A Stitch in Time or Free Expression in the Age of the Internet

A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of Manufacturing

Author: Frederick Abernathy

Lean retailing has reshaped the way that products are ordered, virtually eliminating delays from distribution center to sales rack by drawing on sales data captured electronically at the checkout counter. Armed with up-to-the-minute data about colors, sizes, styles, and geographic sales, apparel and textile companies now are able to respond rapidly to real-time orders. They have developed new approaches to distribution, including forecasting, planning and organizing production, and managing supplier relations. A Stitch in Time shows that even in the face of product proliferation, companies that successfully adapt to the world of lean retailing can reduce inventory risk, reduce costs, and increase profitability while improving their responsiveness to the ever-changing tastes of customers. Based on the success of these practices in the apparel industry, lean retailing practices are propagating through a growing number of consumer product industries.

What People Are Saying

Tom Cole
A Stitch In Time does a great job of capturing the truly revolutionary changes in our industry over the past ten years. There is no question that "lean retailers" have a significant competitive advantage as we head into the new millennium. This book is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in the general merchandise `pipeline. -- (Tom Cole, Chairman and CEO, Federated Logistics & Operations, Federated Department Stores)

Walter Salmon
A Stitch in Time is an excellent, comprehensive exposition of the transformation that is taking place in the apparel business-from design through the sale of the end product to the ultimate consumer. It chronicles not only the business implications of the transformation but also its impact on the economy and labor markets nationally and internationally. It is essential reading for insights into future related developments in the apparel industry, and comparable changes in other sectors of business. -- (Walter Salmon, Stanley Roth Senior Professor of Retailing, Emeritus, Harvard Business School)

Alfred Chandler
A Stitch in Time has a broader significance than its title suggests. By focusing on the flow of materials and processes involved in the "retail-apparel-textiles channel," it documents, and analyzes the transformation of the institutions and practices of production and mass distribution of the Industrial Age made possible by the railroad and telegraph over a century ago into those of today's Information Age made possible since the 1960s by the new electronic technologies. This pioneering study is one of the very first to enhance our understanding of the multi-faceted implications of the evolution of industry worldwide from the Industrial Age to the Information Age." -- (Alfred Chandler, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Emeritus, Harvard Business School)

Jack Sheinkman
Highlights the Retail Revolution in Apparel Textile industries and demonstrates how informative technology not only benefits the retailer, but also the apparel and textile manufacturers. It provides all the parties with a response in meeting the short time frame in partnership, from ordering a product to its delivery for sale, and how to handle the completed product in their facility....The book is most informative with regard to how the apparel and textile industries operated one hundred percent of the time before, and what needs to be accomplished and what is being done now with the retail revolution for certain products by retailers, apparel and textile manufacturers which assists all of the parties and enhances domestic manufacturing and employment. It also serves as a basis for other industries to deal with the retail revolution (Jack Sheinkman, Vice Chair, Amalgamated Bank of New York and President Emeritus, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union)

Bernard A. Leventhal
A Stitch in Time is excellent reading for those in the Apparel Industry, whether they are in the retail, garment manufacturing or textile segments, who are interested in improving profitability through lower inventories, shorter lead times, less close-outs, and in general making better decisions on fashion merchandise." -- (Bernard A. Leventhal, Chairman and CEO, Textile/Clothing Technology Corporation and former Vice Chairman, Burlington Industries, Inc.)

Table of Contents:

	Preface
1	The New Competitive Advantage in Apparel	1
2	The Past as Prologue: Historical Background on the U.S. Retail, Apparel, and Textile Industries	21
3	The Retail Revolution: Traditional Versus Lean Retailing	39
4	The Building Blocks of Lean Retailing	55
5	The Impact of Lean Retailing	71
6	Inventory Management for the Retailer: Demand Forecasting and Stocking Decisions	87
7	Inventory Management for the Manufacturer: Production Planning and Optimal Sourcing Decisions	107
8	Apparel Operations: Getting Ready to Sew	129
9	Apparel Operations: Assembly and the Sewing Room	151
10	Human Resources in Apparel	165
11	Textile Operations: Spinning, Weaving, and Finishing Cloth	185
12	The Economic Viability of Textiles: A Tale of Multiple Channels	203
13	The Global Marketplace	221
14	Suppliers in a Lean World: Firm and Industry Performance in an Integrated Channel	243
15	Information-Integrated Channels: Public Policy Implications and Future Directions	263
	App. A: List of Acronyms	281
App. B	The HCTAR Survey	283
	App. C: Data Sources	289
App. D	Companies Visited or Interviewed by HCTAR	295
	Notes	299
	Subject Index	347
	Name Index	365
	Business Index	367

See also: Connaissance Perdue :le fait d'Affronter la Menace d'une Main-d'oeuvre Vieillissante

Free Expression in the Age of the Internet: Social and Legal Boundaries

Author: Jeremy Harris Lipschultz

In Free Expression in the Age of the Internet, Jeremy Lipschultz investigates the Internet and its potential for profound change, analyzing the use of its technology from social, political, and economic perspectives. Lipschultz provides new insights on traditional legal concepts such as marketplace of ideas, social responsibility, and public interest, arguing that from a communication theory perspective, free expression is constrained by social norms and conformity.Lipschultz explores social limits on free expression by first examining history of print and electronic media law and regulation. He utilizes the gatekeeping metaphor, the spiral of silence, and diffusion theory to explore current data on the Internet. He uses Reno v. ACLU (1997) as a case study of current First Amendment thinking. This book includes recent evidence, including samples of content from Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge, and the investigation of President Clinton as it unfolded on the World Wide Web.The analysis is related to broader issues about Internet content, including commercial and other communication. The new technologies raise new questions about legal and social definitions of concepts such as privacy. Free expression is explored in this book under the umbrella of a global, commercial economy that places importance on legal rights such as copyright, even where those rights limit free flow of ideas.The Internet places free expression on two tracks. On the one hand, corporate players are developing cyberspace as a new mass media. On the other hand, the Internet is virtual space where individuals have the power to connect and communicate with others in ways never before seen. Thisgroundbreaking text advancing new media scholarship uses the most current case studies from the Internet to show free expression in practice today. Lipshultz presents a relevant and efficacious social communication theory of free expression which critically examines the necessary factors involved in comprehensive policy analysis and enactment.