Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 22 Issue 7

Exploration of Barriers and Success Factors of Sustainability of the Bangladeshi Textile Industry at Various Stakeholders’ Level from Social, Environmental and Economical Concern Samirah Mustafa α & Kamol Gomes σ The objective of the study is to seek to identify the factors that variously obstruct and promote sustainability within the textile industry of Bangladesh from the perspective of stakeholders at different levels and enhance the opportunities of training managers employed in the textile industry of Bangladesh or elsewhere. The study adopted a data collection approach through face to face interviews with the respondents through both qualitative and quantitative scale to measure the extent of the existing conditions of respective concerns. Additional sources are also used to collect data. The findings and results indicate a positive effect on sustainability can be ensured through the development of social, environmental, and economic concerns of the textile industry. Moreover, it also indicates various kinds of barriers and success factors having direct and/or indirect impact(s) on the textile industry of Bangladesh. Few limitations are faced by the researchers as well. Finally, this paper contributes to the execution of the measures suggested by the stakeholders against the barriers and increase the success factors for the future development and sustainability of the textile industry of Bangladesh or elsewhere. Keywords: barriers, success factors, sustainability, stakeholders, textile industry, bangladesh. I. B ackground of the S tudy he Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry is the number one export earner of Bangladesh. In the 2017-18 Fiscal Year (FY), a total of US$ 30.15 Billion was generated in exports made by the garment industry. It also employed more than 4.5 million workers dispersed among 4560 factories involved in exports of Ready Made Garments all over the world. Currently, the sector accounts for more than 84 percent of total exports in Bangladesh (Textile Today, January 26, 2019). After the liberation war, it is the garment sector that has become the backbone of our economy by becoming the second-largest garment exporter in the whole world (with a growth rate of 8.7 percent). In recent years the industry has boomed resulting in a rise in the number of factories engaged in garment production. The textile industry of Bangladesh says a significant story of the country’s prosperous trans- formation towards having a main export-oriented economy. The factors that contributed to the successful marching of Bangladesh in this sector are global trading agreements, cheap labor cost, government policy support, and vigorous private entrepreneurship. All these things have facilitated Bangladesh to gain a fine share in the global garment business. From the early 1990s onwards the RM G 1 industry has become the biggest foreign exchange earning sector in Bangladesh's economy. In 2005-06, Bangladesh earned nearly $8 billion by exporting garment products, which became $30.88 billion in 2015- 16 FY 2 1 RMG-Ready Mate Garments 2 FY- Fiscal Year and $31.79 billion in the following FY, with a targeted $50 billion by 2021. RMG currently covers over 84 percent of the total export of the country, having the vast majority of the country's foreign exchange. (Textile Today, Jan 2019) After the termination of the Multi-Fiber Agreement at the start of 2005 and then switch to the New World Trade regime, it was dreaded that Bangladesh's successful textile industry might suffer, as it could lose business to developed, cheap labor and ultimately low-cost countries like China and developing ones like India. But fortunately for Bangladesh, so far this prediction has been proved wrong. At least 4.5 million workers are working in the Bangladesh garment industry. The majority of them are women, coming from rural poor families and staying over in the city around their workplaces and doing jobs in the RMG factories. These garment workers are the lowest wage earners, which is around $100 a month. In Bangladesh, fire mishaps in export-oriented garment factories continue to kill workers, most of them are usually women and children. In recent time’s two accidents in Savar Rana plaza and Ashulia Tazreen Garments near Dhaka left about 2000 deaths. According to the observers, such deaths cannot be regarded as accidental; these are murders, caused by the negligence of the factory authorities (The Daily Star, May 2013). There is a growing concern that labor rights are mostly violated in the Bangladeshi RMG industry. T © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue VII Version I 77 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 E Author α : Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Notre Dame University Bangladesh. e-mails: samirah.eco@ndub.edu.bd, samirah eco.ju@gmail.com Author σ : Assistant Professor (On Leave Ph.D. fellow), Department of Business Administration, Notre Dame University Bangladesh. e-mails: kamol@ndub.edu.com, kamolgomes@gmail.com Abstract- This paper aims to explore the barriers and success factors of susta inability of the textile in dustry of Bangl adesh through sur veys at various stakeholders’ levels from social, environmental, and economic concerns.