Garment Industry In Bangladesh Research Articles

Risks Management of Ready-Made Garments Industry in Bangladesh

Risks Management of Ready-Made Garments Industry in Bangladesh

Work, gender roles, and health: neglected mental health issues among female workers in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.

BackgroundTraditionally, women in Bangladesh stayed at home in their role as daughter, wife, or mother. In the 1980s, economic reforms created a job market for poor, uneducated rural women in the ready-made garment industry, mostly located in urban areas. This increased participation in paid work has changed the gender roles of these women. Women’s earnings support their family, but they are also separated from their children, with impacts on their mental health and well-being. This study explores the lived experience of women in Bangladesh working in the ready-made garment industry as they strive to be mothers and family providers, often in high-stress conditions.MethodsThe study was conducted in two industrial areas of Dhaka over 8 months. Data collection included a literature review, 20 in-depth interviews with married female garment workers, and 14 key-informant interviews with officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment, health-service providers within the garment factories, factory managers, and representatives of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. The data collected were analyzed thematically.ResultsPoverty was a key motivating factor for female migrant workers to move from rural areas. Their children stay in their village with their grandparents, because of their mothers’ work conditions and the lack of childcare. The women reported stress, anxiety, restlessness, and thoughts of suicide, due to the double burden of work and separation from their children and family support. Further, they cannot easily access government hospital services due to their long work hours, and the limited medical services provided in the workplace do not meet their needs.ConclusionIn order to improve the health and well-being of female garment workers, steps should be taken to develop health interventions to meet the needs of this important group of workers who are contributing significantly to the economic development of the country.

Barriers in Adopting Human Resource Information System (HRIS): An Empirical Study on Selected Bangladeshi Garments Factories

Garment industry can be considered as the sprinter of the economy in Bangladesh for its significant contribution to the economy. Demand for Bangladeshi garments products are increasing so are the competitions. The garment industry, to keep pace with the increasing competition, needs to adopt Information System (IS) in business functions that help ensure cost management effectively in the labor-intensive garments factory. However, very few garments factories have adopted IS in their operations. This paper tried to identify the factors inhibiting the adoption of HRIS in the garments industry of Bangladesh through a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 150 samples from 25 garment factories in Bangladesh. We have used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method to identify the factors impeding to adopt HRIS in garments sector of Bangladesh. From the study, we have identified three broad inhibiting factors termed as Financial, Management related, and Organizational; specifically, High investment, Costly maintenance, Long-term benefit, Organizational Structure, Culture of the Organization, Top management support, lack of experts and user, are found as major barriers in this regard. The findings may be useful to both the academicians to explore the factors in their respective countries and the HRIS practitioners in garment sector to emphasize on these areas so that organizations can ensure better HRIS implementation.

Readymade Garment Industry in Bangladesh: Growth, Contribution and Challenges

Based on secondary data, the study is intended to draw the scenario of RMG industry in Bangladesh, especially the growth, contribution, and challenges. RMG industry has been functioning in Bangladesh since long as a catalyst for sustainable development and growth of the country. It is the largest exporting industry in Bangladesh that has experienced tremendous growth during the last 25 years. It provided more than five million direct jobs, 16 percent of GDP, and more than 81 percent of foreign exchange earnings in FY2013-2014. The Knitwear industry is adding up to 75% value, which opens up enormous potential for foreign and domestic investors to spend in the areas of spinning, weaving, sewing, packaging, and accessories manufacturing. Despite the stupendous growth of the RMG industry, and its bright prospects, challenges are still there. In order to address the challenges, a number of collaborative and coordinated steps should be initiated. Along with establishing sound infrastructure, skill manpower, improved productivity, enhanced market access, market diversification, access to finance at competitive interest rate, and establishment of secured special industrial zones are crying need for the industry. Moreover, to grab and retain the sweet fruits of RMG a positive branding should be continued.

