Investigation of Outsourcing Usage Rates in the Production Processes of Apparel Companies

Abstract

Outsourcing is one of the methods frequently used by labor-intensive sectors such as the garment industry and has many advantages for companies. There are many reasons leading companies to use outsourcing such as "focusing on basic skills, reducing cost, increasing flexibility". Outsourcing was a method used by the companies primarily for the purpose of carrying out the activities which are out of their specialty. Later, companies started to use outsourcing for their all processes, especially because of their cost advantage. In this study, a survey was conducted to investigate the outsourcing usage rates in the production processes of apparel companies and the data obtained were evaluated. Research results have shown that apparel companies are still using outsourcing more intensively in processes related to outside their specialties.