Impact of business type upon the adoption of quick response technologies – The apparel industry experience

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of business type upon the adoption process for quick response (QR) technologies in the apparel industry. Using Rogers’ (1983) innovation decision process model as our conceptual basis, we empirically investigated three stages of that process as it pertains to QR adoption: persuasion, decision, and implementation. In our study of 103 US apparel manufacturers, we found business type to impact significantly the firms’ perceptions of benefits to be derived from QR. The perceptions of these benefits, in turn, affected the apparel manufacturers’ adoption of a QR strategy which, in turn, influenced their use of various QR technologies.