DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO …
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DSpace Institution DSpace Repository http://dspace.org Industrial Engineering Thesis 2021-05-12 DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO DEVELOP ETHIOPIAN CULTURAL CLOTHES INSPIRED FASHION USING SWOTANALYSIS- FUZZY TOPSIS MODEL ADUNE, DESSALU http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/12448 Downloaded from DSpace Repository, DSpace Institution's institutional repository
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DSpace Institution
DSpace Repository http://dspace.org
Industrial Engineering Thesis
2021-05-12
DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO
DEVELOP ETHIOPIAN CULTURAL
CLOTHES INSPIRED FASHION USING
SWOTANALYSIS- FUZZY TOPSIS MODEL
ADUNE, DESSALU
http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/12448
Downloaded from DSpace Repository, DSpace Institution's institutional repository
BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY
BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES
FACULTY OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO DEVELOP
ETHIOPIAN CULTURAL CLOTHES INSPIRED FASHION USING SWOT-
ANALYSIS-FUZZY TOPSIS MODEL
By: ADUNE DESSALU
Advisor: BERIHUN BIZUNEH (Ph.D.)
May 12, 2021
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
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DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO DEVELOP
ETHIOPIAN CULTURAL CLOTHES INSPIRED FASHION USING SWOT-
ANALYSIS-FUZZY TOPSIS MODEL
By: ADUNE DESSALU
A MASTER’S THESIS SUBMITTED TO BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTERS DEGREE IN THE INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT IN THE
FACULTY OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Advisor: BERIHUN BIZUNEH (Ph.D.)
May 12, 2021
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank God for everything he has done for me. Of course, there are no single
seconds he left me alone. He gave me the power to do something and for anything I have
done better, God is to be thanked! I would also like to give my gratitude to Berihun Bizune
(Ph.D.), my advisor, for all of his grateful support and guidance. I similarly like to
acknowledge Mrs. Anna Getaneh, the owner and managing director of African Mosaique,
for helping me through collecting research data by facilitating her top managers for
meetings and discussions. And all respondents who have participated in this research are
having my pleasured gratitude.
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ABSTRACT
New product development (NPD) is the process of converting new ideas linked to a
product, into products that could be sold in the market successfully. The phases of NPD
include several important steps such as market studies, product development,
commercialization, and the introduction of market analysis. NPD is critical to the
development and success of many firms. Hence, in environments of quick technological
revolution, rapidly changing customer demands like in fashion industries, industrialists
must be cognizant of the strategy of developing new products and/or process innovations
in evolving changes in environment and technologies. Formal NPD strategy includes
specific product concept statements, target markets, and structured project portfolio
management, which means, the NPD strategy defines what the organization aims to
achieve from its new products and offers strategic guidance for its NPD activities
Most importantly, the structure of an industry and national innovation systems can set the
conditions for innovation challenges by impacting the sources of information or input into
the creative process, the impact of standards and regulation, and the need for collaboration
and the types of business models that yield success. Therefore, this study is a systematic
journey of developing an NPD strategy for African Mosaique Enterprise Plc.
In this case internal (resource and capability of the firm) & external; political, economic,
socio-cultural, technological, legal & environmental (PESTLE) factors that may influence
the stated product development is investigated and evaluated as to be strength, weakness,
opportunities, and threat (SWOT). Based on these findings, NPD strategies were developed
and their importance value is evaluated by experts’ evaluation by fuzzy-Technique for
Order of Preference by similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) multi-criteria decision
making (MCDM) model. The result shows that incorporating social value in the NPD
process, product differentiating, and cost-minimizing product strategies are founded to top
three NPD strategies for the case company.
