GLOBALIZATION AND MARKETING STRATEGY FORMULATION - A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE CLOTHING AND TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN ZIMBABWE

While the literature indicates that ‘openness’ plays a prominent role in explaining economic growth and productivity in firms, not much is known on how organizations in developing countries should react to changes in market competition resulting from by trade liberalization. Due to globalization, the marketing landscape has become more complex, thereby creating huge ‘knock-on’ effects on emerging and developing economies.

This paper reports on attempts to address the aforementioned through reporting on an exploratory qualitative study conducted among owners, customers, and relevant government officials of clothing and textile companies in Zimbabwe, to gain their perspectives on the challenges and impact of globalization on the industry and on marketing strategy.