EFFECT OF CORPORATE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ON THE DECLINE OF THE TEXTILE MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

In the last decade, textile industry was the next largest employer of labour after the civil service in Nigeria but recently the sector is facing several challenges ranging from technological innovative changes, inadequate skillful manpower, globalization effect, poor fabric quality to grossly inadequate socio-economic infrastructural deficiencies. According to the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN, 2020), over 250 textile manufacturing firms in Northern Nigeria have folded up in the last few years with negative effects on unemployment and poverty in the zone. This ugly trend necessitated the study is to investigate the effects of corporate management strategies on the decline of textile industries in Northern Nigeria. Cross sectional survey research design was adopted in which relevant data was collected by means of questionnaire instrument. A sample of three hundred and nine (309) was drawn from a population of six thousand six hundred and thirty nine (6639) using Yaro Yamane formula for determining sample size and stratified random sampling with proportionate sample size allocation. Data collected was analyzed using Structural Equation Model (SEM) and Partial Least Square (PLS) respectively. Results show that change of top management, quality of made in Nigeria textile fabric and innovation, are found to be positively significant determinant as a turnaround strategy. Study concludes that inadequate investment in modern textile technology, absence of innovative approaches, use of deficient managerial skills and poor marketing often lead to low quality of textile products and declining trend which resulted in the collapse of textile manufacturing firms in Northern Nigeria. Study therefore recommends investment in state-of-the-art textile equipment, technology and innovation in textile industry; constant training for managerial executive in the industry, robust marketing effort and sale of qualitative textile products are necessary factors that will aid in rejuvenating and transforming the moribund industry.