Globalization's Influence on the Fashion Industry: Next Plc Case Study

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How does the Globalisation affect the Fashion/Clothing Industry?
Research Proposal

Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review...........................................................................................................................5
Methodology................................................................................................................................. 8
Timeframe and Schedule.............................................................................................................11
Reference List.............................................................................................................................. 13
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Introduction
Title
How does Globalisation affect the Fashion/Clothing Industry?
Background and Rationale
Background
Globalisation can be defined as the process through which the nations have increasingly
become interconnected by way of enhanced cultural exchange and international trade (Jones,
2013). This became possible due to lowering down or reduction of trade barriers that facilitated
trade between the nations. Globalisation cannot be termed as a new trend although it has
increased at a massive scale in the recent six to seven decades after the Second World War
(Brondoni, 2014). The Fashion/ Clothing industry can be considered to be among the fastest
growing businesses across the world and a major beneficiary of the globalisation (Hines, 2012).
The advent of globalisation afforded the fashion/clothing businesses an opportunity to access
the cross border markets and establish their presence across the globe (Hines, 2012).
Globalisation allowed the fashion industry to influence the customers at a greater and wider
level. It can be considered responsible for the development of newer technologies that
facilitated the manufacturing of clothing, expansion of fashion/clothing retailers and
manufacturers across different countries, lowering down of manufacturing costs, and ease of
doing business at a global scale (Hines, 2012).
Rationale
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The fashion/clothing industry due to its usage of a considerably larger amount of manpower
affects the environment it's based at or the host country (Gardetti and Torres, 2017). So,
studying the impact of globalisation on the fashion/clothing industry affords a view of the
impacts of globalisation in the industry but also the impact of multinational presence on a local
environment. It allows an understanding of changing buyer expectation and behaviour and its
effect on the way an organisation works. The study will allow an insight into the broader
impacts of globalisation on the fashion industry as well as the changes it brought about in the
operations or makeup of the fashion/clothing industry (Gardetti and Torres, 2017). The context
being used is the Next Plc that serves two purposes. First, its a fashion/clothing retailer based in
the UK, which can be considered to be one of the major fashion hubs of the world. Second, its
multinational presence makes it an ideal candidate of impacts and changes brought about by
the Globalisation in an organisation that can be applied across the industry (Teji, 2016). The
above-stated purposes have both academic and practical significance. Academically, it allows
understanding of effects of globalisation on fashion/clothing industry in general while
practically, by understanding the changes brought about by globalisation and its positive and
negative influence on Next Plc the fashion/clothing industry businesses can understand the
repercussions and benefits of globalisation while recognising the pitfalls they need to avoid
(Bende-Nabende, 2017).
Aims and Objectives
Research Aim
To, assess the impact of Globalisation on the Fashion/ Clothing Industry in the context of Next
Plc.
Research Objectives
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To pursue the above-stated research aim the following objectives will be utilised as the
individual context of the study that cumulatively realises the research aim
To assess the changes brought about by globalisation on modus operandi of Next Plc
To assess the impact of the presence of Next Plc on Local environment
To assess the factors that affected the production cost of Next Plc
To assess the cultural implication of the cross border presence of Next Plc
To assess changes in wage structure of Next Plc
Literature Review
According to Brondoni (2014), Globalisation can be defined as the interconnection and
interdependence of national economies at a global scale that resulted in a global economy
based on advancements in trade opportunities, technology, and profitability (Brondoni, 2014).
According to Jones (2013), another definition can be that globalisation is the enhancement of
global interconnectedness by way of international trade (Jones, 2013). These definitions
although different, highlight the key aspects of globalisation that are interconnectedness and
interdependence through international trade (Gygli et al., 2018).
Gygli et al (2018) define globalisation as the lowering of trade barriers across the globe that
facilitated and promoted international trade and expansion of businesses by allowing them the
benefit of wage differentiation and access to newer untapped markets. It also allowed
businesses access to technology either by innovation or incorporating the technology from
other countries or industries that facilitated trade at a larger scale, cost-effective ways of
production, and standardisation of products and services that served as a symbol of their
specific brands (Gygli et al., 2018). Gygli et al (2018) further explain that the impact of
globalisation on industries like Fashion/clothing can be understood by the fact that their growth
in a few decades surpassed the average industrial growth of centuries due to the opportunities
and benefits provided by globalisation (Gygli et al., 2018).
