PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT IN

BRITISH TEXTILE INDUSTRIES

BY

S. M. A. SADDICKAND G. S. C. WILLS
Introduction
Marketing studies have continually manifested a tendency towards norma-
tive conceptual statements about areas of vital concern to business.l The
price paid is a decreasing technological validity of much that is written in
textbooks on the subject. Perhaps the most recidivistic area has been ‘product
strategy and management’ which undeniably lies at the heart of marketing’s
claim to a major voice in corporate planning activity. The product is nor-
mally the company’s sole revenue generator and attention to its health can
readily be seen as fundamental to successful operations.2
Such recidivism is scarcely alleviated by the continual repetition of
‘current best practice’ in marketing which almost invariably means the way
a few of the more public-relations conscious, untypically large businesses, in
fast-moving consumer goods industries, set about developing product
strategies and undertaking their management. Such firms undergo a process
of continuous innovation, and have evolved techniques of venture analysis,3
relying on new enterprise divisions or task forces to sidestep the present/
future management dichotomy which is ever present in largelmedium and
small concerns. Bayesian decision theory, even d.c.f., are unheard of and
certainly unused in such organi~ations.~ The product strategy and manage-
ment problem is seldom faced because managements are absorbed with
problems of their present operations.
Blakey and McGuire’5 in a pilot study of innovation and organization
structures in the wool textile industry found there a striking lack of innova-
tion of any form, and new product introduction the exception rather than the
1 Neil Borden’s formulation of the marketing mix concept at Harvard in 1944 is the clearest
instance of a normative statement of the marketing activity for a firm.See Borden, Neil, ‘The
Concept of the Marketing Mix’, in Schwartz, G, (ed.), Science in Murketing, New York John
Wiley and Sons, 1965.
a This theme and formal product range and audit procedures for large firms are fully developed
in Drucker, P., Mawagingfor Results, London: Heinemann, 1964.
3 The major contributions here include: Hanan, M., ‘Corporate Growth Through Venture
Management’, Harvurd Business Review, Vol. 47, No. I,1969;O’Meara, J. T.,‘Selecting Profitable
Products for Development,’ Hurvard Business Review, Vol. 39, No. I, 1961;Pessemier, E.A,, Nm
Product Decisions, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.
4 N.E.D.O., Znvestmenf Appraisal, London: H.M.S.O., 1963.
SBlakey, N., and McGuire, A., Innovation in the Woollen and W o r d Indus&y, University of
Bradford Management Centre Project Report, I 967.
64 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRIJARY

rule. Most product changes introduced were classifiable as ‘alterations to

existing lines’. Rainie6 has suggested that the pattern, or as he termed it ‘the
basic handicap, is an inability to shake off the attitudes of a craft-based
family business, and to develop or acquire the management organization and
technique of a progressive industrial organization’.
Within the engineering industries as a whole (we shall be concerned there
solely with textile engineering) Hammouda’ has reported that ‘in the applica-
tion of the concept of product planning, the personalities of management
(its philosophies and attitudes) and the environmental circumstances within
which the firms operate, are the major factors which affect the evaluation and
development of product planning. The former factor (the personalities of
management) appears to be the more important of the two.’ He continues:
‘biased attention to the technical activity at the expense of marketing activities
is a common phenomenon’. Liander*has reported in a similar vein concerning
the dominance of technical consideration over marketing in theE.E.C. at large.
Only when we switch to big company evidence, as in Udell’s examina-
tiong of key elements in competitive strategies amongst the leading 200 firms
in the U.S.A., does ‘product research and development’ rise to anything
like the normative status we give it textually. Udell found 79 per cent of his
top zoo perceiving ‘product research and development as one of the five
most vital sectors for corporate marketing success’. (There can be little
doubt that ‘product research and development’ is not synonymous with
‘product strategy and management’. It seems a reasonable assumption to
make, however, that most firms with the former will have the latter even if
only by implication in their R. & D. strategies.)
The challenge to normative thinking about the formalized way in which
product strategy and management should be undertaken which this frag-
mentary medium and small firm evidence presented, led to an empirical
examination of this area of marketing activity within three sectors of the
textile industries. As we expected, and as we and other colleagues had found
earlier in respect to the total marketing mix concept,lO all was not normative.
In this paper we report what does in fact take place in terms of product

