Clustering: A Fundamental Axis in the Competitiveness of the Textile Industry in the Post-pandemic Era

Abstract

This article presents a set of strategies to study the levels of technological innovation of the Ecuadorian textile companies in the post-pandemic period. As a secondary information source, data will be taken from national and international institutions and organizations which have current information about economic indices for Ecuador, in particular from the textile sector. Other interesting information sources are surveys and interviews applied to owners and managers for many companies randomly selected as primary sources. This methodology is based on surveys and the TASI2 method for measuring the levels of technological innovation in the Ecuadorian textile companies and establishing the influence of the textile clustering after the pandemic. Grouping several textile companies in clusters allows establishing common goals and projects for getting finance easily, setting strategies of technological innovation to step up competitiveness and productivity to develop levels of internationalization to compete at the post-pandemic period. A preliminary result suggests that the Ecuadorian textile industry should be agglomerated in clusters of focused subsectors, and that technological innovation together with the injection of capital are part of its future challenges, to be more competitive. This requires the training of the human resources necessary for its implementation. This work is fundamental for the Ecuadorian government in terms of the public policies to be implemented to have a more competitive textile company. Finally, clustering is directly related to competitiveness and innovation, hypotheses are raised about the challenges that the Ecuadorian textile companies to survive in a highly affected post-pandemic economy.