The process of producing enormous amounts of ephemeral clothing at accelerated rates, known as fast fashion, creates significant environmental and societal issues. The phenomenon of fast fashion rose due to globalization, economic factors, lack of legislation, and the advancement of technology. Governments, companies, and consumers must work together to create more sustainable retail supply chains. I have gathered information from interviews with individuals in the sustainable fashion industry, books, case studies, online reports, and newspaper articles. Based on my research, I recommend that companies should target wealthier consumers, develop a common language concerning sustainability, invest in sustainable fibers, and listen to factory employees for solutions to improve their working conditions. I also advise that the U.S governments should revise fashion copyright laws and international governments should emphasize regulations concerning the fashion industry. Lastly, consumers should adopt a price-per-wear mindset and utilize resale options. Overall, while perfect sustainability is improbable, consumers, governments, and companies should not use this as an excuse to avoid responsibility.

One of the most pressing questions in economics is “why are some countries richer than others?” One methodology designed to help answer the question is known as “Development Accounting,” a framework that organizes the determinants of income into two categories: differences in inputs and differences in efficiency. The objective of our work is to study to what extent differences in the levels of pollution can help explain income differences across countries. To do this, we adjusted a factor-only model to allow us to enter PM2.5, a measure of pollution that tracks the concentration of fine particulate matter in the air and looked to see if the model’s predictive power improved. We ultimately find that we can improve the model’s success in predicting GDP by .5 - 6%. Thus, pollution is unlikely to be a major force in understanding cross-country income differences, but it can be used with other economic factors to potentially magnify its impact with other additions in the future.

This thesis looks at the digitalization process holistically. It recognizes that for a digitalization initiative to be successful, it takes input from multiple departments and experts from diverse backgrounds. This paper will be evaluating the interconnectivity needed between the supply chain and human resources departments to spearhead the creation of a digitalization team. Both sectors must have a firm understanding of the other’s needs, in order to acquire, train, and maintain people who will have the necessary hard and soft skills to develop the digital processes. After conducting extensive research around hiring and training, the researchers identified several best practices that companies can utilize to build a successful digital logistics team. Regarding hiring, companies can improve their current practices by collaborating with universities to create synergy between enterprise needs and college curriculum, as well as utilizing talent acquisition data analytics. They must also employ targeted recruiting strategies to attract high-quality talent and create explicit and attractive job postings. In addition to hiring, companies must also continuously improve their training initiatives to ensure their team’s success. In order to do so, firms should conduct training needs analysis, personalize training using technology, offer non-traditional learning modalities, provide holistic supply chain training, and create a learning culture.