Keywords: Cultural clothes inspired fashion, NPD strategy, Fashion product
development, SWOT analysis, IFA, EFA, PESTLE analysis, TOWS matrix, fuzzy
TOPSIS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. ii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1
1.1 Background ...........................................................................................................1
1.1.1. Cultural clothes’ inspiration in FPD ............................................................. 2
1.2. Statement of the problem ......................................................................................4
1.3. The objective of the study .....................................................................................5
1.3.1. General objective .......................................................................................... 5
1.3.2. Specific objectives ........................................................................................ 5
1.4. Scope of the study .................................................................................................5
1.5. Significance of the study .......................................................................................6
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................7
2.1. New product development ....................................................................................7
2.2. The new product development process .................................................................7
2.3. New product development success determinants ................................................10
2.4. NPD process in the Fashion industry ..................................................................13
2.4.1. Design ......................................................................................................... 15
2.4.2. Production ................................................................................................... 17
2.4.3. Marketing .................................................................................................... 20
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2.5. Innovation in fashion industries ..........................................................................20
2.6. New product development Strategy formation ...................................................22
2.7. Environmental turbulences of FPD .....................................................................25
2.7.1. External /Macro-environmental factors ...................................................... 26
2.7.2. Internal factors /micro-environment factors ............................................... 29
2.8. SWOT analysis ....................................................................................................29
2.9. Literature gap ......................................................................................................33
HAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................35
3.1. Methods ...............................................................................................................35
3.2. Research design ...................................................................................................36
3.3. Data collection: ...................................................................................................36
3.4. Population and Sample design: ...........................................................................37
3.5. Data analyzing tools and Techniques: .................................................................38
3.5.1. External factors analysis-PESTLE Analysis ............................................... 38
3.5.2. Internal factor analysis (IFA) ...................................................................... 38
3.5.3. SWOT Analysis .......................................................................................... 39
3.5.4. TOWS matrix-strategy development framework ........................................ 40
3.5.5. Linguistic Fuzzy TOPSIS technique for MCDM model ............................ 41
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ......................................................46
4.1 PESTLE analysis- external environment factors evaluation ...............................46
4.1.1. Political factors ........................................................................................... 46
4.1.2. Economic factors ........................................................................................ 46
4.1.3. Social factors ............................................................................................... 47
4.1.4. Technological factors .................................................................................. 47
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4.1.5. Environmental factors ................................................................................. 48
4.1.6. Legal factors................................................................................................ 48
Internal Factors Evaluation .................................................................................49
SWOT Analysis...................................................................................................50
TOWS-matrix Strategy development ..................................................................51
4.4.1. Lists and descriptions of developed NPD strategies. .................................. 53
4.5. Ranking alternative strategies using fuzzy-TOPSIS MCDM tool. .........................57
4.5.1. NPD strategies ranking criteria in the Fashion industry ............................. 57
4.6. Discussion ...........................................................................................................60
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................64
5.1. Conclusion ...........................................................................................................64
5.2. Recommendations ...............................................................................................65
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................66
APPENDIX-1 ....................................................................................................................79
PESTLE- Analysis questionnaire ...................................................................................79
APPENDIX-2 ....................................................................................................................81
Interview questions for IFA ...........................................................................................81
APPENDIX 3 .....................................................................................................................83
Fuzzy TOPSIS calculation to Evaluate alternative NPD strategies performance ..........83
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
NPD: - New Product Development
FPD: - Fashion Product Development
SWOT: - Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat.
