The competitive pressure and environmental change have driven every industry to change its approach toward the market. The paradigm of fashion apparel industry has been changed from mass production to accurate response to the rapid change of market needs. In this new world of fashion apparel, the Korean Dongdaemun market formed a unique supply chain from design to production and sales that has very close network between sellers, suppliers, and producers. This community-based small supply chains made it possible to respond the fast changing apparel trend effectively and gave the Dongdaemun apparel market competitive advantages of the low supply chain cost and very short order fulfillment time.
In this research, we compare the Dongdaemun community-based supply chain with that of traditional apparel companies which have evolved from mass-production mind-set. Through the comparison of these two different supply chains, we suggest the strategic issues for the competitive advantages of Korean apparel industry.
To build the comparative framework and suggest the performance measurement system for both Dongdaemun and traditional apparel supply chain, we use the case study research and performed intensive interviews with merchandisers of apparel companies and shop owners in the Dongdaemun market. Our major findings are summarized as follows.
First, we identified the differences between the Dongdaemun supply chain and the traditional apparel supply chain. Secondly, we proposed the supply chain performance measurement framework for the fashion apparel industry and compared the performance of both supply chains. Finally, we contrasted the advantages and weakness of the Dongdaemun and traditional apparel companies and suggested the strategic issues for building the competitive advantages of the two supply chains.