Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/13708
2024-03-29T10:40:32ZSustainable entrepreneurial business model to uphold Sri Lankan textile handloom communities
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/21693
Sustainable entrepreneurial business model to uphold Sri Lankan textile handloom communities
Thushari WKD
This study develops a sustainable business model that can foster the growth of the textile handloomindustry in Sri Lanka. The research identified opportunities for product innovations through design
intervention and highlighted the potential for community-based entrepreneurship, allowing the
development of a novel theoretical model that emphasizes diversified interventions to encourage
benefits including and beyond economic growth.
This study relied on qualitative data from empirical work, including 9 case studies, 35 semistructured
interviews and field observations. Additionally, three participatory action research
focus group workshops were conducted using the KETSO tool. The study reveals the textilehandloom industry is inherently sustainable but structural barriers hinder innovation and growth.
The environmentally conscious manufacturing process and social inclusion within weavingcommunities are the key driving forces of sustainability in the sector but the structure of the
industry, lack of skills in product design and development, and limited access to markets act asbarriers to innovation and growth. The study further discovered that entrepreneurial culture is notprevalent in community life.
As a result, the study proposes a theoretical notion of sustainable community-basedentrepreneurship within the textile handloom industry is determined by the four factors of socialcapital (networks), family web, social status and innovation mix. The proposed business modelconsists of four layers; economic, social, environmental and entrepreneurial.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZDeveloping a toolkit to incorporate environmental improvements into the fashion design process
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/22207
Developing a toolkit to incorporate environmental improvements into the fashion design process
Munasinghe PD
The fashion industry plays a vital role in the development of the global economy while
creating significant stress on the environment throughout its supply chains, due to high
resource consumption, waste generation, and carbon emissions. The mass-market is
the major market segment that creates sustainability concerns due to high volumes of
production and low product prices that motivate consumers to buy more and throw
away often. Consumer awareness and governmental concern regarding the
sustainability of the fashion industry have increased and the industry is now being
urged to take steps to mitigate environmental concerns. The literature reports many
initiatives by various parties to address the environmental challenges in the fashion
industry, but little success has been achieved to date. To address the sustainability
issues of fashion products, environmental impacts need to be taken into consideration
during the early stages of the product development process, and not once the product
is being made. Most of the decisions of a fashion product are made in the product
development stage, yet a comprehensive tool that supports making environmentally
conscious decisions is lacking.
This study describes the development of a user-friendly toolkit for mass-market
fashion designers, that facilitates environmentally responsible decision-making during
the product development process. The toolkit is expected to provide a simple, timeefficient
and inexpensive method that integrates sustainability into the design of
apparel products. This study employed a mixed-method approach which used both
quantitative and qualitative investigations. A systematic literature review was
conducted with a meta-analysis to investigate the environmental impact of the life
cycle of the fashion product to develop a database which comprises impact data across
the clothing lifecycle Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mass-market
fashion designers and sustainable design practitioners to investigate the key activities
and decisions of the mass-market design process and to explore views concerning the
impact of those decisions on the environment. Thematic analysis was used to analyse
the qualitative data. Later the interconnections of both quantitative and qualitative
aspects were made and those interconnections were composed into a comprehensive
structure to develop the toolkit. The model is simulated as a simple web-based
application that can be used as a toolkit to facilitate sustainable decision-making in the
product development process. The toolkit structure includes data processing and
visualisation methods, decision support protocols to improve the sustainability of the
design, and a user interface of the toolkit: data inputs, decision making, presenting
results and a bridge to link each interface. Finally, the simulated IT-based toolkit was
validated by the fashion designers, during which the toolkit was proven to be
successful in facilitating a user-friendly sustainable decision-making process.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZDecision making model for the front - end of apparel innovation
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/21660
Decision making model for the front - end of apparel innovation
Seram NCK
A systematic, well-documented approach is absolutely essential in today’s context of apparel
innovation to manage and implement the activities of the innovation process in the winning
goal of developing fashion-forward innovative apparel products. Decision making at the
front-end of the innovation process is the most significant aspect of the success of the entire
innovation process. As such, decision making in the front-end by incorporating co-creation
of value in the Business to Business (B2B) customer context is vital as this is deemed to be
the best way to put the company in a strong position in the market with respect to
competitiveness and survival. The existing models for decision making in the front-end have
limited clarity on what decisions should be made at different stages, how the decisions should
be made and what the specific roles of the B2B customers are, in the process of innovation.
