An assessment of the sustainability and competitiveness of the South African clothing and textile industry : a case study approach
Date
2014-08-01
Authors
Goliath, Mark Ashley
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
The South African Government, through its National Development plan and Industrial Policy Action Plan, has identified the clothing and textile industry as an important job-creation industrial sector. As such, one of the Government’s associated interventions is in the form of capital subsidisation to enable capital equipment upgrades. This in turn improves competitiveness in the industry.
The research is focused on analysing the impact of the Government subsidisation programme and whether this is the correct mechanism to fulfil its employment creation requirements. The research is in the form of a case study with analysis focused on one randomly selected company. The analysis looks at the journey undertaken by the company and the impact that the government subsidisation has had on its ability to improve its competitiveness.
The research further examines the perceptions of the broader industry based on feedback gathered through a questionnaire. The feedback was analysed on a frequency basis to determine the feelings and perceptions of respondents, and whether parallels can be drawn with the case study.
The research did highlight the need for further investigation to gauge whether the Government’s fiscal spend on this programme is justified considering the opportunity cost incurred through the funding of the subsidisation program.
Description
MBA 2014
Keywords
Clothing trade, Subsidies,Textile industry.