Technological development of Hong Kong textile and clothing industry : a 'technometric' approach

Abstract

Hong Kong textile and clothing industry (HKTCI) has evolved from a low-cost supplier into a world-class textile and fashion centre. In order to facilitate future industrial development and competitiveness of the textile and clothing (TC) manufacturing industry, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has adopted a policy of industrial support for the industry. The objective of this study is to develop a 'Technometric' model for measuring the technology development of HKTCI using 3 'Technometric' performance attributes, i.e., 'product', 'process' and 'service', and to apply the model to evaluate the technological development of the industry and analyse the relationship between the technological performance levels of the industry and the change of Hong Kong's industrial policy. The objective is achieved through the following steps: Firstly, a mathematical model of the 'Technometric' model was developed for quantitative description of the technological development in an industry on the basis of the 'Technometric' approach developed for measuring the technology strategy of a firm at the micro-micro level through 'Technometric' feature-by-feature comparison of individual products in a dynamic perspective. Secondly, the design and development of the theoretical framework - 'Technometric' performance attributes were developed for measuring technological change of the TC industry. 5 key indicators, i.e., 'productivity', 'quality', 'flexibility', 'skill' and 'innovation' as well as their input and output parameters were identified in the 3 'Technometric' performance attributes, i.e., 'product', 'process' and 'service', together with the external factors affecting the technological development of HKTCI through critical analysis of related literatures. Thirdly, an instrument was developed to measure the technological development of the TC industry and pilot test was conducted to determine the significance and relationship of 5 key indicators and the 3 'Technometric' performance attributes in measuring the technological development of the TC industry. The instrument was validated through the pilot test and reliability test to measure the internal consistency of each 'Technometric' performance attributes. The instrument was finalized as an enhanced 'Technometric' model for measuring the technological development of the industry. Fourthly, an enhanced 'Technometric' model was applied to evaluate the levels of technological development of HKTCI by analyzing the results of industrial survey using the instrument developed. The evolution and implementation of Hong Kong Government industrial policies were reviewed over the past 30 years for the purpose comparing with the technological developments measured by the enhanced 'Technometric' model. It was found that the measured results of the 'Technometric' model had matched with the changing pattern of the Government's policy in the domain field, implying that the 'Technometric' model could effectively measure the performance of technological development of HKTCI. Then, the 'Technometric' indices for all the indicators were calculated for each of 30 Hong Kong TC companies, from which the overall 'Technometric' indices for the 5 key indicators (i.e., 'productivity', 'quality', 'flexibility', 'skill' and 'innovation') were defined and computed by aggregating the indices of individual indicators in each category respectively. Statistical analyses were conducted on the 5 overall key indicators indices to study the technological development of HKTCI in the last 3 decades in relation to company background, business profile and relevant Government's industrial policy. The 5 sets of overall key indicators indices were influenced by time period and company background, i.e., business nature, year of establishment, number of staff and profile. All overall output indices of 5 key indicators, which indicate the technological development levels in the 5 areas, increased steadily in the last 3 decades in the 3 'Technometric' attributes, i.e., 'product', 'process' and 'service'. It was also identified that the Government's industrial policies could have significant influences on the technological developments in all the 5 key areas. Finally, the development patterns of the overall output indices of the 5 key indicators were analyzed for the 3 'Technometric' performance attributes separately. The Overall Technology Development Index was defined as the indicator to measure the overall technological development of HKTCI. Relationships of this index with company business nature, size and time periods were analyzed in relation to the evolution and implementation of Government's industrial policies. It was found that Government's industrial policies played important roles in directing and stimulating the technological developments in HKTCI in the last 3 decades, which contributed significantly to the competitiveness of the industry as shown in the steady increase in total export in the last 3 decades from HKTCI. Therefore, it was concluded that it is critical for Hong Kong Government to pay special attention to develop and implement more constituents of 'Technology Policy' in order to achieve sustainable competitiveness of HKTCI.