The Hindu Business Line : `Textile enterprises must focus on customer relationship'

WITH the shift in the dynamics of textile businesses towards buyers-market orientation, the textile enterprises especially those run on traditional lines need to change focus on marketing with emphasis on customer relationship management, according to Mr Vijay Venkataswamy, Chairman of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA).

Speaking at the `International conference on Textile and Clothing Management ` (ITCM 2004) here, the SIMA Chief felt that most textile enterprises, which were considered efficient players in terms of quality manufacture and right product presentation in a sellers' market of yesteryears, had to suffer setbacks in today's market environs, largely because they failed to adopt the management practices valid for the day.

Improved services based on customer relation management should be the underlining factor and textile companies' spending on acquiring professional marketing line-up would be the driving force in today's situation, he said.

With hardly three weeks left for the complete phasing out of the textile quotas, the domestic textile sector should ponder over whether the `pockets of excellence' in exports in textiles seen hitherto in the country could sustain beyond 2005.

These centres of export excellences could thrive because they in a quota-restriction driven exports regime, could conveniently offer themselves as flexible supply base for outsourcing of small volume. Whereas in the new globalised textile regime, the emphasis in business outsourcing would shift towards high volume supplies where the medium and large companies would assume importance from the textile/clothing importing countries, Mr Venkataswamy added.

The three-day conference being jointly organised by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Textile Management and the city-based PSG College of Technology in association with the Textile Institute's southern India section was earlier inaugurated by Mr A. Elangovan, Secretary in the Department of Handlooms, Textiles and Khadi, Tamil Nadu Government.

Mr Elangovan pointed out that with the quota phase-out next year, value addition in textile manufacture would determine India's competitiveness in textile exports and emphasis on integrated manufacture with all textile production happening under the composite mill structure would be the need of the hour to bring down cost of manufacture and enhance export competitiveness.

He wanted the textile producers operating in fragments in the State should see opportunity to grow under the Government-supported initiatives such as the hi-tech weaving parks/apparel parks being promoted in Tamil Nadu.

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