Increasing Transparency in Global Supply Chains: The Case of the Fast Fashion Industry

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a solid contribution to the sustainability literature, presenting its arguments (i.e. its testing of five hypotheses) in a clear and compelling way. The research method is straightforward and the analysis convincing. 

It would be worthwhile extending the number of cases to more strongly support your thesis that a number of variables is is involved in increases in transparency. 

Regarding H5: what about Japanese laws? This jurisdiction may be the most unique (i.e., the only non-Western jurisdiction) among the set. Is there anything significant about their legal regime that is worth highlighting? (And where exactly is Fast Retailing domiciled/headquartered? The article does not say.)

Also, is there evidence of different cultural expectations regarding transparency in the Japanese fashion industry? Or in other industries of relevance?

 

Regarding H1, I wonder if there is public data on costs. Is there something to learn from how much retailers spend (e.g. cost of goods sold, or marketing costs) to do business? Does an increase in costs lead to higher transparency? And is that increase in cost offset by higher net profit? In other words, what is the cost-side of the transparency, and how might the figures be used to help convince firms to become more transparent? 

On the conclusions, I wonder whether the establishment of regulatory bodies could help hold fast fashion retailers to account. The financial services industry has the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Are there similar bodies for fashion elsewhere? Or for other resource intensive industries like the paper industry? 

Author Response

Please see attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presented the “Increasing transparency in global supply chains: The case of the fast fashion industry”. The fast fashion industry is subject to growing calls for transparency from civil society groups as well as consumers. It is considered an important issue for environmental Sustainability. The aim of this study is to compare the four largest fast fashion retailers to explain variation in transparency practices. The results indicated that sustainability scandals are a necessary but not sufficient condition for motivating firms to increase transparency in their supply chain. Additionally, scandals can be a crucial driver of increased transparency, but only when accompanied by support from senior management and alignment with domestic norms about appropriate corporate conduct. The contribution offers a pathway to help the literature on transnational business governance and corporate transparency, particular for sustainable supply chain management. This paper is relevant and valuable to the readers of Sustainability. However, there are several places that need to be revised. There, I recommend publication of this paper subject after major revision. The following changes to improve this paper was suggested.

 

 

1. All abbreviations must be written in full in their first appearance before using them in subsequent occurrences. On page 2, paragraph 3, please explain “NGO”. This seems like a keyword.
2. Introduction, the authors only argued that they would investigate the four fast fashion companies. However, the contributions are still lacking. The value of this paper is not significant. This means that the authors shall demonstrate what the difference between this study and the others is. The authors may read more papers in this field and do some examples to explain the difference from the other research to increase research values.
3. When the authors stated “past research”, please cite the reference after it. For example, on page 3, paragraph 5, “past research shows that the size of the company has a significant…….”, please cite reference here.
4. On page 3, paragraph 5, “The following hypothesis flows from these observations”, the authors might lose the period.
5. There are some format styles that need to be modified. For example, on page 4, H3 and H4 were used in different styles. Please check all the formats in order to keep paper quality.
6. In methodology, the authors should provide more information as to why they executed the sampling strategy. Did an organization sponsor the survey? How do we know that the participants were experts on this topic? I need to be convinced that these four companies can represent the major cases for research problems of the global supply chain. Did the authors attempt to account for this effect here?
7. Please check the word size and space. They need to be arranged.
8. The paper could benefit from thorough copy editing. I would also advise the authors to focus on the following issues: 1) more substantial topic sentences and 2) typographical issues. Each paragraph should begin with a strong topic sentence. A strong topic sentence explains to the reader the purpose of the paragraph, and the subsequent sentences provide supporting arguments. There is too much information in this paper. However, it is difficult to find its core value. I hope the authors can modify the content and add more contributions systemically, including theories and practices.

Author Response

Please see attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presented the “Increasing transparency in global supply chains: The case of the fast fashion industry”. The fast fashion industry is subject to growing calls for transparency from civil society groups as well as consumers. It is considered an important issue for environmental Sustainability. The aim of this study is to compare the four largest fast fashion retailers to explain variation in transparency practices. The results indicated that sustainability scandals are a necessary but not sufficient condition for motivating firms to increase transparency in their supply chain. Additionally, scandals can be a crucial driver of increased transparency, but only when accompanied by support from senior management and alignment with domestic norms about appropriate corporate conduct. The contribution offers a pathway to help the literature on transnational business governance and corporate transparency, particular for sustainable supply chain management. This paper is relevant and valuable to the readers of Sustainability.

 Thanks for the author’s efforts and explanation. I accepted this revised version.