Quick response systems with minimum order quantity in fashion supply chains

Both quick response (QR) strategy and minimum order quantity (MOQ) imposition are common practices in the apparel industry. In general, the retailer is favourable to QR adoption whilst the manufacturer may hold a more reserved view on the strategy. For MOQ the situation is the opposite. MOQ inevitably reduces the retailer's ordering flexibility; however, it justifies production set-up cost and guarantees income for the manufacturer. These seemingly conflicting views between channel members on the two practices have prompted us to study their joint influence o the whole supply chain. To the best of our knowledge, little research, if not none, has been conducted to explore the integrated effect of QR ad MOQ on the supply chain, let alone the issue of channel coordination. It is this gap in the literature that we set out to bridge in this thesis.;We employ both empirical and analytical modeling methodologies in this study. We first conducted in-depth interviews with two apparel companies to gain a basic understanding of the current QR and MOQ practices in the apparel industry. We then conducted a structured questionnaire survey with industrialists to further explore their QR and MOQ practices. We formulate and test hypotheses to verify our proposed model on the relationship between QR and MOQ. In parallel, we also investigate QR systems with MOQ analytically. To be specific, we explore the retailer's optimal ordering policies under different model settings and the impacts of MOQ(s) on the performance of individual channel members and the supply chain. We also tackle the challenge of channel coordination under QR systems with MOQ.;We find that the optimal ordering policies under QR-MOQ systems are usually complicated and propose efficient solution schemes to find the global optimal ordering policies. Besides, our findings show that the presence of MOQ reduces the efficiency of the retailer, the manufacturer, as well as the supply chain in most cases. In light of this, we devise flexible supply chain contracts to help coordinate the supply chain.;We believe that this research provides important academic and managerial insights on the widely observed industrial practices of QR ad MOQ. Our research findings not only advance knowledge in the supply chain management literature but also provide helpful guidance to practitioners for making scientifically sound and wise decisions in QR-MOQ supply chains.