| Hong Kong textile and clothing industry (HKTCI) has evolved from a low-cost supplier into a world-class textile and fashion centre. The objective of this study is to develop a 'Technometric' model for measuring the technology development of HKTCI using 3 'Technometric' performance attributes, i.e., 'product', 'process' and 'service', and to apply the model to evaluate the technological development of the industry and analyse the relationship between the technological performance levels of the industry and the change of Hong Kong's industrial policy. The objective is achieved through the following steps:; Firstly, a mathematical model of the 'Technometric' model was developed for quantitative description of the technological development in an industry on the basis of the 'Technometric' approach developed for measuring the technology strategy of a firm at the micro-micro level through 'Technometric' feature-by-feature comparison of individual products in a dynamic perspective.; Secondly, the design and development of the theoretical framework - 'Technometric' performance attributes were developed for measuring technological change of the TC industry.; Thirdly, an instrument was developed to measure the technological development of the TC industry and pilot test was conducted to determine the significance and relationship of 5 key indicators and the 3 'Technometric' performance attributes in measuring the technological development of the TC industry.; Fourthly, an enhanced 'Technometric' model was applied to evaluate the levels of technological development of HKTCI by analyzing the results of industrial survey using the instrument developed.; Then, the 'Technometric' indices for all the indicators were calculated for each of 30 Hong Kong TC companies, from which the overall 'Technometric' indices for the 5 key indicators (i.e., 'productivity', 'quality', 'flexibility', 'skill' and 'innovation') were defined and computed by aggregating the indices of individual indicators in each category respectively.; Finally, the development patterns of the overall output indices of the 5 key indicators were analyzed for the 3 'Technometric' performance attributes separately.; Therefore, it was concluded that it is critical for Hong Kong Government to pay special attention to develop and implement more constituents of 'Technology Policy' in order to achieve sustainable competitiveness of HKTCI. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