Empowerment of resource poor women through income generation activities (IGAs): a case of slum area in Dhaka city corporation of Bangladesh

The main purpose of the study was to determine the level of empowerment of women working at garments industry in Bangladesh. The factors influencing the achievement of empowerment of women were also analyzed. A total of 50 women serving in garment industry at Pallabi Thana in Dhaka were selected randomly from a total of 240 women. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire during January to February 2016. All the women opined for having moderate to higher level of empowerment in terms of freedom of mobility and participation in household decision making process. Even none of the women fell in low empowerment category. Before involved in IGAs it was difficult for them to go out even in relatives’ house and were not consulted in making household decisions. After getting job, they contributed approximately 40 to 58 percent of their income to meet family expenses. The age, level of education, family income and job experience were related to their empowerment. The women identified that social superstition, existing value system are still hinder empowerment. The adult education programme and awareness building campaign by the development agencies could mitigate the existing limitations of empowerment of women.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.4(1): 14-20, April 2017

Impacts of Political Instability on Garments Productions & Productivity: A Study on a group of Textile industries in Bangladesh

Impacts of Political Instability on Garments Productions & Productivity: A Study on a group of Textile industries in Bangladesh

Out of the shadows: Women and wage struggle in the RMG industry of Bangladesh

ABSTRACTThe export-oriented readymade garment (RMG) industry of Bangladesh has flourished quite rapidly, taking the advantage of the considerable supply of local labor. From its very beginning, RMG entrepreneurs have been showing greater interest in recruiting ‘timid’ women to ensure administrative control over the workers. Thus, labor exploitation by providing low and irregular wages has sustained this sector. Shedding light on women’s agency and choice, this article shows that so far the apparently ‘silent’ workers permit the global industry to continue with ‘cheap’ labor, driven by a gendered ideology, structural and material constraints. But women workers are moving forward to ensure wage justice. Assessing the achievements and drawbacks of the wage struggle, our study envisions women’s more effective role in securing wider labor rights in the RMG sector.

Determinants of the Bangladesh garment exports in the post-MFA environment

ABSTRACTThe garment industry is considered as one of the driving forces of socio-economic development of Bangladesh due to its significant contribution to the country's exports, employment generation, and poverty alleviation. This study investigates the determinants of the Bangladesh garment exports in the post Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) environment. Using data from World Bank Enterprise Surveys and other information from secondary sources, this study finds that labour cost, labour productivity, firm size, availability of domestic input materials, and firm location in a port city are the major determinants of Bangladesh garment exports. In addition, the analysis finds that cheap labour, firm size, product and market diversification, preferential market access, and proactive policies by the Bangladesh government have also helped the Bangladesh garment industry to become successful during the post-MFA period.

Application of Labor Laws and Other Compliance in Readymade Garment Industry of Bangladesh

Although, the economy of Bangladesh is primarily dependent on agriculture, Readymade Garment (RMG) industry has emerged as the largest earner of foreign income of Bangladesh in recent years. More than 75% of foreign earnings are coming from this very important sector of Bangladesh. Presently, more than four million workers are working in 4,500 RMG companies in which 90% are illiterate women came from the rural areas of Bangladesh (Islam & Muntaquimul Bari Chowdhuri, 2014). The policymakers and the employers of this sector claim that the growth of garment sector has helped employing a huge number of rural women that has subsequently developed their socioeconomic status in Bangladesh. But, it is a concern of the national and internal observers that the labor laws and other compliances like factory laws, industrial relations laws, employment laws, payment of wages laws, ILO standards, ethics applied in this sector are hardly followed by the RMG companies which are making the lives of these workers very difficult. Sometimes, these workers are exploited by employing more hours a day without the payment of overtime by capitalizing their illiteracy and submissiveness. Hence, this paper aims at identifying the level of application of the labor laws and other compliances in RMG industry of Bangladesh that is the only protective measures of this large number of female workers of this important sector of Bangladesh. A total of 238 workers of this sector were interviewed in this study with a structured questionnaire. Multivariate analysis techniques such as, Factor Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to analyze the data collected from the workers on the application of labor laws and other compliances of these companies. The results show that in case of measures for protecting sexual harassment there is a severe problem of the use of the labor laws in this sector followed by physical movement and access control of workers, exit and access path of the company, working hours, and counseling arrangements in the company. This study suggests that the readymade garment companies should address the sexual harassment issue seriously so that the workers will feel safe at their work. They also should focus more on the safety issues, working hours and counseling of the workers in order to make the working environment more favorable to the workers.

