple strategic tools or techniques to improve responsiveness and preparedness in an integrated way. SME practitioners can identify the problems, their impacts, ensure competitive market positioning, and develop multiple strategies over a timeframe of development.

Det finns alltid ett behov av att kontrollera och styra uppträdande risker till acceptabla nivåer. Processen kallas riskhantering eller risk management och syftar till att eliminera eller begränsa risker med hänsyn till kostnader, politiska och strategiska överväganden och andra faktorer. Ett huvudelement inom riskhantering är riskanalysen, vilken innefattar en beskrivning av systemet eller aktiviteten, identifiering av riskkällor och bedömningen av riskens omfattning och allvarlighetsgrad. Riskkontroll är ett följande steg i riskhanteringen. Risk är i grunden är en kombination av sannolikhet och konsekvens. Riskhanteringen berör också organisationers sårbarhet, resiliens och kontinuitetsplanering, vilket kan översättas till konkurrensförmåga, framgångsmöjligheter och långsiktig överlevnad. En riskanalys bör föregå varje projekt, åtagande eller investering.

Artikeln beskriver sätt att nalkas den rubricerade frågeställningen - att förena praktiskt kunnande och vetenskaplig skärpa - vilken är tydlig och aktuell i textil- och modesktorn och där kompetenshöjning och tillvaratagande av erfarenhetskunskap är avgörande. Den beskriver också några utvecklingslinjer inom textilforskning - smarta textilier, modevarulogistik och efterfrågestyrning, 'humanistic marketing' m.fl.

Bokkapitlet beskriver tekniska och föreskriftsmässiga krav och förutsättningar för förpackningar för transport av farligt gods med olika transportslag.

Många bedömare har hävdat att moderna försörjningskedjor karakteriseras av en tilltagande sårbarhet. Säkerhet och sårbarhet hos försörjningskedjor har också fått ökad uppmärksamhet i samband med att risken för terrorattacker kommit i blickpunkten efter en serie händelser under och efter år 2001. Christopher and Lee (2004) visar på att den ökade sårbarheten är ett resultat av jakten på effektivitet i försörjningskedjor. Genom att pressa marginalerna eller minska på buffertar inom en försörjningskedja har skyddet mot störningar och deras konsekvenser minskat. Riskexponeringen av godstransporter och andra logistikaktiviteter har också ökat de senaste åren till följd av en ökad globalisering, där varje produktionsmoment i värdekedjan från råvara till slutkonsument förläggs till den plats, som kan göra momentet billigast, s.k. offshoring. Samtidigt har värdekedjorna styckats upp i allt mindre delar, i och med att varumärkesägarna lägger ut allt fler processer på externa leverantörer, s.k. outsourcing. För att inte kapitalbindningen i lager skall eliminera vinsterna av lägre produktionskostnader, har lager och buffertar i varje länk trimmats ned till ett minimum genom bland annat ”just in time” transporter och intensifierat informationsutbyte, i syfte att synkronisera kapacitet och produktionstakt längs värdekedjan. Resultatet har blivit fler och längre transporter, ofta med noder och länkar i sådana geografiska områden, där de antagonistiska hoten är relativt sett större än tidigare, samtidigt som kedjorna blivit väsentligt mer störningskänsliga. Denna trend förväntas fortsätta i många år, även om det finns exempel på företag som börjat ta hem produktionsmoment till Europa och USA, speciellt när produktlivscykeln är kort och innehållet av oskolad arbetskraft är lågt.

