Global Sourcing of Korean Apparel Firms

국내 의류업체의 해외생산 현황에 대한 연구

Many Korean apparel firms have been adopting the global sourcing to enhance their competitive advantages. The purposes of this study were to identify the current status of global sourcing adopted by Korean apparel firms and to provide useful information for the other apparel firms planning the global sourcing. The questionnaire survey was conducted to 65 Korean apparel firms. The firms selected for this study were women's, men's, unisex casual wear manufacturers which made their products at offshore factories. The results show that about half of them started global sourcing before 2000. Unisex casual wear firms were already doing the global sourcing very actively and women's wear firms were followers. The major benefit of the global sourcing was the cost reduction. The firms that had made inroads into the global market find much satisfaction in global sourcing. These early adopters expected their sourcing countries as a future consumer market. The threatening elements of the global sourcing were the difficulties of quality control and labor cost rising. Cost and technical ability were considered importantly in selecting the global sourcing partners. The firms started the global sorucing before 2000 were greatly depended on offshore production. They concerned for the problems related to the global sourcing.