Organisational change of the Singapore textile and garment manufacturing industry

• Main Authors: Chua, Chong Teck, Tan, Suan Boon, Tang, Wei Li
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55765
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This report presents a study on the textile and garment industry in Singapore. The primary objective of this study is to understand how firms in the industry are able to adapt to environmental changes. Majority of the firms who responded to the survey had a mechanistic structure. Studies have shown that organisations with a low-level of adaptation have a mechanistic structure (Jennings and Seaman, 1994). A detailed analysis on whether the structure of an organisation influences its ability to adapt to the dynamic environment was carried out. The results were contradictory to ·those found by Jennings and Seaman (1994), as no relationship was found between the level of adaptability of a firm and its structure. A discussion on the extent to which the structure of a firm varies with 3 dimensions, namely, complexity, formalisation, and centralisation, was also presented. Only formalisation was found to vary with the structure of the organisation. The study also sought to find out whether the availability of resources such as management expertise, capital, and labour, influences the adaptability of an organisation. A strong significance was found between the availability of resources and its ability to adapt. Some emphac;is was also placed on the extent to which the size of a firm varies with the degree of complexity, formalisation, and centralisation, which in tum influences the ability to adapt to changes. Findings concluded that even though firms become more complex and formalised as they grow larger, they can still adapt to environmental changes. Therefore, further research on the elements of resources should be useful to firms in the industry as it will provide a deeper understanding as to which type of resources can help improve their level of adaptation.