Rainie, G. F., The Woolien and Worsted Industry, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965, pp. 86-7.
Hammouda, M. A. A., The Concept of Product Planning and the Contribution of Marketing to the
PIanning ActivitieJ in the Engineering Industty, unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Manchester,
1968,.PP. $04-s.
Liander, B., Marketing Development in the E.E.C., New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.
O Udell, J. G., ‘How Important is Pricing in Competitive Strategy?’,Jownaiof Marketing, Vol. 2 8 ,
No. I , 1964, pp. 44-8, reprinted in Taylor, B., and Wills, G. S. C., (eds.),Pricing StrateB, London,
Staples Press, 1969, pp. 317-27.
lo See Mann, J., The Nominal and Effective Status of Chief Marketing Executives in Yorkshire
Industry, Proceedings of 2nd Conference of Teachers of Marketing, University of Bradford
Management Centre, 1967; also Hayhurst, R., Mann, J., Saddick, S. M. A., and Wills, G. S. C.,
Organicationa/ Design for Marketing Futwer, London: Thos. Nelson, 1970, Part 3.
1977 PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT I N BRITISH TEXTILE GI
strategy and planning within the textile machinery, wool textile and dothing
industries, together with their explanation as to why capable, competent,
and in many cases apparently very successful organizations within their own
industrial environments, deviate from textbook norms. We suggest that this
is the unavoidable preliminary analysis which must be undertaken before
we can presume to give advice to these industrial sectors on how to do
things ‘better’ or in any ‘optimal’ manner. As such, our research study is
intended to act as a modifying influence in the codification of marketing
technology for all save the very large enterprise, and as a caution even to
them when they become technique-bound and inflexible in their approach
to product strategy and management.
A. The Sample and Research Method
This paper reports evidence from a wider ranging examination of all
aspects of marketing practice within three selected sectors of the British
textile industries - those covering textile engineering, wool textiles and
clothing.llJ2 The investigation involved two stages; thirty-six in-depth
company interviews ranging from one day to two weeks duration each, and
322 completed postal questionnaires constituting a j 3 per cent response
rate from the sample contacted. The postal universe was all companies in the
three sectors listed in the current edition of Kompass Directory with over
twenty-five employees. Questionnaires were answered by chief executives
within the companies, and all responses were received during summer 1968.
The thirty-six in-depth interviews were made with those companies who
agreed to collaborate on the basis of a judgmental sample of seventy-two
(a j o per cent response rate). Judgment was used to select a cross-section of
firm sizes and structures within each of the three sectors. The purpose of this
initial stage was to generate worthwhile hypotheses for quantification and
qualitative information to afford some explanations of the emerging
statistics. The statistical significance of the qualitative data is hence of a
lower order than the postal study.
Sector postal sumey sample factors and response patterns are given in
Table I. The samples contacted within wool textile and clothing sectors
were selected by an interval sampling procedure from an alphabetical listing
within regional strata. A census was undertaken within the textile engineering
sector.
Whilst response rates of jo and j 3 per cent in the two stages of this
l1 The full results of the investigation are given in Saddick, S. M. A., Murketing in the Woof
Textile, Textile Machinery and Clothing Industries, University of Bradford Management Centre,
April 1969; 1 7 guineas.
Saddick, S. M. A., ‘Marketing Orientation and Organizational Design’, Britisb Journal of
Murketing, Vol. 2, No.4, 1968, describes in considerable detail the marketing organization struc-
tures currently in use.
5
66 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY

TABLE I
TEXTILE
SECTOR RESPONSE PATTERNS FOR QUANTIFICATION STUDY

Total
Industrial sector Positive response Negative response No response approatbed Universe
N= % N= % N= % N% N=
TexfiIemachinery 73 65 4 4 93 10 II0 II0
Wool textiles
Texti/es I34 54 I2 5 104 41 210 748
C/otbing IOI 40 I0 4 ‘39 56 210 763
308 70 26 4 216 71 610 1621