PESTLE: - Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Legal and Environment
IFA: - Internal Factor Analysis
EFA: - External Factor Analysis
TOWS: - Threat, Opportunity, Weakness, and Strength
AHP: - Analytical Hierarchy Process
ANP: - Analytical Network Process
TOPSIS: - Technique for Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution
TFN: - Triangular Fuzzy Number
FPIS: - Fuzzy Positive Ideal Solution
FNIS: - Fuzzy Negative Ideal Solution
CC: - Closeness Coefficient
AME: - African Mosaique Enterprise
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: NPD strategy development framework. ............................................................ 32
Figure 2: Research design ................................................................................................. 36
Figure 3: EFA & IFA integrated SWOT analysis ............................................................. 40
Figure 4: Importance value of NPD strategies .................................................................. 59
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Garment manufacturing operation breakdown ................................................... 18
Table 2: TOWS matrix-strategy development framework, .............................................. 41
Table 3: Summary of PESTLE Factors analysis ............................................................... 48
Table 4: AME Plc.'s SWOT Analysis. .............................................................................. 50
Table 5: TOWS-matrix Strategy development ................................................................. 52
Table 6: NPD strategies and their corresponding codes ................................................... 53
Table 7: lists and descriptions of developed NPD strategies. ........................................... 54
Table 8: Aggregate fuzzy ratings for the criteria and the alternatives .............................. 57
Table 9: closeness coefficient values and rank of NPD strategies .................................... 58
Table 10; Fuzzy linguistic terms and their fuzzy number representations for criteria
weighting........................................................................................................................... 83
Table 11; Criteria weighing pairwise comparison matrix with respective codes. ............ 83
Table 12. Fuzzy linguistic terms and their fuzzy number ................................................. 84
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The new product development (NPD) process terms were first introduced as a field of the
learning process by Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1986). They first implemented to study 123
Canada’s industrial enterprises and identified thirteen procedural main activities as a
skeleton of NPD. Later on, it has become an interesting field of study in various research
studies, industries, and countries (S. C. Fernandes, Rozenfeld, & Costa, 2016;
Gumusluoglu & Acur, 2016; Kim, Park, & Sawng, 2016; Tiedemann, Johansson, &
Gosling, 2020). NPD is the process of converting new ideas linked to a product, into
products which could be sold in the market successfully. The phases of NPD include
several important steps such as market studies, product development, commercialization,
and the introduction of market analysis (Rudder, Ainsworth, & Holgate, 2001).
Many types of research have investigated the NPD stages in different industries, including
the fashion industry (Wijewardhana, Weerabahu, Nanayakkara, & Samaranayake, 2020).
According to Sari and Asad (2019), these processes involve idea or design
conceptualization, Initial screening, Market analysis, Technical and engineering analysis,
Product prototyping, financial analysis, Mass production, Commercialization (Sari &
Asad, 2019). New products are critical to the development and success of many firms.
Hence, in environments of quick technological revolution, rapidly changing customer
demands like in fashion industries, industrialists must be cognizant of the strategy of
developing new products and/or process innovations in evolving changes in environment
and technologies (Wijewardhana et al., 2020).
Bandinelli, Rinaldi, Rossi, and Terzi (2013) discussed that the complete NPD process in
the fashion industry runs at least 2 times per year, one time for each time division and with
short time-to-market and so that, several product changes take place, with unbroken stretch
effects on one another among designers, workers giving great care and marketing purposes,
uses. Frequently during a single time division, changes and adjustments are still coming
about when the last product is already on the shelves; this takes place to make some re-
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arrangements and re-alignments in agreement with the person getting support or goods
demand (Bandinelli et al., 2013).
According to Gumusluoglu and Acur (2016), Formal NPD strategy includes specific
product concept statements, target markets, and structured project portfolio management,
which means, the NPD strategy defines what the organization aims to achieve from its new
products and offers strategic guidance for its NPD activities (Gumusluoglu & Acur, 2016).
The role of the textile and fashion industry for Ethiopian development is given a primary
level (Revolution, 2020; Staritz, Plank, & Morris, 2016, 2019). African Mosaique is one
of the Ethiopian-based fashion industries which’s products are African culture-inspired.
The dressing is a medium of communication by which the society and individuals represent
themselves as it reflects self-confidence, love, history, civilization, religion, culture, and
many others (Hokkanen, 2014; Sangha, 2020).
The ethnic diversity of the Ethiopian population has made it rich in many cultural clothes
which could be used as a source of the design inspiration of new fashion products in fashion
industries (Ishdorj, 2017; Mower & Pedersen, 2019; Nofal, 2018). But, most fashion
product in the country is sourced from abroad (Khurana & Ryabchykova, 2018). Thus, the
big interest of this study is to promote Ethiopian cultural clothes and to create the
possibility that, society could be benefited from their cultural clothes. Moreover, to help
African Mosaique Enterprise to develop a successful new product that is inspired from
Ethiopian cultural clothes through strategic planning by identifying all factors that
determine the success of new product performance.
1.1.1. Cultural clothes’ inspiration in FPD
Designers use several ethnic groups and national cultures as inspirations for their
collections, such as Russia, the Austrian Gypsies, Africa, Spain, China, Asia Persia,
Hapsburgs, etc. inspirations. Sources of inspiration and its particular explanation, visually
and technically, play a significant role within the design process, in growing creativity.
