Analysis of strategic factors for the Sri Lankan textile and apparel industry

Abstract

The present study explores the perception of managers on Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the Sri Lankan Textile and apparel Industry. It is believed that the success or failure of the strategic decisions mainly depend on the accurate analysis of strategic factors. The objective of the study was to investigate the perception of mangers on strategic factors of the apparel firms which affect their short term, medium term as well as long term businesses decisions and their day to day decision making processes. The population of the study consisted of textile and apparel firms operating in Sri Lanka. The twenty seven questions comprised all 4 categories of the SWOT were used for the questionnaire. Respondents were asked whether they agreed, disagreed or neutral to the statements developed based on SWOT. The questionnaire was sent to 100 textile and apparel firms. A random sample of 82 top level managers who were involved in decision making process of the above mentioned firms responded to the survey questionnaire. Statistical analysis was conducted to analyze the data. A series of interviews were also conducted across business entrepreneurs, top managers and executives in the industry. Results showed that the SWOT factors and their ranking. vary with the time and the factors that were considered few years back as strength has now been converted to weaknesses and some or the opportunities the industry enjoyed such as GSP+ has no longer an opportunity, but considered as a threat by some of the respondents.