investigation are undoubtedly good by normal criteria for this type of study,
we took special steps to check so far as possible on the representativeness
of those who had replied. In stage I , all non-respondent firms had been
contacted by telephone initially to request permission for an interview
following a letter announcing the conduct and nature of the study. Refusals
were in four main groupings - lack of time to collaborate; engagement of
late in similar studies; undergoing reorganization; felt the study to be
irrelevant. The first category accounted for 60 per cent of all refusals.
A similar pattern of reasoning was given by the sample of twenty non-
responding postal survey companies who were contacted by telephone.
A new category appeared however - those who declined as a matter of
corporate policy. On further discussion, fourteen of these twenty companies
completed the questionnaire and returned it. Analysis did not indicate any
particularly unusual characteristic inherent in the non-respondent com-
panies which would lead us to doubt that our sample of firms was representa-
tive of the universe in the study’s key dimensions.
In this study company size was defined as: small >z4 but <zoo; medium
> 199but < 500; large >499 employees.
3.Prevalent Product Policies
We have seen that the need for a product policy has been consistently
emphasized in the literature; it specifies a company’s product objectives, the
types of product and/or service it should offer, and the market(s) at which
the business should aim. Such a strategy can orient effort and set
criteria for the selection of product avenues to corporate success. It should
stem from the formalized, careful and skilful process of matching the
capabilities of a company to the opportunities of the markets it identifies as
its bailiwick.
One of the most significant facts which emerged from our research was the
lack of any acceptance or appreciation in most companies of any specific
need to develop formal product policies. Only one of the thirty-six companies
visited in-depth had a written-down product policy, and fully one-quarter
I97 I PRODUCT STRATEGY A N D MANAGEMENT IN BRITISH TEXTILES 67
of them reported that they had no general view of a corporate product policy
of any Iiind.
Such lack of formal clarity and attention manifests itself further in that
most companies visited take their extant field of business for granted. The
identification of ‘which market a business is in’ has normally been viewed as
perhaps the most fundamental of all decisions. It must of necessity be made
at least once, and the philosophy of a dynamic marketing concept requires
that it be revised continually thereafter. This need for revision is dictated by
constant change in the environment external to the company, and in germane
technology, as well as by shifts in the pattern of internal weaknesses and
strengths which can themselves by partially or wholly caused by external
factors.
The absence of any pattern of review of the field decision is particularly
demonstrated in the reluctance of managements to consider diversification
seriously. Very few companies report any readiness to diversify even in
face of potential profit opportunities. The majority reject diversification in
principle without any attempt to support their attitudes in terms of the
existence of sufficient opportunities in their existing product fieIds. Most
advance explanations which usually amount to field inertia, an attitude of
resistance to change. The postal survey revealed that one-third of companies
had never given any consideration to the possibility of diversification. We
do not wish to propose that diversification is necessarily the right answer to
achieve business growth and health. What we do question is the validity of
the attitude which refuses even to consider the possibility of change. It is
epitomized by such comments as: ‘It never occurred to us’; ‘We have enough
trouble on our hands’; or ‘We’d better concentrate on what we know, which
is always better than what we do not know’. All three comments were made
by chief executives of companies which have been experiencing a decline
in their turnover and profitability in recent years. Resistance to change also
seems to account for the marked reluctance of most companies to search for
opportunities in sub-sectors of their existing industries which they have not
so far tackled. The focus of operations in particular sub-sectors seems to be
a matter of heritage rather than deliberation.
All concepts of the product line seemed to rest on manufacturing rather
than on market or marketing considerations. One company’s managing
director commented: ‘Our policy is simply to produce goods that are suited
to our machines.’
All companies did not reject normative concepts so vigorously. Textile
machinery companies generally had a wider concept of product line than
companies in the two other sectors. A number of wool textile companies
had in fact developed appropriate strategies to enter new fields of business,
strategies stemming from their conviction that old markets are either
68 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY

saturated, declining, or involve too much competition. Whilst many com-

panies were unaware of market segmentation analysis and attempted to be
all things to all people within their industrial sector, others were making
effective use of segmentation, especially clothing companies. Inter-relation-
ships of demand on the other hand received markedly less attention and that
largely within the clothing industry.
Innovation Poliy
Little effort was directed by the majority of companies toward the develop-
ment and introduction of new products. Many companies reported that the
only innovation they undertook was the improvement of their existing
products. Several reasons were advanced to explain this behaviour. Some
companies indicated that their small size limited their ability to invest in
research and development. They behave as they do because they cannot do
otherwise, and some argued that even if they did succeed in developing a new
product at a cost which they could bear, they would not be in a position to
take full advantage of it because of the strength of competitors who could
produce substitutes in no time. Other companies followed this course
because it was thought to be safer and easier. Still others postulated that
there was nothing new under the sun, and hence very little room for innova-
tion. One managing director observed: ‘We are producing and selling
virtually the same lines which we started with forty years ago. What enabled
us to survive for forty years is able to carry us through for any period of
time to come.’
Nevertheless, some companies reported that their innovation effort was
directed both to improvements of existing products as well as development
of new products and new processes. One wool textile company reported
‘Because we have got to keep our lines up to date in terms of fashion we
have to fill any gaps in our line; we have to look for growth opportunities by
introducing new cloths which we can profitably make and sell; we have to
look for new applications for our products; and we have to investigate our
processes continually to increase efficiency. We also watch for opportunities
outside the clothing industry, outside the wool textile industry, and outside
the textile industry as a whole.’
Generally, three patterns of orientation in the innovation process were
identified:
I. Prod.wtion-J‘;?cilities orientation; under which the company regards
innovation as a process of developing improved versions of the same
products or less frequently new products which are suited to its production
facilities. ‘You have got to take advantage of the facilities you have and
confine yourself to what they can do. Then you have to convince customers
that this is what they should buy. We do not think of something which our
T 97 I PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT IN BRITISH TEXTILES 69
machines cannot do.’ (Managing director, wool textiles.) Thus, the starting
point is not what the market wants but what the existing machines can
produce. Half the companies in these textile sectors conform to this pattern,
and not just the smaller enterprises.
2. Prodttct orientation; under which the policy is to press for a technically
superior product. Technical superiority is the main asset and hence research
and development is a much more important function than under other
patterns. Less than a quarter of the sample comparies, mostly from textile
machinery, adopt this approach. These companies tend more than others to
introduce novel products.
3. Marketing orientation; under which the company endeavours to make
products which are wanted by the market. The comment made by a dothing
managing director illustrates this approach: ‘Satisfaction of customers is
what we are here for; they are the only road to success and the only guarantee
against the future. Hence, our product policy is to introduce whatever styles,
designs, weights or materials our customers want.’
Almost all textile machinery companies report, not surprisingly, that
fashion considerations seldom affect their process of innovation. Companies
in wool textiles and clothing pay considerable attention to the fashion
element.13 Their behaviour can be classified under three patterns.
I . Fashion creation; very few companies in the study indicate that their
policy is to set new trends in fashion. Where they do, however, their image
is built around being leaders in fashion.
2. Fashion following; the majority of companies report that they do not
attempt to create fashion, or to influence a change in consumer tastes from a
fashion point of view. They are content to follow it.
3. Fashion antagonism; a very small number of companies pay no attention
to fashion either because the users of their products are thought to be far
from fashion-conscious, or because they believe that mass production of
standard lines pay better dividends.

Differentiation and Varieo Policy

Most companies in wool textiles and clothing report a policy of wide
variety, which is considered to be most essential. In designing products to
meet needs they attempt to achieve extensive rather than selective coverage.
The product range is not designed to solve selected consumer problems but
to embrace all or most needs which could exist. A basic reason for this
behaviour is the uncertainty of the manufacturer as to what the customer
wants, as this comment demonstrates: ‘Since we are not sure about the
market, we introduce forty to fifty items and hope that three or four of them
13 Wills, G. S. C., and Christopher, M. G., review this facet more fully in, ‘What do We Know
About Fashion Marketing?’ Marketing World, Vol. I, No. I , 1969,pp. 1-17.
70 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY

will hit the target. Other people can be more certain and shoot only one or
two bullets which, they know, will hit the target. As for us, we cater for a
big variety of tastes, qualities, etc., to cover all possibilities, and expect a
few to achieve the object.’ (Managing director, wool textiles.)
This policy of wide ranges, it may be argued, is the extreme marketing
orientation case, of attempting to satisfy all customers! However, trying to
be all things to all people is normally reckoned as poor corporate strategy.
Effective segmentation requires a company to concentrate on carefully
selected groups of needs which it can serve best. The argument that com-
panies are aiming at all groups of customers’ needs, and can serve them all
best, is superficial. The much more Iikely reason for adopting such a policy,
far from the desire to satisfy known wants, is to hedge in the face of un-
certainty. Large proportions of R & D can be wasted on the development of
items that stand little chance of selling. The company knows it is a wasted
effort, but does not know how to determine which part to cut. This situation
focuses on a lack of knowledge about demand and an inability to improve
that knowledge due to lack of resources. In such circumstances many
companies feel they have no choice but to follow such a course. Whilst t h y
feel thy can afford t o introduce products which never sell, the irony is that they feel
thy cannot afford t o find oat what will sell in advance.
Use of New Prodacts as a Competitive Weujon
The majority of companies do not regard new products as a major element
in their competitive strategies. Prevalent attitudes in wool textile companies
suggest that development of new products is not their business; it is a task
which should be accomplished by the machinery makers. Conversely,
machinery and clothing manufacturers tend to criticize the wool textile
industry for its lack of appreciation of the need for development and for its
reluctance to undertake any notable innovative activity. For their part,
clothing companies tend to assume that there is very little scope for innova-
tion at their end and hence new products cannot be relied upon in their
competitive strategies. In contrast, the majority of machinery companies
indicate their use of new products as a major competitive weapon. We
found significant patterns of company behaviour by sector in these textile
industries with machinery companies most concerned with new products
as a source of competitive advantage, and clothing companies least con-
cerned. Large companies tend to be marginally more frequent users of new
products as a competitive weapon than small or medium sized firms.
Use of New Prodacts as a Growth Tool
Almost all companies report growth as a major objective. It can normally
be expected to emerge by tackling the serious obstacles to growth that are
I97I PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT I N BRITISH TEXTILES 71
encountered since they exert a significant influence on the choice of strategy.
Managements emphasized the following obstacles, cited in order of frequency
of mention:
I, Decline in total market demand; this factor was widely and predominantly
mentioned in wool textiles and textile machinery companies.
2. Severe competition from home and foreign mantlfacturers; this factor was
mentioned across all industries.
3, Shortage of labour; only wool textiles and clothing companies mentioned
this factor.
4. Lack offinance; in all sectors and most frequently in smaller com-
panies.
5 . Lack nzanagerial resotlrces; some companies find this the most in-
superable obstacle of all.
The product/market combinations implicitly adopted as the basis for
growth strategies in the thirty-six companies where in-depth inter-
views were made can be categorized in terms of the Ansoaan matrix14 as
follows:
Old products to old markets - 3 3 companies
Old products to new markets - 3 companies
New products to old markets - IZ companies
New products to new markets - 2 companies
Although some companies indicated more than one approach, nothing
approaching a development portfolio was to be found along the classic
lines we are led to anticipate in normative models.
The obstacles already reported scarcely indicate much chance of success
through the first combination as a path to growth. Yet it predominates. Lack
of virtually any propensity for the development of new markets is note-
worthy; reliance on new products as a major growth tool is obviously very
low.
In the postal study companies these indications of growth strategies were
quantified. Companies were asked whether they relied mainly on existing
products, mainb on new products, or on both equally. Their replies can be
seen displayed in Table 11.
The majority of companies do not regard new products as a major growth
tool. More use is made of them in the growth strategies of textile machinery
companies than among wool textile companies which are, in turn, more prone
to use them than clothing companies. With such a low propensity to use
new products as the basis for growth, it is perhaps not surprising that only
a small minority report the use of test marketing. An oddly assorted set of
14 Ansoff, H. I., Corporate Sfraregv, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965;Penguin Books, 1969.
72 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY

TABLE
I1
STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH - ANALYSIS BY SECTOR
Textiles sector TextiIe
machinmy Wool fsxtifeJ Clothing
Growth attempted No. yo No. % No. yo
Mainly fbrougb exilfingpro&iJ 43 57 92 68 84 76
Main4 ihrough new products 30 39 36 26 I9 '7
Through both cowscs eqdly 3 4 7 5 6 S
Not indicated - - I I I I

TOTAL 76 IOO 136 IOO 1x0 99

reasons was advanced as follows:

I. There is little production for stock, and many lines are merely dummies.
2. The cost/benefit of the situation rules out market testing.
3. Competition is feared or quick action is important.
4. The company does not believe in the efficacy of test marketing as an
indicator of market performance, particularly in fashion sectors.
The majority of companies believe test marketing is useless, too costly,
or unnecessary in the light of the product strategies they deem appropriate
for their sector of the textile industries.
There is a wide divergence between textile machinery companies and the
other two sectors in the extent of test marketing; while 45 per cent of the
former indicate use, only 20 per cent of the latter do so. A similar gap exists
between large and all other companies; while 46 per cent of large companies
report its use, only 20 per cent medium and small companies do so. Use of
test marketing was also significantly associated with whether the company
had a formally trained chief marketing executive and whether its chief
executive had a favourable attitude toward the marketing concept. (This
may, of course, be no more than a measure of the professional influence of a
single function in the firm.)

