An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape

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dc.contributor.authorAjam, Taniaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-04T16:43:52Z
dc.date.available2016-03-04T16:43:52Z
dc.date.issued1995en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: p. 121-131.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe primary aim of this paper is to attempt to apply the flexible specialisation (FS) methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape. As described in detail in the following section, the gains from employing this approach include "the conceptualisation of industrialisation as a locally embedded process, and the focus on network and on technological capability as essential elements in this process" (Aeroe, 1992:16). A positive approach is then used to assess which aspects of the Western Cape furniture industry (if any) are similar to the industrial organisational structure which has been termed the small firm variant of FS. The fieldwork for the empirical part of the case study was carried out on a sample of 20 furniture manufacturing concerns drawn from three clusters of furniture enterprises in Epping, Lansdowne and Blackheath. The criterion for the selection of these research areas was the existence of a critical mass of sectorally concentrated firms agglomerated within a geographically compact area. A key objective was to attempt to isolate the influence of the variable "locality" on other variables such as the extent of cooperation, firm performance and strategies and supplier relations, inter alia. Finally the normative implications of this variant are examined. Do features in the Western Cape industrial landscape exist which suggest the potential for development of regional industrial clusters along FS lines? In order to conduct a case study broadly within the FS framework, it is necessary to first review the literature and extract testable hypotheses. Firstly the general literature on the FS small firm variant is reviewed. Then a survey of FS case studies of the furniture/woodworking sector is presented. The next phase is a detailed perspective on the South African furniture industry given as a background to the empirical study which follows.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationAjam, T. (1995). <i>An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17472en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationAjam, Tania. <i>"An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17472en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAjam, T. 1995. An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Ajam, Tania AB - The primary aim of this paper is to attempt to apply the flexible specialisation (FS) methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape. As described in detail in the following section, the gains from employing this approach include "the conceptualisation of industrialisation as a locally embedded process, and the focus on network and on technological capability as essential elements in this process" (Aeroe, 1992:16). A positive approach is then used to assess which aspects of the Western Cape furniture industry (if any) are similar to the industrial organisational structure which has been termed the small firm variant of FS. The fieldwork for the empirical part of the case study was carried out on a sample of 20 furniture manufacturing concerns drawn from three clusters of furniture enterprises in Epping, Lansdowne and Blackheath. The criterion for the selection of these research areas was the existence of a critical mass of sectorally concentrated firms agglomerated within a geographically compact area. A key objective was to attempt to isolate the influence of the variable "locality" on other variables such as the extent of cooperation, firm performance and strategies and supplier relations, inter alia. Finally the normative implications of this variant are examined. Do features in the Western Cape industrial landscape exist which suggest the potential for development of regional industrial clusters along FS lines? In order to conduct a case study broadly within the FS framework, it is necessary to first review the literature and extract testable hypotheses. Firstly the general literature on the FS small firm variant is reviewed. Then a survey of FS case studies of the furniture/woodworking sector is presented. The next phase is a detailed perspective on the South African furniture industry given as a background to the empirical study which follows. DA - 1995 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1995 T1 - An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape TI - An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17472 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/17472
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationAjam T. An application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Cape. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 1995 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17472en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Economicsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEconomicsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherFurniture Industryen_ZA
dc.titleAn application of the flexible specialisation methodology to the furniture industry in the Western Capeen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMBusScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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