A Case Study on Constraints Affecting the Productivity of Readymade Garment (rmg) Industry in Bangladesh

The success of Readymade garment (RMG) exports from Bangladesh over the past few decades has reached to an unprecedented height and sometimes it goes beyond optimistic expectations compared to any other sectors in the country. Being one of the lucrative multibillion dollar industries, it has provided more than 4.0 million employment opportunities and ensured women empowerment. It has brought the fortune to rural women communities and they have become independent by themselves. The garment industry in Bangladesh faces a number of challenges including fallacious working condition, dearth of safety, political turbulence and, low remuneration. To sustain in the competitive global market, management has to identify the prime key opportunities and identify any threats. This study was conducted to analyze the prospects and constraints of Bangladesh RMG industry using well known multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method namely analytic hierarchy process (AHP). To judge the model, data was collected through the focus group discussion and key informant interviews with the managers of three different garment industries situated in Gazipur, Bangladesh. The findings of the study showed that “unsound working condition” among several challenges affects workers working capability and productivity severely. The study recommends that through proper identification and taking corrective measures against the challenges by the management of RMG sector, Bangladesh has the opportunity to be the market leader in this sector.