C.Systems of Product Planning and Development

In order to gain further insight into the innovative behaviour of the textile
sectors examined it was necessary to examine closely the process of product
planning and development and the informational and philosophical environ-
ment of that process. Emphasis was placed on how decisions are made, by
whom, and in what sequence. This type of examination does not lend itself
to the format of a postal questionnaire, and it was consequently confined to
the qualitative stage of the research with the thirty-six companies which were
studied in depth.
I971 PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT I N BRITISH TEXTILES 73
As a result of this examination two basic systems of company product
planning and development behaviour were identified. Although there is
every possibility that these two patterns may overlap in practice, they are
analysed separately because of the distinct characteristics of each.

Present-mix Oriented Model

The first pattern which we propose to describe as Present-mix Orientation
can be illustrated as the flow model shown as Fig. I. This empirical model
analyses the process of product planning and development in wool textile
and clothing companies. Some of these companies supplement this pattern
with the second pattern which is discussed later.

Chief

Solst a1

HOW mony more

Product items do we
StOtlStlCS on Soles want?
or deletion

r
Chief PP Chief
Execu- Corrmiftec Morkeling
five Execuhve

- IttW Productiwr
Full
scale
Produc-
tion and
Disfribu-
-
Final Range
I Con-
tinued
iines
2 New
~
Decision
on
Selected
Items
- Judge-
ment -
Proto-
typs - Doubt
ful
idaos
-
- Selection
Screening ond
of Consider

tion add? - In exceptimol cases

Seemin(l suitable new Ideas
?tons -ly@ 1 Ideas
onb
t
-
ide-
. .
Sources of ideas

press
emioy
ee5
2;-
ordea-
Fashion Corn-
pet!
R
ond customers
Iers lion D
I

The product planning and development activity is a continuing process

from one year to another, or from one season to another. The company
starts the process with a list of extant products and not with a list of new
product ideas. Last year’s sales performance of all items on the present
product range is assessed to sort out the items which did succeed (in terms of
sales volume) from the items which did not. The Product Planning Com-
mittee (P.P.C.) carries out this assessment. This is a process analogous to the
popularly prescribed Product Range Audit.16
l5 See Drucker: P., op. cit.
74 T H E JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY

On the basis of this assessment a decision is taken on each item, either to

continue or discontinue it, by the P.P.C./chief executivelchief marketing
executive, depending on who is assigned the authority to make such product
decisions. As a result of this decision a number of items are identified from
the present range which will continue to appear on the range during the next
period.
The next task of the P.P.C. is to decide how many more items should be
added to the range to replace discontinued lines. This decision is an attempt
to keep the breadth of the range in line with the company’s variety and
differentiation policy. At this stage there may be changes in policy stemming
from discussions among P.P.C. members. When the decision is reached on
the approximate number of new items to be added to the range, movement can
be made to the next stage.
New product ideas are assembled drawing on a number of sources which
include press, employees, suppliers or dealers, fashion shows, competitors,
research and development staff, and customers. The P.P.C. assesses the merits
of these ideas and selects a number of them to go through the prototype
stage. In exceptional cases, e.g. when a competitive product is being copied,
the final go-ahead decision may be taken at this stage, and the research and
development staff will be instructed to prepare the product for full-scale
production. Even if a prototype is developed in these exceptional cases, it
will be a matter of production requirements rather than for the purpose of
revising the go-ahead decision which has already been given at the screening
stage.
Apart from these exceptional cases, the normal course of events is to
develop a prototype within R & D or the production department for all
provisionally accepted ideas. Having developed these prototypes the P.P.C.
meets again to evaluate all developed product alternatives. On the basis of
these evaluations, a selection of new products gets the final go-ahead from
the P.P.C./chief executive/chief marketing executive, depending on who
wields ultimate authority. This final selection of new products together with
those products continuing from the previous range, constitutes the new
product range which will be offered next cycle round. At the end of the
following season or year this new range. will itself constitute the next starting
point for the product planning process.
I . Procedures: The present-mix oriented model of product planning
behaviour does not attempt to garner the information which we would
normally consider vital to make almost any decisions at almost any stage.
Opinions of managers, albeit frequently successful, seem to be the most
important basis for making choices. Only one piece of formally collated
information is widely used, namely sales figures, but apart from this there
are very few formalized sets of facts to guide product decisions.
I97 I PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT I N BRITISH TEXTILES 71
Furthermore, the characteristic search for new products here is passive,
rather than an active effort directed continuously towards the identification
of new ideas. No procedures are employed to ensure a steady flow of new
ideas in the model.
Giving the final ‘go ahead’ to some ideas at the screening stage is normally
viewed as dangerous practice. Furthermore, the approval of the final selection
on the opinions of managers with very little, if any, direct information from
the market place is normally regarded askance. Test marketing is not em-
ployed by most such companies.
2. Pbi/mp!y: This model illustrates a stattts quo philosophy where manage-
ment is so preoccupied with its present product mix that its product planning
activity is in most cases a mere revision of that mix. The model does not
provide a suitable environment for any constant effort to discover new ideas
and to develop new products for old or completely new markets which are
emerging to undermine present patterns of business. The model is therefore
consistent with the attitude of management which is reluctant to change and
is content to carry on as before. For example, if at the stage of evaluating the
present range it was decided that all items were to be continued, the proba-
bility is very high that companies would skip all subsequent stages involving
exploration for new ideas and new opportunities arising from new market
needs, and continue to produce and distribute in the same way as for the
previous period.
Despite these apparently fundamental weaknesses, the model provides a
framework which successfully integrates most elements of product planning
and development. With a refinement of some of its procedures, a reappraisal
of the attitudes of those working it, and the addition of the elements of the
product planning and development process which are missing from it, the
model could perhaps be even more successful for such firms as employ it
than it has already proved to be.

Innovation Oriented Alodel

Figure z presents a flow model which illustrates the second pattern of
company behaviour with regard to product planning and development. It
follows to a greater extent the normative text-book models of product plant
ning and development. l6 Eight textile machinery companies follow this
pattern exclusively, and four clothing and two wool textile companies
adopt it to supplement their major product planning and development activity

1 6 Ashton, D., Gotharn, P., and Wills, G. S. C., ‘Conditions Favourable to Product Innovation’,
Scientqc Business, Vol. 3 , No. I, 1965, pp. 24-39, reprinted in Taylor, B., and Wills, G. S. C.,
(eds.), Long Range Planning for Marketing and DivwnFcafion, Crosby Lockwood for Bradford
University Press, 1970.
76 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY
I
Exhbi- Com- Press Custo- R EI$- Persaninchorgsof
lions petit- mers and oyees Product decisions or
tion D P P.C.
1 1 1 I

Top Management Souices Product Planning

Committee (P.P C.)
Search
for
Ideas
mainlylin charge

by P P C or Persons
Test of market
acceptance
Desiwon on Technica i
whether to
prcgi ess
ved
Test

