Title: An implication of e-commerce in textile and clothing industries: a relational Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) approach

Authors: T.W. Lau, C.L. Hui, S.F. Ng, K.L. Moon, G. Taylor

Addresses: Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. ' Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. ' Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. ' Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. ' Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract: The current usage of electronic commerce in the Hong Kong textile and clothing industries is mainly at e mail communication according to the survey of the e commerce adoption in the local industries conducted in June 2001. It is a question of how to move the current position of e-commerce adoption towards the full electronic business integration in these industries. Achieving an integrated e-commerce system in the industries could be accomplished by adopting a state of-art information technology. However, it is too costly and lack of knowledge of such technology for widespread adoption by these industries. This study proposes a cost-effective method for providing an integrated solution of e-commerce in the industries, especially for small-and-medium sized enterprises. Based on the proposed method, a pilot system is developed for evaluation and the performance of the pilot system is accepted by the field practitioners. The outcomes of this study are worthwhile for the small- and medium-sized enterprises as it proposes a means to achieve an integrated e-commerce environment in the textile and clothing industries.

Keywords: e-commerce; relational OLAP; online analytical processing; ROLAP; data mart; data warehousing; textile industry; clothing industry; garment industry; apparel industry; electronic commerce; Hong Kong; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJITM.2008.017603

International Journal of Information Technology and Management, 2008 Vol.7 No.3, pp.231 - 243

Published online: 20 Mar 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article