Industrial Development Through Tacit Knowledge Seeding: Evidence from the Bangladesh Garment Industry

We explore how the establishment of an industry pioneer through foreign seeding of industry knowledge can subsequently catalyze the growth of a developing country’s industry by involuntarily propagating the knowledge to subsequent entrants. As industry knowledge has tacit elements, we focus on mechanisms that enable experienced workers from the pioneer to seed the knowledge to new entrants. We examine the relationship between entrants’ characteristics and the mechanisms exploited to access the industry knowledge, and the impact of the mechanisms exploited on firm performance. Empirical findings from two historical episodes in the Bangladesh garment industry suggest that industry knowledge seeding was essential for the initial establishment and subsequent expansion of the industry. Our paper highlights the role of experienced workers’ mobility in building new firm capabilities and provides novel insights into industrialization in developing economies.This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.

Revaluation of Fixed Assets before Ipo: a Study on Textile Industry in Bangladesh

The textile and clothing sector of Bangladesh contributes more than 81 percent of foreign exchange earnings of the country. Considering the number of companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), textile was the second largest sector having 44 companies after insurance. Around fifty percent companies of the sector became listed on the DSE through Initial Public Offerings (IPO) during the period of January 2010 to March 2016. The study, based on prospectus data, intended to explore the practice of pre-IPO revaluation of fixed assets by textile industry in Bangladesh. Related objective of this study was to find out the factor(s) that influence(s) the growth of revaluation amount. Among the years under study, the highest number of textile companies became listed on DSE during 2014 and 2015 that accounted for about 55 percent growth of the sector. In the midst of controversies and doubts about the application and fairness of asset revaluation practice, a large number of textile companies in Bangladesh have been found revaluing their fixed asset as an option outlined in IAS 16. Thanks to the revaluation of fixed asset, average Net Asset Value (NAV) of textile companies raised from BDT 16.95 per share to BDT 28.54 per share with an increase of 68.38 percent. The study has observed an average increase in the value of fixed assets by 42 percent with a minimum of 4 percent and a maximum of 130 percent. Intensity of fixed assets has been found to have significant negative influence on the growth of fixed assets. This implies that textile companies which have low percentage of fixed assets on total asset observed hefty growth of fixed asset after revaluation. It is expected that the outcomes of the study will be useful to regulators, investors, financial analysts, and academics. Reporting of fixed assets in current market prices would assist investors and others make unbiased predictions about firms’ future performance. However, the condition is that asset revaluation should be made with utmost fairness and transparency.

Revaluation of Fixed Assets Before IPO: A Study on Textile Industry in Bangladesh

The textile and clothing sector of Bangladesh contributes more than 81 percent of foreign exchange earnings of the country. Considering the number of companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), textile was the second largest sector having 44 companies after insurance. Around fifty percent companies of the sector became listed on the DSE through Initial Public Offerings (IPO) during the period of January 2010 to March 2016. The study, based on prospectus data, intended to explore the practice of pre-IPO revaluation of fixed assets by textile industry in Bangladesh. Related objective of this study was to find out the factor(s) that influence(s) the growth of revaluation amount. Among the years under study, the highest number of textile companies became listed on DSE during 2014 and 2015 that accounted for about 55 percent growth of the sector. In the midst of controversies and doubts about the application and fairness of asset revaluation practice, a large number of textile companies in Bangladesh have been found revaluing their fixed asset as an option outlined in IAS 16. Thanks to the revaluation of fixed asset, average Net Asset Value (NAV) of textile companies raised from BDT 16.95 per share to BDT 28.54 per share with an increase of 68.38 percent. The study has observed an average increase in the value of fixed assets by 42 percent with a minimum of 4 percent and a maximum of 130 percent. Intensity of fixed assets has been found to have significant negative influence on the growth of fixed assets. This implies that textile companies which have low percentage of fixed assets on total asset observed hefty growth of fixed asset after revaluation. It is expected that the outcomes of the study will be useful to regulators, investors, financial analysts, and academics. Reporting of fixed assets in current market prices would assist investors and others make unbiased predictions about firms’ future performance. However, the condition is that asset revaluation should be made with utmost fairness and transparency.