PIG. 2. THE SECOND PATTERN OF PRODUCT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT - INNOVATION

ORIENTATION

which takes place under the first pattern. The group of companies which
adopts this pattern cuts across all size classifications.
The process of product planning and development starts with company
objectives which will influence the choice or the revision of product fields,
These product fields do not necessarily have to be within the limits of a
present field of operations. Rather, management is preoccupied with the
idea of exploiting a y attractive opportunities which may lie within or outside
the boundaries of present product/market mix. The setting of any constraints
at this stage rests with top management.
Having decided on this, an active search for ideas within the defined pro-
duct fields is carried out by technical and marketing personnel. This search
cannot be regarded as being generally highly organized to ensure a steady
flow of new ideas. There are wide variations from one company to another
in this respect. Reliance on research and development, exhibitions, and
competitors as sources for new ideas is heavier than reliance on customers.
In that sense, the search is technically-oriented or imitation-oriented rather
than customer-oriented. A few companies, however, report that their main
source of new ideas is customers’ problems.
Next comes evaluation of ideas. The tendency observed is to combine all
steps of evaluation - screening, technical feasibility, and business analysis -
in one process. Only a few companies conceive these steps as separate stages
1971 PRODUCT STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT I N BRITISH TEXTILES 77
of evaluation with separate terms of reference. The information input in this
process is more adequate than practices under the first pattern. Selection of
a number of ideas to pass through to subsequent stages is made by the
P.P.C., the chief executive, or the chief marketing executive, depending
on who is authorized to make the decision. Once approval for an idea is
obtained, the development stage starts with the building of a prototype.
Technical testing follows and there may be modifications as a result of
technical tests. Market acceptance testing is the next task and here a variety
of methods to conduct these tests was recorded. In textile machinery, for
example, the company may invite a number of selected customers to attend
demonstrations and to express their view on the merits of the new product
regardless of whether they will buy it or not. Whenever well founded, these
views will result in modifications. These customers’ reactions also largely
constitute the basis for the decision to launch the new product. Three
companies in clothing, all large, conduct market tests in the full sense of the
term. Many companies do not carry out any tests of market acceptance.
A number of reasons are reported which were synonymous with those
described earlier. Company policy and discussions at the P.P.C. will indicate
whether a test of market acceptance is advised.
If the results of the tests indicate a go-ahead, or if there is no market test,
the launching stage is reached. Here we find that nearly all companies adopting
this pattern undertake some form of impersonal promotion but with widely
varying degrees of sophistication and intensity. Market reaction to the new
product is then fed back to management and may effect new changes,
new courses of action, or even a reconsideration of company objectives.
Whilst the present-mix oriented company approaches its product planning
and development activity with a narrow outlook, the innovation-oriented
company starts more appropriately with a statement of its objectives -
profits, growth, etc. From there it defines those product fields it can legiti-
mately enter whether they fall within or without the boundaries of the
present field of operations. The focus in this second pattern is on making
and/or identifying new opportunities and discovering new ideas which are
capable of achieving company objectives. This is what we normally view as
the more appropriate environment for innovation. This innovation-oriented
pattern of behaviour conforms broadly with the pattern implied in the
marketing concept. There are, however, wide variations among companies
adopting this pattern in the extent of their customer orientation.

D. Conclurions
There is no doubt that practices in the textile industries sectors examined
diverge from the predominant normative approaches. New product strategy
78 THE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES FEBRUARY

and management in these sectors is not what the textbooks lead us to suppose
it ought to be. Are these firms just backward or are our models deficient?
Ultimately, the answer will depend on a comparison of the assumed objec-
tives behind the textbook models and the operationally effective objective
of the business studied.
To take a prime example, almost all companies agreed that growth was a
major objective, but few were manifestly prepared to pay the full price of
securing the maximum theoretical potential available to them. Personality
and environmental constraints hold business back from the total pursuit of
the sort of goals which normative marketing models posit. The lesson should
be salutary for our teaching efforts and for our research. It focuses attention
on the need for a much closer examination of the true goals of business and
the function of marketing in meeting them.
The marketing textbooks are making an arrogant value judgment, the
sort economists are continually criticized for, when it is suggested that reluc-
tance to change is a wrong attitude to adopt. Company goals are formulated
through a process of trade-offs between such a legitimate reluctance and
possible greater reward in terms of net cash flow.
Xone the less, there seems to be ample evidence that sheer ignorance is at
times leading to misallocation of effort and resource. Here, sensibly moderate
views of the role of product strategy and management can surely be of con-
siderable benefit to the firms engaged in these industries. The most obvious
area is perhaps to be found in the proliforation of market offerings in the
face of uncertainty rather than making a bold attempt to eliminate some of
that uncertainty,
We have also, however, been made particularly aware of the constrained
pattern of options available to a small resource business, to the business
which is virtually unable to influence the general course of produce develop-
ment in its sector of operations. Much product policy is of necessity limited
to applications engineering or direct imitation, rather than the grander
alternatives of first-to-market and follow-the-leader so often mentioned in
product strategy m0de1s.l~
Finally, we have discussed an empirically viable pattern of product
strategy and management for businesses operating in a seasonal market. This
in itself is a facet of product planning which has not hitherto been examined
in the literature to our knowledge.

Ansoff, H. I., and Stewart, J. M., ‘Strategies for a ’Technology-Based Business’, Uuwurd
Business Review, Vol. 45, No. 6, 1967.