Fashion design deals with and the inventive role of design inspiration, through the initial
informal and actual outfit design procedures is open to systematic exploration like
beautifully driven designs in other fields
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Furthermore, Mete (2006) is answered the question “where does a fashion designer could
find a design inspiration?” by short sentences ‘everywhere and everything’. Anything
visual and tactile, in fact sensual, can be a source of inspiration for a garment (Mete, 2006).
Foundations of inspiration are often related to the community “spirit of the times” also
known as the “zeitgeist” (Ritch & Siddiqui, 2020). This topic takes us back to the early
industrial revolution where the fashion industry has started raising. From that moment on
the diffusion of fashion was from the western to around the whole world which means
culture and symbolic definitions are all from them (Hibbert & Hibbert, 2005).
For instance, after the liberation of World War II, women of US started to wear trousers
and T-shirt which only men were used to wear and then on blue jeans and T-shirt became
a symbol for America and individualism during that time and accepted as a worldwide
fashion (Alexandersson & Matlak, 2017; Jeans, 2016). The emerging of many fashion
designers and couture houses in France and Italy had also played a great role in the change
of fashion attitudes in the first era of fashion industries success (Grumbach, Weisman, &
George, 2014; James).
Cultural clothes inspired fashion product has also emerging widely around the world. In
the late 19th century the fashion movement has traveled to Japan where the Kimono has
born. Kimono is a japan traditional cloth which now has become a basic set of designing
worldwide designers after many challenges toward western fashion in the country
(Kawamura, 2004). Kenzo Takada a Japanese fashion designer, brought Japanese clothing
culture to Paris in the 1970s and the world turned to love what he came up with and that
resulted in Tokyo as a fashion city of the world (Alexandersson & Matlak, 2017).
Furthermore, Bonnie English (2011) has also described, the work of the Japanese fashion
designers as it has had an unequivocal influence on Western clothing by Issey Miyake
initiation, and after a decade followed by Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme
des Garçons, they offered a new and unique appearance of creativity, challenging the well-
known notions of status, exhibition and sexuality in contemporary fashion (English, 2011;
Valk, 2018).
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Poncho is another cultural clothes originated from South America, from places like
Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina (Condra, 2013). The poncho, a recognized sleeveless
garment with unsewn sides and space for the head to pass through (Hibbert & Hibbert,
2005); it formerly knitted accurately by the Mapuche as a piece of outfit to preserve warmth
in the colder seasons, ponchos have grown into pleasurable wear for winter in todays’
fashion (Alexandersson & Matlak, 2017; Iesha Ismail, March 10, 2018).
(Soultan, 2020) in his research of “Arts of Children in the remote areas in Sinai as a source
of inspiration for the printed textile design of children” has taken different children's art
from around the border of Egypt to prepare a fabric print design as an inspiration (Soultan,
2020).
1.2. Statement of the problem
In every industry, the NPD process takes an important significance because, it affects the
entire value chain and judgments on essential aspects such as cost, time, and quality
(Millson, Wilemon, & Kim, 2011; Sari & Asad, 2019; Tiedemann et al., 2020). The aim
of product development is integrating engineering and industrial design desires through an
organized process that permits the attainment of higher quality, lower cost, and shorter
development time (Bandinelli et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2016).
Moreover, industrialists are challenged to implement the NPD process, particularly, when
they are operating in a marketplace where the demand innovation, short lead time-to-
market, diversified product, and qualified product has become the heartbeat of success (De
Silva, Rupasinghe, & Apeagyei, 2019; Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015). Bandinelli et al. (2013)
discussed that the complete NPD process in the fashion industry runs at least 2 times per
year, one time for each time division and with short time-to-market and so that, several
product changes take place (Bandinelli et al., 2013).