Resilience, in an organizational sense meaning the ability to withstand crises and disturbances, is associated with risk and crisis management and business continuity planning, but it also allows for new perspectives and insights into the conditions for doing business. Applied to the whole supply chain it also provides tools for managing and aligning the logistics flows in an appropriate way. In a recent investigation on textile-related SME that have withstood the recent economic crises but faced major threats to their financial performance and survival, it became clear that economic resilience is a property to be cultivated. Resilience is to be considered a discriminating factor between successful and surviving firms and those that fail. Research today on organisational resilience typically addresses its attributes, formative elements and framework, or ways and indicators to measure it. In this overview, recent research on critical success factors and properties supporting resilience development in the textile sector is discussed out of four angles, a three-dimensional concurrent engineering perspective, measuring and quantifying resilience, key enablers of resilience in textile firms and strategic planning for resilience. Capabilities and competences, based on three dimensional concurrent engineering perspectives and complementary value systems, can create several critical success factors for organizations. Current research demonstrates that most of the key success factors are created and sustained through 3-DCE designing. It also highlights the necessity to incorporate intangible value propositions into the 3-DCE model to generate an extended framework for conveying operational performance and so organizational success. For the quantification of resilience, financial statements (1989 to 2009) of 20 companies related to textile, clothing and fashion were analysed to draw the appropriate conclusions. The study used Altman’s Z-score as an indicator of business health, which includes discriminant ratios related to both short-term and long-term goals of a firm. The findings support that there is a relation between the levels of organizational resilience and business health. It is therefore proposed that a business health transition profile (of Z-score) and systematic encoding are effective to differentiate firms in terms of resilience level. The contributions of critical financial ratios to the resilience level in different periods were also assessed for those organisations. For example, in case of two analysed firms the higher liquidity, leverage and solvency, compared to the other studied firms, resulted in maintaining a healthy state, while for two other firms liquidity, profitability and capital-turnover contributed to their resilience development. To find key enablers and antecedents of resilience, a further investigation was conducted in textile and clothing SME, based on a previously developed conceptual resilience framework. Annual reports provided a detailed account of the financial performances of these firms. Findings provide insight as to how the responding firms considered resourcefulness, viz. cash flow and investment finance, relational networks and material assets, along with ‘dynamic competitiveness’ through strategic and operational flexibility, to be key enablers of resilience and financial performance, mostly through generating profitability, liquidity and sales-turnover. Responses also highlighted the indirect influence of the ‘soft’ learning and cultural aspects, like attentive leadership and collectiveness. Other process initiatives (growth and continuity strategies) were also emergent patterns to properly utilize and direct the antecedents for resilience development. Thus firms can develop their resilience potential by tuning their strategic assets and capabilities. For the investigated SME the key variables among them are: a) investment finance and cash flow, b) material assets and networking, c) strategic and operational flexibility, and d) attentive leadership. With regard to strategic planning for resilience, a categorization of resilient and less resilient enterprises in terms of their financial performance was assessed, while identifying their shortcomings in crises and the differentiating strategic initiatives underlying their respective response repertoire. A majority of the case firms identified a decrease in order volume as the major problem during crises. In terms of key strategic initiatives the resilient firms showed better short-term crisis management strategies, due to higher operational flexibility with regard to various cost-cutting measures, such as retrenchment, reduced fixed overhead costs or decreasing customer and supplier base, and an ability to ramp down production when necessary, while the less resilient firms lacked strategic readiness due to resource scarcity. Almost none of the firms could develop any crisis-based growth strategy. The resilient firms differed from the less resilient ones, the most in terms of long-term strategic initiatives showing long-term continuity planning by unique initiatives to improve cost-effectiveness, such as delocalization of manufacturing, continuous improvement and lean management, and in terms of growth strategies as well, like market penetration by increasing sales and product ranges, long-term diversification strategies through market expansion, and long-term transformational initiatives by focusing more on acquisitions and production outsourcing. Such multiple strategic initiatives are essential for developing a model for crisis strategic planning categorizing firms along four difference types of resilience, viz. latent, planned, adaptive and dynamic, and along two dimensions characterized by low and high degrees of planning and adaptation, respectively. It was observed that resilient SME mostly showed planned resilience in financial crises, through long-term continuity plans and growth initiatives. Creation of financial, material, relational and conceptual slack through cost minimization techniques and implementation of growth initiatives were the keys towards development of an organized response repertoire in resilient organizations, as compared to the less resilient ones. A short-term crisis management strategy – cutting costs – was observable in most of the firms. Almost all of them tried to retrench staff and diminish customer base, but the resilient firms also sought legal union’s support to decrease the salary and working hours, so that they can retain competence even in crises. Delocalising production, adjustment of the product pyramid to invest in extension of product range, as well as cost-effective process management were also measures considered by resilient firms to retain operational excellence. The resilient firms also used more flexible production systems along with value adding products in their range, some of them shifting from high volume-low margin products to very specific core products. Furthermore, resilient firms concentrated on increasing sales by extending the product ranges through cross selling and add-on products and services. This registers as sufficient degrees of innovation in the resilient firms. Thus co-management of innovation and excellence provides the right dynamic balance for creating slackness for utilization during strategy formulation.

Att se olika problem som risker blir viktigare på allt fler områden (Mythen & Walklate 2005:5). Det rör sig om en vidgning av perspektiv, som beror på att ny teknik, expertis eller vetenskapliga landvinningar inte längre endast framstår som problemlösare utan även som orsak till nya risker. Genom nyhetsmedia eller andra former av masskommunikation blir också risker vi tidigare inte noterat till förstasidesstoff (Giddens 1991). Vi har fått en kultur där vi tvingas konfronteras med en grundläggande känsla av osäkerhet (Van Loon 2002; Beck 1992), vilket i sin tur utgör motiv till ytterligare forskning om just risk och säkerhet.

Abstract Ports are complex, multiple-stakeholder environments representing the entrance point of intercontinental sea shipments into a country. Because ports are areas where large amounts of goods converge, they play a strategic role in a country’s security and economic sustenance. Consequently different stakeholders interact to ensure that cargo handling operations are optimized and cost-effective, e.g. international shipping, logistics companies, trading communities, and regulatory bodies. In this context security threats assume a special relevance, since ports could be exploited by criminal organizations to smuggle illicit goods into a country or by terrorists planning an attack. To eliminate or mitigate these risks human resources need to be correctly trained and educated. In addition, the competent authorities need to ensure that the same level and quality of training is delivered to all port facilities providing access to a country or a continent. Unfortunately, experts believe that in the EU there is a lack of harmonization of courses and quality assurance systems. Hence, the aim of this study is to review existing regulatory frameworks and assess whether guidance is provided to harmonize security training and education in port facilities. Thereafter, based on the experience developed within other sectors, where harmonization of training and education courses in the EU has been successfully achieved, we make recommendations for improvement of the existing frameworks. The article concludes by summarizing the findings and indicating implications for managers and researchers.