Though enormous focus and efforts are evident in developing innovative apparel products by
the Sri Lankan apparel industry, no standardized procedures have been laid down for the
decision making in the apparel innovation process, as revealed from the discussions with the
senior managers of the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Thus, this study aims at filling these gaps
in the literature and apparel industry practices by developing a model for decision making in
the front-end by incorporating ‘co-creation of value in the B2B context’ to provide a useful
guide for the apparel product innovation process.
Initially, three companies in Sri Lanka, who have heavily concentrated on apparel product
innovation for the past ten years were studied to identify the type of innovative product offered
and the key decisions involved in the front-end of innovation. The findings indicated that 9095
percent
of
innovations
are
incremental
in
the
practical
apparel
setting
in
Sri
Lanka.
The
world
reputed
international
apparel
brands
are
directly
involved
in
the
manufacturing
process
as
the apparel products are made available to end consumer through apparel brands. Three
innovation initiation approaches are practiced by the apparel brands; innovation ‘initiated by
company for customer’, ‘initiated by company with customer’, and ‘initiated by customer’.
The key decision gates vary in the three innovation initiation approaches, eight in the first two
approaches and seven in the third approach. The inputs from apparel brands and suppliers are
also in different forms and in different intensities. The front-end decision making process is
controlled by the core competencies and climate of the company and the operational
competencies and relationship characteristics of the external actors.
The results obtained in the case studies for two initiation approaches found within incremental
apparel product innovation (innovation ‘initiated by company’ and ‘initiated by B2B
customer’) were re-examined and verified using two concurrent studies: semi-structured
interviews and a questionnaire survey. Three individual components (i. decision making
process steps, ii. interactive roles of B2B customers, producers, and suppliers, and iii. factors
that influence the front-end decision making process) were included in the Meta decision
model as they closely interconnect to each other.
The Modified Delphi technique was employed in the process of model validation to verify the
Meta decision making model in terms of the levels of clarity of the content, overall reliability,
practicality, and appropriateness for the apparel sector. The opinions of experts involved in
the validation Modified Delphi study confirmed that the Meta decision making model provides
a deeper understanding of what decisions should be made at different stages, the responsible
decision makers for each key decision, and how the decisions should be handled systematically
at the front-end of apparel innovation. The Meta decision making model could assist apparel
producers to improve the quality of design solutions, avoid ineffective solutions, create the
best value for customers, and meet the needs of demanding customers.
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZA Novel approach in formulating a size chart for female pants
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/13706
A Novel approach in formulating a size chart for female pants
Vithanage, CP
Each country understands that they need their own size charts representing their population because researchers have found that human body shapes, proportions and measurements change significantly due to the geographical and demographical differences. Even though, many countries have developed their own size charts, ready-to-wear apparel industry still faces the problem of poor fit of apparels. Reasons for this fit problems may be due to several factors such as limitations of existing size chart development approaches, lack of up-to-date anthropometric data of the relevant population, vast body shape differences among the population, and restrictions in mass production systems. In this research, one of the above problems; issues in existing size chart development approaches, was studied comprehensively in order to identify drawbacks of the size chart development approaches. Statistical approach which uses descriptive statistics, k-means clustering combined with factor analysis and classification and regression decision tree method were widely used popular size chart development approaches. With the current lower body anthropometric data of Sri Lankan females of age 20-40 years, limitations of the above approaches were investigated. Through this explorative analysis, limitations of current approaches and potential improvements for a better approach were discerned. Thereby a novel approach for development of size charts was formulated. The proposed approach is capable of handling linearly inseparable data with high dimensionality without variable reduction. Further, number of clusters can be objectively determined and the transformation function could be optimized by tuning the parameters of it.
Kernel based learning is one of the latest data mining approaches in pattern recognition. A kernel based clustering technique called “global kernel k-means clustering technique”, was adopted to cluster lower body anthropometric data in the proposed method. Selection of proper kernel function and tuning of kernel parameters are crucial in successful data clustering. For determining the number of clusters objectively, kernel based Dunn’s index, which is one of the cluster validation technique, was successfully instrumented in the said novel approach. Thereby the lower body anthropometric dataset of females was successfully clustered through the proposed novel approach taking all variables into account. It was also proved that the developed size chart could successfully eliminate the fitting problems of Sri Lankan female pants. The size chart was validated through a well accepted index called Aggregate Loss of Fit index on theoretical ground and the live model fitting of fabricated pants according to the size chart through a standard feedback questionnaire. The complete approach in developing size charts could be of interest to other clustering applications in many fields also