A Study on the Flexibility in Exporting Korean Apparel Products

한국의류제품 수출의 유연성(flexibility)에 관한 연구

The Korean Apparel industry has played an significant role for the econom-ic development in Korea which is mainaly due to the apparel exports to the world market. However the Koran apparel industry has confronted drastic changes in domestic and also in international market for the last several years. Korean apparel products have lost price competitiveness in international market because domestic labor costs have increased so fast and al-so newcomers such as China or other Asian countries have emerged as compet-itive producers. Furthermore domestic market has been saturated with the Korean apparel manufacturers and also with the foreign retailers. Therefore the Korean apparel industry should establish market-ing strategies in order to regain competitiveness. This study aims to analyze the factors for non-price competitiveness of Korean apparel industry and propose the way to regain competitiveness form the buyers' point of view. The present study utilize the survey data for the internet database which is established by the Cotton Incorporated. The results show that the Korean apparel industry is not competitive in terms of non-price factors such as minimum orders terms of payment preproduction stage use of new technolo-gy and lead times. These factors are not directly related to the price of product which is suggested to the buyers. However these are flexibility factors which play important roles in decision making process of buyers because they can reduce risks in uncertain business environment. Therefore the Korean apparel industry should establish global marketing strate-gies which can enhance non-price competitiveness as well as price competitiveness.