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According to Nayir and Vaiman (2012), the globalisation has changed the way the businesses
operate especially the bigger businesses with the ability to expand across the borders and
exploit the lowering of trade barriers afforded by globalisation. Access to new markets allowed
businesses to grow exponentially and reduce their dependence on a single market. Although
businesses like Next Plc are still having a considerable operation in their parent countries and
continue to source their expansion from the revenue generated there (Nayir and Vaiman,
2012). According to Hanson et al (2016), another aspect of globalisation that benefitted the
businesses like Next Plc is the access to low wage workforce and low-cost raw materials. This
led to cost-effective production of goods sold by them allowing them to increase their market
penetration and impart standardisation of products across their global market. This led to an
abundance of comparatively low-cost products for customers along with a wide variety of a
product to choose from. This lowering down of costs and abundance of variety changed the
customer perceptions and expectations spurring the other player within a specific industry to
change their processes and practices (Hanson et al., 2016).
According to Brondoni (2014), Globalisation promoted standardisation of production and trade
practices while enhancing its scale. This led to the elimination of businesses that were unable to
cope up by either merging with global conglomerates or simply folding up. There is a major
change in the production practices of global businesses due to access to advanced technologies
that not only brought down the production costs but also improved the product quality. The
positive impact on host countries brought about benefits to companies like Next plc to establish
their operations with relative ease while accessing favourable conditions of their host to
enhance their businesses (Brondoni, 2014).
According to Ong and Ismail (2012), another aspect of globalisation is an increased competition
where the businesses have to compete with others on the global level. The competitive levels
are fierce, especially in the multi-billion pound fashion industry. This led to the incorporation of
different practices that can allow a business to survive and grow while facing stiff competition
from other players with access to benefits afforded by globalisation such as innovative
employee improvement practices that allow them to convert manpower into a competitive
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advantage and innovative production practices that further cut down production costs while
enhancing the production scale (Ong and Ismail, 2012).
According to Lund and Manyika (2016), another practice being employed is the use of digital
technology to promote and advertise their product and access customers at a larger scale at a
location that doesn't have the businesses outlets thereby cutting down the cost of establishing
and maintaining stores at every place (Lund and Manyika, 2016). Nayir and Vaiman (2012)
explain that the benefit of enhanced competition can be seen in the enhanced efficiency of
global businesses. Also, change being observed is the cultural migration especially in the fashion
clothing industries. Although there's some influence of the eastern fashion culture on the
fashion/clothing products the major influence remains western allowing the migration of
western culture of fashion/clothing across the globe along with the foreign direct investment
and employment opportunities (Nayir and Vaiman, 2012).
According to Ünay and Zehir (2012), a major impact of globalisation in countries like the UK
where the fashion/ clothing industry was fragmented with a majority being smaller players or
businesses. The advent of globalisation made these players to either become speciality
businesses such as a popular designer brand catering to premium segment or to enhance their
scale through merger and acquisition to compete at the level of bigger retailers (Ünay and
Zehir, 2012). This can be considered both a negative and positive influence of globalisation. It's
a negative influence since it restricts the emergence of new businesses and severely diminishes
the survival if smaller businesses. It's a positive influence since it promotes consolidation of the
industry and promotes standardised and cost-effective practices along with innovation. It can
be concluded that globalisation has a mixed effect on the fashion/clothing industry (Ünay and
Zehir, 2012). Its positives can be surmised as the enhanced scale of businesses, improved
efficiency, the emergence of innovative practices, access to untapped markets and low-cost
labour, etc. Its negatives can be surmised as inhibition of small businesses, exploitation of
labour, cultural migration, etc.
