ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a review of the findings from field research into the sports footwear, apparel and retail sectors. This research focused on multinational enterprises (MNEs)/buyer and developing country/supplier inputs to address the issues identified, and the research scope in general. The footwear sector was chosen for the pilot phase of research because the policies and management systems in this sector are well developed and labour issues have generated considerable interest and debate. As with the research into the footwear sector, the focus of attention in the apparel and retail sectors was on several MNEs and their commercial partners in the supply chain. A qualitative research approach was adopted based on the aim to develop rich explanations of the processes under study and on explanatory nature of the research.
