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participates in annual bazaars and exhibitions which are usually organized
by regional governments in the domestic market. But for the international
markets, it has no defied strategy of promotion except for its rare
participation in some international trade fairs with the help of the textile
institute and other governmental bodies.
In terms of distribution system, the company uses strategic wholesalers in
the local market which regularly distributes the company‘s products. And it
has also small distribution outlet in the company‘s factory corridor and
some consumers come and buy the products for their personal uses. But for
the international markets, there is no as such defined distribution channel
as the company simply exports after getting request from foreign
distributors.
As a result of its performance, the company rates itself as good and
competent in the local market relative to local competitions and almost
insignificant in the international markets. In terms of customers‘
satisfaction, the company claims to have satisfied domestic customers which
the company measures in terms of very rare returns and almost no serious
complaints. However, for the international customers, the considerable
amount of returns for inferior quality indicates the existence of unsatisfied
customers on the one hand and the company‘s lower than average product
quality as perceived by international customers on the other hand.
Thus, the key informant argues that;
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‘’Made in Ethiopia textile products are rarely appreciated in the foreign
markets as the country itself needs further promotion because ‘quality’ mostly
exists in customers’ mind which has to do with branding strategy. For
example, in terms of chemical use, the Ethiopian textiles are of less chemically
intoxicated and harm little as compared to other competing products in the
international market. And for me we (Ethiopian textile companies) lack
positioning and packaging when I compare our textile products with other
competitors in the international markets. The rest differences are attributed to
perception not to the real differences in the products’’.
Hence, the key informant strongly argued that branding problem takes the
lion share of the problems for the textile companies to be less competitive in
the international markets.
The key informant finally recommends some solutions to enhance his
company‘s competitiveness in particular and to textile sector in general.
These are attributed to producing skilled man power which is especially
required in garment engineering and international marketing. And the
second recommendations goes to the government to further increase its
incentive packages including facilitating bank loans for the textile
companies to buy new machineries, production expansion, and attracting
more investment in cotton production. Finally, the key informant
recommends about attracting and using technology transfer which is
required from experienced and foreign owned firms in Ethiopia. Those firms
can also come with their own foreign customers so that other local firms can
benefit from them. But such request for extensive foreign companies‘
involvement may call for more investment and market openings for such
kind of firms to be established in Ethiopia.
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However, such opening of the investment climate in the textile sector for
foreign companies can also have a challenge to domestic textile firms (as
equally as it has opportunities to them). This is because those firms may
have better production, marketing, and management experiences and hence
can make the competition stiff even in the domestic market.
Such a practice has become a solid reality in the country these days when
Dangote, a Nigerian based international cement factory, was established in
Ethiopia a few years ago. However, Dangote overwhelmingly dominates the
domestic cement market (with better quality product and lower price) and
makes the local cement factories almost idle in their own local markets
wherein they have been operating for more than twenty years.
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