High-end fashion manufacturing in the UK - product, process and vision: Recommendations for a Designer and Fashion Manufacturer Alliance and a Designer Innovation and Sampling Centre

The Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE) was commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to undertake a feasibility study to explore fully the market need for a new high-end production hub. This was in direct response to the need highlighted in the DCMS report, Creative Britain - New Talents For The New Economy, published in 2008. This study has confirmed that there is a need. However the need is for a sampling and innovation facility rather than a production hub. Designers reported a shortage of high quality sampling capacity in the UK, as well as difficulties in getting small quantities produced. Additionally, they do not know where or how to source appropriate manufacturing in the UK, Europe or globally, at the quality the market requires

Food Supply Chain Management in Indian Agriculture: Issues, Opportunities and Further Research

This paper is an attempt to explore the problems faced by Indian agriculture for food security in terms of inadequate infrastructure and highly inefficient supply chain in context of information technology. Due to lack of efficient infrastructure and food processing industry about 30-35 percent of all foods produced in India are wasted. This paper examines the critical issues at each sub-system of agriculture supply chain, starting from the input to the consumer, with a view to integrating them in efficient and effective manner. Investments in cold chain infrastructure, applied research in post harvest technologies, installation of food processing plants in various sectors and development of food retailing sector are mandatory for achieving gains in this sector. Paper broadly covers some of important aspects of agriculture supply chain in India- identification of issues at different levels in the supply chain; transformation in the agriculture due to various supply chain interventions; the role of ICTs in supply chain management: and this paper also covers the suggestion to improve efficiency at different levels in supply chain. There is wide research gap in this sector, having such potential and prospectus for overall growth there is not much research in this field. The paper concludes that efficient supply chain plays very important role for development and contemporary issue for agriculture therefore; government action must address the issue of infrastructure development to achieve the objective of food security for all

A Conceptual Model for Integration of Indian Food Supply chains

This article is an attempt to explore the problems faced by Indian agriculture for food security in terms of inadequate infrastructure and highly inefficient supply chain. Due to lack of efficient infrastructure, supply chain mechanism and food processing, around 30–35 per cent of all foods produced in India are wasted. This article examines the critical issues at subsystem of agriculture supply chain, with a view to integrating them in efficient and effective manner. This article broadly covers some important aspects of agriculture supply chain in India—identification of issues at different levels in the supply chain; transformation in the agriculture due to various supply chain interventions; and the role of information technology in supply chain management. As this article is based on both primary and secondary research methodology, it has led us to finding that there is not much research in this field in India and importance of integration in agricultural development. The article concludes that efficient supply chain plays a very important role for development and is a contemporary issue for agriculture, therefore, the government and the corporates must address the issue of integration, infrastructure development and information management to achieve the objective of a feasible agricultural sector which will lead to food security for all

Food Supply Chain Management in Indian Agriculture: Issues, Opportunities and Further Research

This paper is an attempt to explore the problems faced by Indian agriculture for food security in terms of inadequate infrastructure and highly inefficient supply chain in context of information technology. Due to lack of efficient infrastructure and food processing industry about 30-35 percent of all foods produced in India are wasted. This paper examines the critical issues at each sub-system of agriculture supply chain, starting from the input to the consumer, with a view to integrating them in efficient and effective manner. Investments in cold chain infrastructure, applied research in post harvest technologies, installation of food processing plants in various sectors and development of food retailing sector are mandatory for achieving gains in this sector. Paper broadly covers some of important aspects of agriculture supply chain in India- identification of issues at different levels in the supply chain; transformation in the agriculture due to various supply chain interventions; the role of ICTs in supply chain management: and this paper also covers the suggestion to improve efficiency at different levels in supply chain. There is wide research gap in this sector, having such potential and prospectus for overall growth there is not much research in this field. The paper concludes that efficient supply chain plays very important role for development and contemporary issue for agriculture therefore; government action must address the issue of infrastructure development to achieve the objective of food security for all

INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSIONS OF TRADE LIBERALISATION AND POVERTY

Trade policy liberalisation requires institutional change, in the sense of a change in the rules of the game. The question is whether these changes produce "superior institutions" judged in terms of a reduction of transactions costs; improved coordination; stronger strategic commitment to investing in needed specific assets; and allocative efficiency. In conventional approaches to the analysis of liberalisation, changed institutional arrangements are studied, but they tend to be considered in the category of "practical details": important but not especially intellectually interesting. In contrast, this paper argues for a parallel approach to the study of the effects of liberalisation on the rural poor, in which institutional matters are central. A broad range of institutional issues is considered, informed by a theoretical framework provided by the various strands within institutional economics. The framework set out and discussed leads to the contention that smallholder agriculture in poor countries needs coordinated market economy (CME) type institutions if it is to develop, at least at the earlier stages. Ideally, these would be based on deliberative institutions, working horizontally inside a sector, and also vertically along the supply chain. It is argued that the way forward is likely to involve a rethinking of the role of the state (at sub-national, national and international - aid donor - levels) and of the roles of producer organisations and other stakeholder (including trader) associations. The aim must be to find a way in which the state and other powerful actors can initiate deliberative processes and take a lead in encouraging appropriate asset specific investments, while at the same time planning to fade into the background as initial success is achieved. These conclusions challenge conventional analysis of trade policy liberalisation in poor countries and also challenge institutional specialists to provide insights, ideally quantifiable, into the consequences of those liberalisation policies which drive changes in such features as "non-standard institutional arrangements"; non-market coordination; and the roles of government.Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade,

Maize in Eastern and Southern Africa: 'seeds' of success in retrospect

This synthesis revisits the “maize success story” in Sub-Saharan Africa, drawing selectively from an extensive published literature about maize seed technical change and related policies. The review focuses on the countries of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi, where maize is most important in the food economy, and refers to the period when maize became a dominant food crop through the 1990s. The term “success” is equivocal in this case, both because of the difficult of establishing the appropriate counterfactual and because some of the policies that contributed to success in one period later led to decline. While the “seeds” themselves were the result of innovative, successful maize breeding, boom periods in maize production were episodic and the public investments in the controlled markets that bolstered them were not fiscally sustainable. Since maize will remain a crucial part of the food security equation even while the agricultural economies of the region diversify, continued investments in both maize research and market institutions, some of which must be public, are essential. The most vital question, however, is where the domestic political pressure to support these investments will originate an issue related to governance.Maize Africa, Southern., Seeds Technological innovations Africa., Food crops Africa, Eastern Marketing., Markets Prices., Food security Africa., Plant breeding Research., Investment of public funds.,

Small-holder credit: Roles of farmers, government and private sector

The project purpose was to develop and promote efficient and effective crop marketing and credit systems. It focused on the use of credit to improve access by resource-poor farmers to productivity-enhancing purchased farm inputs. Two cotton input credit schemes were studied in detail, both still in a state of evolution and development. Each has coverage far in excess of any other formal sources of credit available to smallholders (60,000 farmers in Zimbabwe and 300,000 farmers in Uganda). They are particularly interesting, moreover, because both are private sector initiatives, and the Uganda example has especially strong poverty focus

The enabling environment for artisanal dimension stone in Nairobi, Kenya

This study considered the enabling environment of artisanal dimension stone (i.e. blocks cut and shaped from natural rock using hand tools) for building in Nairobi, Kenya. It relied on the sociotechnical system theory to capture the forces (variables) that influence the business/enabling environment of the building material. The socio-technical perspective was necessary because hitherto existing literature had only considered the archi-technical, patho-technical, geotechnical, archaeo-technical and eco-technical perspectives. The study sought to explore the organizational structure of the construction industry in Kenya and profile the internal structure and the external environment of artisanal dimension stone producing units so as to identify and ascertain the socio-technical forces (variables) influencing the production and use of the stone. The study further sought to analyse the interrelationships among the identified forces in order to suggest adjustments to the enabling environment. The study applied PEST analysis techniques (including stakeholder and factor analyses) to characterise the enabling environment. The research took place in two main stages: exploratory and conclusive. The exploratory study involved the use of ethnographical methods (unstructured interviews and participant observation), analysis of secondary data and literature review so as to come up with theoretical propositions that further were tested conclusively through quantitative research using factor analysis. Data for factor analysis were obtained through structured interview conducted among relevant stakeholders of the building industry (i.e. stone producers, architects, quantity surveyors, contractors, and structural engineers) operating in Nairobi. The outputs of the study include: a profile of the business of the construction industry in Nairobi (Chapter 5), a profile of the internal structure and the external environment of artisanal stone producing units (Chapter 6) and a factor analytic model of the enabling environment of artisanal dimension stone (Chapter 7). Factor analysis that forms the conclusive part of the study has demonstrated that the enabling environment is relatively hostile. Further it has established the three levels of analysis proposed by Bertalanffy i.e. the number of system elements, the typology (variability) of system elements, and the interrelations among system elements. The study has also made certain policy recommendations in response to the hostile nature of the enabling environment: including the formation of an association by the producing unit, the formation of a marketing cooperative by the producing units and the cessation of blasting as a method of cutting rock