Examining the Effectiveness of the South African Apparel Industry’s Systems of Innovation

Abstract

The debate on national innovation systems in Africa continues as Africa seeks to lead its development. This paper examines South Africa's apparel industry’s 2007 to 2017 industrial policy action plans (IPAPs). The triple helix theory is used to guide a content analysis. The content analysis shows that the sectoral systems of innovation (SSI) of the South African apparel industry have met coherence policy issues since 2007. This paper also identified underlying policy inconsistencies in the SSI of the South African apparel industry. This paper recommends and suggests that the policy relating to the apparel industry be revised following the identified SSI policy inconsistencies to strengthen the performance of the apparel industry SSI. This paper validates Manzini's (2015) call for a closer look at SSI and identifies one of the approaches to assess policy coherence or inconsistencies in the apparel industry and other industries.
 
 Received: 5 September 2022 / Accepted: 1 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023