Optimal Manufacturing Location for Multi-national Footwear and Apparel Companies

• Main Authors: CHANGCHIEN, KUAN-MIN, 張簡冠鳴
• Other Authors: WU, SHIH-WEI
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/mg4nnb

碩士 === 國立臺北科技大學 === 高階管理碩士雙聯學位學程 === 107 === For companies with the global market in mind, it is often a necessity to manufacture out of multiple countries and regions. Besides the proximity to intended customers, the reasons for operating in a variety of regions revolves around cost, raw material availability, and product quality. But how does a company decide on the optimal location? And will this decision change over time? These questions are especially true for major players in the athletic shoe and sportswear brands. Companies like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour spend a good portion of their resources to find the best balance between manufacturing and markets. In this paper, we will look at 12 countries/regions that make up the most of today’s “world factory”: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey, the U.S. (including N. and C. America), and Vietnam. We will use theories from Dunning’s Eclectic Theory of FDI and Michael Porter’s Competitive Advantage of Nations. Also we will factor in the impact of various international and regional trade agreements that have become important considerations. We will leverage these theories against the World Bank’s published numbers on population pyramid, education proficiencies, skill levels, and cost inputs of each of these countries to identify which one(s) are the most suitable to a global brands’ needs for profit and market share.