Self-planning functions within the Japanese apparel wholesale industry

摘要

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify what factors affect the recent trend of having self-planning functions within Japanese apparel wholesalers. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was conducted involving Japanese apparel wholesalers and applied the probit and multinomial Logit regression analyses. Findings – The main findings are as follows: large-scale wholesalers who are located in urban areas tend to have their own planning functions, whereas small-scale wholesalers who are located in rural areas tend not to have self-planning functions and handle goods planned by other suppliers; wholesalers who handle a wide range of apparel and conduct business with retailers located in the same area tend not to have their own planning functions; the apparel wholesalers who have business dealings with many suppliers have the ability to promote themselves to the retailers; and the apparel wholesalers who have self-planning functions tend to obtain goods from within Japan and other countries and sell goods throughout Japan. Practical implications – Small-scale and rural apparel wholesalers face difficult circumstances due to their size, location and lack of self-promotion ability. In contrast, large-scale and urban wholesalers are able to ensure greater independence due to their size and location. Originality/value – This paper focuses on the important role of wholesalers in the Japanese apparel industry and, by using the empirical approach, can clarify factors affecting the recent trend of having self-planning functions within Japanese apparel wholesalers.