Adoption of B2B e-Commerce in Developing Countries: Evidence from Ready Made Garment (RMG) Industry in Bangladesh

The rapid adoption of e-Commerce, especially Business-to-Business (B2B) e-Commerce among Ready-made Garments (RMG) industry is a key opportunity for local and international trade development of developing countries like Bangladesh. However, although high expectations for realizing the benefits of B2B e-Commerce in RMG sectors, its adoption remains poorly understood and are a relatively under-researched area in Bangladesh. This study is an attempt to fill this gap. This study explores the factors that affect B2B e-Commerce adoption in RMG sectors of Bangladesh by using Perceived eReadiness Model (PERM). A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from over 250 RMG firms in Bangladesh. The data was analyzed by using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method; a statistical analysis technique based on the Structural Equation Model. The study found that awareness, resources, government eReadiness, and market forces eReadiness were significant factors for initial adoption of B2B e-Commerce. However, commitment, governance, and supporting industries eReadiness are insignificant for initial adoption of B2B e-Commerce. Again, the relationships between resources, commitment, government eReadiness, market forces eReadiness, supporting industries eReadiness and institutionalization of B2B e-Commerce are significant in RMG sectors of Bangladesh. However, awareness, governance and institutionalization of B2B e-Commerce are insignificant. The output of the study can help RMG firms in Bangladesh to address the factors that influence adoption of B2B e-Commerce. This study can also help the policy maker and government to identify the promising local opportunities for B2B e-Commerce by discovering the distinctive e-Commerce adoption factors.

Ethical Climate and Employee Turnover Intention in the Ready‐Made Garment Industry of Bangladesh

A study based on an extensive literature review and a survey of operators in the labor‐intensive ready‐made garment industry in Bangladesh examined the impact of an organization's ethical climate on employees’ intention to leave. It showed that as the ethical climate of an organization improves, the intention to leave declines and the more likely employees are to develop a sense of commitment to the organization. It also found an increase in the likelihood that the ethical climate of the workplace would reduce turnover when employees had a higher level of support from their line managers or supervisors.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Tazreen Factory Fire : An Accident or Sheer Negligence?

This case explored the Dhaka based garment Tazreen factory fire, which killed and injured a large number of people. Through this accident, the case investigated the poor working conditions in the garments industry of Bangladesh, which frequently puts the life of millions of workers in danger. Despite the fact that the garment industry has been the backbone of the country, the case exposed how the workers of Bangladesh are exploited socially and economically inside the factories. Highlighting the irresponsible nature of the managers of the factory during the tragedy, this case also sheds light on the negligent behavior of major Western brands that have an undeniable responsibility towards maintaining better safety conditions for the factory workers. Additionally, the case discussed about the unrest in the RMG sector added by the poor response of the government towards such mishaps and delaying the compensation to the fire victims.

