Retailing and supply chains in the information age

This article describes how information technologies have reconfigured retai ling and in turn the operation of a core US manufacturing industry, apparel . "Lean retailers" exchange point-of-sales information with their suppliers and require them to replenish orders quickly based on actual sales. This s hifts part of the risk arising from changing consumer tastes from retailers and onto suppliers. In response to this shift in risk, we argue that manuf acturers must reshape planning methods, cost models, inventory practices, p roduction operations, and sourcing strategies. We then show that suppliers that adopt comprehensive changes to their manufacturing processes perform b etter along a number of dimensions compared to firms that have not. (C) 200 0 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.