Investigating industrial upgrading and business sustainability in the textile manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The textile manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe has faced many challenges, which caused contraction of the industry. The main aim of this study was to establish how industrial upgrading could help to control market failures, improve competitiveness and sustainability to stimulate and enhance sustainable economic growth through the development of a structural model. The causal research strategy was used and the data collection tools used was focus group discussions (FGDs), questionnaires and personal interviews. Stratified random sampling method was used to select the sample size of 325 respondents in Kadoma, Glendale and Harare. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed and implemented through confirmatory factor analysis and estimation of the model. The results showed that the measurement model fits the data satisfactorily, and the proposed model fits well to the observed data as demonstrated by the goodness of fit indices CFI 0.86, TFI 0.84 and RMSEA 0.07. The study provided evidence that industrial upgrading could redress market failures in the textile manufacturing industry and that there is a positive correlation between industrial upgrading, competitiveness and sustainability. The study revealed that industrial upgrading could restore competitiveness in the textile manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe. On the way forward, the article is valuable to the policymakers, academics and other researchers, among others. The stakeholders will be able to apply the model to determine which specific influences are the most important for their respective business.