A poor country clothing the rich countries: case of garment trade in Bangladesh

The ready-made garment industry of Bangladesh is one of the largest formal manufacturing sectors. It has played a key role in the country’s process of industrialisation, empowerment of women, export oriented development and growth. Workers from poor socio-economic backgrounds are working in the garment industry. Their health, safety and working conditions are very poor and not protected. There is a lack of regular inspection and compliance with local law in buildings and factories. This led to the collapse of the eight story Rana Plaza building in the capital Dhaka on the 24th of April 2013, “killing 1,100 workers and 2,500 injured†2. The main aim of the study is to assess the impact of Rana Plaza Tragedy, where RMG workers make garments for multinational brands of Australia, Europe and USA, and the advantage which took these companies of the absence of labour laws, workplace health and safety standards, building standards, long working hours and low wages in Bangladesh. The study used both primary and secondary data including related case studies. The practical application of the study is to develop formal ethical, labour-law, health and safety standards for a factory worker; construction; institutions and courts for monitoring the supplier’s behaviour onshore and large multinational firms offshore. The study recommends to protect the rights of women workers who are sowing garments for the fashion conscious consumers from the developed countries. Future research will explore inclusive growth for workers and how to stimulate inclusive sustainable business for export led garment industry.

Rana disaster: how far can we proceed with CSR?

Purpose This paper aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in corporate business and stimulate a debate on this to combat the modern day slavery in Garment Industries (GIS) in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach This research has drawn on media, non-governmental organisations and a series of national and international reports and on relevant materials from both primary and secondary legal resources. Findings The existing phenomena in Bangladesh surrounding Rana Plaza (RP) disaster stand in sharp contrast with CSR which inevitably offend the dignity and core values of human beings as deeply entrenched in a range of national and international instruments. RP disaster was a man-made catastrophe that could have been surely averted had the three actors (such as RP, the government and the foreign buyers being multinational corporations) performed their respective obligations in due course. Research limitations/implications CSR is still an intensely debated issue, especially in terms of its scope and limitation. This study has not delved into these issues. Practical implications There has been a dearth of intellectual inquiries (to the best of the authors’ knowledge) about CSR in GIS in Bangladesh. It is submitted that this paper will contribute to filling the gap in the legal literature, especially in relation to the responsibilities of the three actors, and to contest another human catastrophe in the future. Social implications In particular, it is expected that the findings would play an important role in empowering relevant stakeholders including the impoverished workers who have been the most disadvantaged, and overlooked by the three actors. Originality/value This paper is the original work of the authors and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication.

A Case Study on Constraints Affecting the Productivity of Readymade Garment (RMG) Industry in Bangladesh

A Case Study on Constraints Affecting the Productivity of Readymade Garment (RMG) Industry in Bangladesh

Voluntary governance in clothing production networks: Management perspectives on multi-stakeholder initiatives in Dhaka

Multi-stakeholder initiatives aim to promote better working conditions in the supply chains of global retailers and brands. These initiatives promote closer relationships, or ‘relational governance’ between lead firms and their suppliers, in order to increase social compliance to a ‘multi-stakeholder’ code of conduct. However, industrial disasters in clothing export factories have exposed gaps and disconnections in this model. Adopting a Global Production Networks approach, this article explores how multi-stakeholder initiatives connect and interact with local industry actors in the Bangladesh garment industry. This article explores how intra- and inter-firm dynamics influences how factory managers engage and interact with multi-stakeholder initiatives, highlighting the unevenness through which multi-stakeholder initiatives undertake their activities on the ground, and the extent to which these initiatives promote better working conditions inside factories. The findings presented here indicate how local and global productive relations and strategic economic interests frame the ways the codes of conduct are implemented, and negotiated, giving weight to individual elements within the codes. These dynamics should be taken into account when considering relational governance as a mechanism to improve working conditions.

Usability of Enterprise Resource Planning software systems: an evaluative analysis of the use of SAP in the textile industry in Bangladesh

Information technology (IT) is increasingly playing a crucial role in managing business processes across all industries and organizations but business managers and analysts seem to underestimate the impact of usability of IT solutions on processes and people. This paper focuses on the usability of one of the most popular business process management software systems, SAP, which comes as an integrated solution that incorporates the key business functions and processes of an organization. The paper critically analyzes related issues and implications using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and semi-structured interviews. Several considerations and suggestions are drawn in terms of rethinking and pursuing usability in training when applied to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other systems supporting business process management.