Brief Description: In conjuction with Institute of Development Studies, University fo Sussex (Professor R. Kaplinsky) and as part of a DFID-funded project with some self-funding from Industrial Restructuring Project, we are engaged in a project entitled The Impact of Asian Drivers on Sub-Saharan Africa.
The project assesses the competitive ability of firms and goverment policy in the furniture, clothing and textile sectors to deal with Chinese and Indian restructuring of global manufacturing.
This is a comparative study investigating responses in the following countries: Ghana, Kenya, Swaziland, South Africa, Lesotho, Madagascar and Mauritius. An description of one study follows using the example of Madagascar.
For Madagascar, a country where the garment industry dominates manufacturing exports, the danger of losing an important industry, in terms of employment creation, and income generation, is great. This project examines the garment industry in Madagascar in detail, and its place in the global clothing value chain, in the light of the end of the MFA. It will examine the factors which have caused new investment in this industry to materialise after the political crisis, analyse the basis for the Malagasy garment sector’s international competitiveness, and explore industry and government strategies for survival post-MFA. In addition, the ability of the garment industry to take further advantage of AGOA in the light of these changing conditions must be investigated.
The research methodology used will include a questionnaire, and in-depth qualitative interviews with selected firms and key informants in Madagascar.
Additional Participants: Leanne Sedowski (School of Development Studies)
Jeff Readman, Centrum, University of Brighton
Dorothy McCormick, Institute of Development Studies, Nairobi
Julian Barnes, Benchmarking and Manufacturing Analysts
Participants:
Dr Myriam Velia
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