Furthermore, in turbulent environments one can ask the question; ‘‘is the leader of one
generation positioned to be the leader of the next?’’ The problem is that nothing in business
and new product development (NPD) ever is constant (Adams‐Bigelow, 2006). Second, all
product innovation pathways to launch do not have the same challenges (Calantone,
Garcia, & Dröge, 2003; Grant, 1991). Different conditions of uncertainty permit different
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approaches to innovation and new product development. The basic point is that the nature
of resources and processes required in different institutional contexts will set the stage for
different kinds of best practices or strategies for successful new product development (De
Brentani, Kleinschmidt, & Salomo, 2010; Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015).
Having a good formal NPD process cannot lead to NPD success without having a good
level of NPD strategy, and the strategy is the antecedent (Calantone et al., 2003; De Silva
et al., 2019; Derbyshire & Giovannetti, 2017; Dewi et al., 2015; S. Fernandes, Lucas,
Madeira, & Cruchinho, 2019; Liu, Chen, & Tsai, 2005; Sun, Guo, Ma, Li, & Dang, 2014).
Unfortunately, African Mosaique Enterprise has no experiences of practicing NPD
strategy. Furthermore, they have not been producing Ethiopian cultural clothes’ inspired
fashion. However, there is no structured NPD strategy developing/forming model/method
or framework that can simplify the process to guide the researchers and Industrialist to
develop NPD strategy.
1.3. The objective of the study
1.3.1. General objective
This study is aiming to develop NPD strategies to develop Ethiopian cultural clothes-
inspired fashion products for African Mosaique Enterprise Plc.
1.3.2. Specific objectives
To determine external factors that affect fashion NPD that is inspired by Ethiopian
cultural clothes.
To assess the case company’s resources and capability to develop a new product.
To develop NPD strategies for the case company.
To evaluate NPD strategy performance.
1.4. Scope of the study
This study is an analytical study that is aiming to investigate NPD strategies to develop
fashion product that is inspired by Ethiopian cultural clothes to maximize cultural-based
fashion consumption. In this case, African Mosaique Enterprise is selected as a case
company. To do so, external and internal factors may affect the NPD process, and
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performance is investigated. PESTLE analysis was used to scan the macro-environment
while, IFA has done to identify the firm’s resources and capabilities, and then, these factors
are evaluated and categorized by SWOT analysis. After that, NPD strategies are developed
by using TOWS-matrix in the way that, the weakness and threat of the company be avoided
and opportunities are taken as an advantage. Finally, the strategies are rated by fuzzy-
TOPSIS multi-criteria decision making.
The findings of this paper consider Ethiopian society and the case company at the current
time. Therefore, the developed strategies will be effective only for the selected company
as the internal factors are investigated from there. However, the research framework can
be used for any other fashion industry with a careful procedure review. Furthermore, the
finding gained from EFA can be helpful for a fashion company that is ready to develop
Ethiopian cultural clothes’ inspired fashion for Ethiopian consumers.
1.5. Significance of the study
The main significance of this study to introduce NPD strategy to fashion industries.
Furthermore, promoting Ethiopian cultural clothes and enhancing them into fashion
products so that the society will be benefitted from its own culture. The beneficiaries of
this research will be the society as they are proudly promoting their culture, country’s
economy will be balanced. Furthermore, a selected case company and retailers of culturally
inspired fashion products in Ethiopia will be benefited. The findings of this research will
be documented and printed for libraries where academicians can use them for their
literature. The gap of knowledge area will be added to the literature. Finally, for a
researcher, the satisfaction of serving the community and experiencing scientific research
methodologies to solve a problem will be the prize.
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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. New product development
New product development (NPD) is the method of offering a new product to the market.
All the events linked to new product development including idea generation, screening,
testing, and getting customer endorsement to occur in the NPD process sequence. In every
industry, the NPD process takes an important significance because, it affects the entire
value chain and judgments on essential aspects such as cost, time, and quality.
Organizations can reach their competitive advantage by differentiating their final output
through the process and product innovation. Unlikely, organizations try to enhance product
novelty in NPD by linking product and process improvement (Wijewardhana et al., 2020).
Product development aims to integrate engineering and industrial design desires through
an organized process that permits the attainment of higher quality, lower cost, and shorter
development time (Tiedemann et al., 2020). Rudder et al. (2001) have reviewed the types
of new products and classified them into six categories; a) new to the world product, b)
new product line (allow a company to enter into an established market), c) additions to the
existing product line (a new product that supplements a company’s established product
line), d) improvement to existing products), e) repositioning of existing products that are
targeted to a new market or market segmentation, f) cost reduction products; new products
that afford the same function at minimum cost (Rudder et al., 2001).
