The structure and performance of American textile printing: Redefinition of an industry

The major purpose of this descriptive study was to gather data about the structure and performance of the American textile printing industry. Specifically, its objectives were: (1) to obtain data about the textile printing industry at the firm level; (2) to compare government statistics about the printing industry with data obtained from firms; (3) to investigate the performance of the printing industry with regard to profitability and productivity in 1986; and (4) to develop a profile of textile printing firms.; Data were collected using a self-administered survey questionnaire mailed to managers of 163 textile printing establishments in Fall 1987. Those firms censused were identified in Davison's Textile Blue Book. The response rate was 64.2%.; The independent structure variables were: geographic location; type of organizational structure; size of printing establishment; commission status; printing technology; product mix; and capital intensity. The two dependent variables which measured industry performance were defined as profitability and productivity. Data were analyzed using the Pearson product moment coefficient of correlation and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).; The responding firms differed with regard to productivity and size of firm. In the general analysis, productivity was related both to commission status and size of firm and type of ownership and size of firm. However, firm size was the more important factor in productivity than commission status particularly for multi-plant operations. The other finding was that profitability was not related to any of the other structure variables including size of establishment.; The descriptive profile which emerged from the respondents was an industry comprised of small, independently owned establishments located predominantly in the eastern United States. The profile of the contemporary printing firm which emerged from this research differed from the profile of the textile mill products industry described in the literature.