Responding specifically to your critique of our research, we underscore that our assessment rests on three levels of analysis. First, we developed a conceptual framework for looking at the industry, rooted in an understanding of the dynamics of direct and indirect suppliers, official and unofficial subcontractors, the fluid boundaries between different levels of the sector... Second, we applied a series of methodologies to enhance our understanding... Third, we populated the framework with the best data available to us and other researchers... You raise a number of issues that merit further attention, which we reflect on in detail...

• How reliable is the data? What should be done about errors in data entry?...
• Should the trade associations be included in a dataset of factories?...
• Can factories that produce for the domestic market be walled off from the export market?...
• What is the appropriate methodology for de-duplicating complex data?...
• What percentage of workers and factories do the Accord and the Alliance cover?...

Additional questions that we are interested in exploring with other scholars:

• How much money is actually being directed toward factory repairs in Bangladesh?...
• Why are factories not being fixed?...
• What kinds of solutions should be applied to indirect sourcing factories?