Digitizing the textile and clothing industry : initiatives taken by public organization in Hong Kong

While many new business-to-consumer and business-to-business e-commerce start-ups have appeared over the past few years, government-to-business (G2B) e-commerce and other online trade support services offered by organizations in the public sector also grows rapidly. This paper presents the recent initiatives taken by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and other government-backed organizations in leading G2B e-commerce and in applying the Internet to advance the Hong Kong textile and clothing industry. The recent development of legal framework and public information technology infrastructure, which facilitate e-commerce, in Hong Kong is also described. It is suggested that changes in the virtual world are influencing the operations of businesses in the physical world. Companies, especially the small- and medium-sized enterprises, need to take full advantage of the online resources and services offered by both public and private organizations in order to enhance value adding in the textile and clothing supply pipeline so as to improve their competitiveness in the digital era.Institute of Textiles and ClothingRefereed conference pape