Rethinking marketing strategy and National Policy in clothing and Textiles: The Case of Zimbabwe

Within the discourse of trade liberalization, extant literature tends to idolise globalization rather than vilifying it. Successive international trade agreements ranging from the Multi-Fibre Agreement to the current World Trade Organization have been used to dictate the conduct of business. The current status-quo exposes companies in developing economies who are expected to compete on "equal" terms with the rest of the world without being protected through enabling domestic policies. This paper rethinks marketing strategy and national policies to safeguard the future of the clothing and textiles industry in an increasingly global landscape. Results from a Categorical Critical Component Analysis using SPSS show the need for major policy interventions in order to assist marketing strategy in the face of globalization. Our study provides an important research contribution through empirically linking three distinct concepts; globalization, marketing strategy and national policy from three diverse literature streams to extend the boundaries of current knowledge.