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Methodology
Research Methodology
The research project will employ a combination of qualitative and quantitative research
methods (Brannen, 2017). The data collected for the primary research or the quantitative
research will be collected exclusively for the purpose of this research while the secondary data
or the data for the secondary research i.e. the qualitative research will be the data previously
collected for research on similar research topics along with the sources utilised in the literature
review (Brannen, 2017). The primary research method or quantitative research provides
insights into the research objectives allowing the researcher to draw conclusions relevant to the
research aim or question. There are certain limitations of this approach such as the bias of the
respondents, limited scale of the study, etc. The secondary research or the qualitative research
allows drawing conclusions from researches already conducted in similar fields although this
approach has its own limitations like different primary research objectives, the scope of
previous researches, etc. (Taylor et al., 2015). The combination of both the methodologies
allows for a better approach that provides a more accurate conclusion that balances the
limitations of individual approaches or methodologies with the benefits of each (Brannen,
2017).
Sampling
Random stratified sampling technique will be used for the purpose of current research. The
researcher understood the impracticality of considering the overseas or out if London
employees and customers of Next Plc due to the limited scale of the current study and the
designated time frame. The target population is considered to be employees and customers of
the Next Plc at its stores in London. The mix of employees and customers will have a higher
number of employees. The Next Plc has over 15 stores in and around London so, for the
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purpose of this study the London operations of Next Plc are divided into four strata. The
researcher allocated a target population sample of 200 to each stratum with total sample size
being 800.
Data Collection Method
The data collection technique being employed is the questionnaire method. For quantitative
data collection, a questionnaire will be prepared to contain relevant questions in the context of
the research objectives. These questions will be close-ended with suggested answer choices to
keep the collected data relevant to the research. The questionnaire will be supplied to the
participants after obtaining their consent for ethical reasons and assuring data confidentiality.
The qualitative data collection will be primarily from the sources utilised in the literature review
(Taylor et al., 2015).
Data Analysis
The collected raw data will be processed by creating a frequency table and the subsequent data
will be presented as pie charts and graphs to allow easy deductions and interpretations
(Quinlan et al., 2019). Thematic analysis will be conducted along with inductive and deductive
reasoning to draw meaningful conclusions and patterns from the collected data. The thematic
analysis is an analysis method that allows identification, determination, and analysis of inherent
patterns within the data (Quinlan et al., 2019).
Limitations/Ethical Considerations
The potential limitations of the proposed research include the bias of the participants due to
personal interests or social implication that may affect the accuracy of the research outcome
although it's expected to be limited to some of the questions. The small scale and sample of the
research could be another limitation that may affect its viability over its industry-wide
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application (Quinlan et al., 2019). To maintain the ethical standards while conducting the
research, the participants will be assured of the data confidentiality. They will be informed
about the research purpose and objectives with the participation being completely voluntary
without any interference (Quinlan et al., 2019).
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Timeframe and Schedule
Project Time Frame - 4/03/19 to 05/05/2019
The research project will start on 04/03/2019 with the initiation of research proposal
preparation and will complete during 04/052019 to 12/05/2019 by submission of the research
assignment. The total time taken for completion of the project is 10 weeks. The respective
timelines and time frames of preparing a research proposal and research report along with
actual research activities are described in the following Gantt charts (Gantt, 2015)
Gantt Chart - Project Proposal (Gantt, 2015)
Process\ Time Frame 04/03/19
to
05/03/19
06/03/19
to
07/03/19
08/03/19
to
09/03/19
10/03/19
to
11/03/19
12/03/19
to
13/03/19
14/03/19
to
15/03/19
16/03/19
to
17/03/19
Finalising the
Research Title
Research Aims and
Objectives
Research Background
Write-up
Rationale Write-up
Completion
Literature Review
Completion
Methodology Write-
up
Finalising Project
Time Frame
Finalising Research
Proposal
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Gantt Chart - Research Process and Research Report Preparation (Gantt, 2015)
Process\ Time
Frame
17/03/19
to
23/03/19
24/03/19
to
30/03/19
31/03/19
to
06/04/19
07/04/19
to
13/04/19
14/04/19
to
20/04/19
21/04/19
to
27/04/19
28/04/19
to
04/05/19
05/05/19
to
11/05/19
Questionnaire
Creation
Questionnaire
Distribution
Questionnaire
Collection
Primary Data
Processing
Graphs and Pie
charts Preparation
Data Analysis -
Primary
Conclusions and
patterns Primary
and Secondary
Recommendations
and Report
finalisation
Research
Assignment
Submission
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