Reference no: EM131498998

Question: Although the styles and details may have changed, the shirts, skirts, and jackets we wear today aren't a whole lot different than what was worn a decade ago. However, the ways they're produced have been transformed by a forced infusion of information technology. When American apparel makers learned to view their product not as pieces of fabric sewn together but as a process of harnessing information along a chain that runs from the factory floor to the retail counter, they were able to improve their performance. Strategic factors such as bar coding, computer systems and software, high-tech distribution centers, and uniformity standards have played a role in this reinvention of the clothing industry. How would each of these factors affect a clothing manufacturers functional strategies in R&D, production-operations, marketing, HR management, information systems, and financial-accounting systems?