Despite the employment and competitive advantage decline experienced in previous years, the South African clothing, textile, leather, and footwear (SACTLF) industry is still a significant contributor to the country’s manufacturing sector. To restore employment figures last seen a decade ago in the industry, the SACTLF has to explore competitive advantage threats and opportunities, among others. To explore competitive advantage threats and opportunities in the SACTLF industry, a leading SACTLF retail group and two leading clothing manufacturers’ associations (representing over 100 CTLF organisations) were purposefully sampled and interviewed. Emerging from the transcripts is that the low rate of innovation and lack of access to manufacturing inputs are the main competitive advantage threats. Strengthening quick-response time and localisation emerged as competitively advantageous opportunities. This article’s findings show that the SACTLF industry has the potential to develop a competitive advantage. The findings of the study contribute new knowledge to the literature.
Received: 27 July 2021 / Accepted: 7 October 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021
This study explores the roles of industry and government in research collaborations from the context of the clothing, textiles, leather, and footwear (CTLF) industry of South Africa. This study further seeks to highlight the implications of the roles of industry and government in SDGs and the African Union Commission Agenda 2063 (hereafter Agenda 2063). Through mixed methods, this study conducted 12 interviews with participants from universities, industry, and government, as well as 22 correctly filled-in questionnaires to address the research questions of this study. The findings highlight that government performs its roles more than the industry when engaging in research collaborations in the South African CTLF industry. The implications of the roles of industry and government to the achievement of SDGs and Agenda 2063 show that the South African CTLF industry contributes to SDGs and Agenda 2063. However, the CTLF industry can contribute even more to SDGs and Agenda 2063 if they take advantage of opportunities presented by research collaborations. This study highlights science, technology and innovation policy gaps that undermine development in the CTLF industry of South Africa and negatively affect the attainment of SDGs and Agenda 2063. This study contributes new knowledge by providing empirical findings on the role of industry and government in research collaborations in the context of the CTLF industry of South Africa.
Received: 11 February 2022 / Accepted: 25 April 2022 / Published: 5 July 2022
This paper is based on a review of Walter Sisulu University documents and the researcher’s five-year lecturing experience in the WSU Department of Fashion’s Fashion Design Programme (FDP). The paper was inspired by the department’s inability to plan, implement, and oversee operational strategies to meet the FDP’s missions and vision statements, which negatively impacted the programme’s portability and cost. I found that academic staff were unable to further their qualifications or produce research despite being given eight hours per week to spend on research or qualification development. The WSU FDP also overspends the money in the students‘ materials accounts. The FDP has too many subjects, negatively affecting its graduation rates since 2008. I further found that the introduction of computer-aided design as a teaching and learning strategy would cut Creative Design II & III and Technical Drawing II & III expenditure by R175 022 compared to the 2015 costs. The FDP bought machinery in 2009 that was costly for the university and yet remains unused due to space and power limitations. The FDP could financially contribute more meaningfully to WSU’s stability and viability if the FDP were offered a spacious building and could develop and implement an extended programme. I conclude this paper by making recommendations for how WSU can improve the FDP, meet the FDP’s mission and vision statements, and strengthen its viability.
Received: 9 February 2023 / Accepted: 17 June 2023 / Published: 5 July 2023
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