The role of new technology in the South African textile industry's quest for survival in the 1990s

Abstract

At the beginning of the 1990s the South African economy faced turbulent times and multiple challenges; not least of which was the competitiveness of firms in the manufacturing sector. During the apartheid years, South African firms had been fairly insulated against foreign competition as a result of government protection and trade sanctions. This was particularly true of the textile industry, where protection increased steadily over the better part of the twentieth century.