Would you know if your suppliers were using unauthorised subcontractors? Ten years on from the Raza Plana disaster, research from the fashion industry reveals some key predictors of the practice. Knowing these can help you sew up your supply chain's loose ends
A buyer for a major North American clothing brand gets a call from her overseas supplier: The factory that makes her T-shirts just received another bulk order for specialist swimwear which also has to be ready for the spring season, and the supplier wants to know if it would be okay to subcontract the T-shirts to another factory. If you were that buyer, what would your answer be?
[This article has been reproduced with permission from IESE Business School. www.iese.edu/ Views expressed are personal.]