2.2. The new product development process
Moreover, industrialists are challenged to implement the NPD process, particularly, when
they are operating in a marketplace where the demand innovation, short lead time-to-
market, diversified product, and qualified product has become the heartbeat of success (S.
C. Fernandes et al., 2016). Hence, NPD process has likewise come to be a crucial in apparel
manufacturing strategies due to recurrent fluctuations in consumers’ demands concerning
adapted and personalized fashion (Wijewardhana et al., 2020).
According to Kumar et al., (2017)‘s review, the processes of product development Process
are divided into the coming here-after forms: Requirement, Definition, Design,
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Implementation, Production, Maintenance, and Retirement. In Requirement, the thing
needed to stage the most working well way of undergoing growth a product through
forming ideas, designs is to work with a group that includes representatives from
marketing, design, producing and business managers. Marketing gives details of what
possible unused quality customers need. Design people put into other words requirements
into common building material statements. Production representatives give input on what
they can make, and business managers make certain the ideas of a quality common to a
group are in line with over-all company carefully worked design and goals (Kumar et al.,
2017)
Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1986) have identified the activities included in NPD processes
as follows;
1) Initial screening; The first go/no go decision where it was first decided to put on
one side funds to the offered new product idea.
2) Preliminary market assessment; an initial, preliminary, but nonscientific market
Assessment 1; a first and quick look at the market.
3) Preliminary technical assessment; an initial, first stage option of the value of the
special to some science or trade merits and difficulties of the undertaking.
4) Detailed market study/market research; Marketing research, involving a reasonable
sample of respondents, a formal design, and a consistent data collection procedure
5) Business/financial analysis; a money business or business observations leading to
a go/no go decision before product development.
6) Product development; the true, in fact, design and development of the product,
coming out in, e.g. a first working design or example product
7) In-house product testing; Testing the product in-house: in the testing building or
under controlled conditions (as opposed to in the field or with persons getting
support or goods).
8) Customer tests of the product; Testing the product under as in true living, working
conditions, e.g. with customers and or in the field.
9) Test market/trial sell; A test market or Trial 4 trade of the product--trying to trade
the product but to a limited or test group of persons getting support or goods
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10) Trial production; A Trial 4 producing run to test the producing buildings.
11) Pre-commercialization business analysis; A money business or business
observations, coming here-after product development but before to full-scale push
out.
12) Production start-up; the start-up of full-scale or trading, business-like producing.
13) Market launch; the get started of the product, on a full-scale and or trading,
business-like base: a knowable put of marketing activities special to this product.
Later on, Millson et al. (2011)have categorized the processes into three main categories so-
called stages, and the step of activities involved in the processes as below;
Pre-development stage – fuzzy front end:
New product strategy development
Identification of new product idea sources
Methods for obtaining new product concepts from idea sources
Initial idea screening
Preliminary market assessment
Preliminary design review
Preliminary manufacturing review
Concept generation/determine ‘ideal’ product
Detailed market study (concept testing)
Performed go/no go financial analysis
Development stage:
Performed product/prototype development
Develop detailed pricing, promoting, and distributing strategies
Performed in-house product testing
Customer product testing
Test market/trial sell
Performed pilot production
Performed pre-launch financial analysis
Began full-scale production
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Post-development stage:
Market launch
New product market strategy implementation
Customer satisfaction tracking
Monitor product reinvention suggestions/changes
Observe product usage/key to redesign
Track product maintenance/key to the redesign
Survey instrument instructions:
Kim et al. (2016) have summarized and categorized the NPD processes into seven main
categories; idea discovery, idea screening, concept development and test, business analysis,
the development of the mix between product and marketing, market test, and product
launch.
2.3. New product development success determinants
The early study on the “dimension of Industrial NPD success/failure” conducted by Cooper
(1979) has highlighted three outstanding determinants of NPD success. These are;
1. The distinct supreme significant dimension leading to new product success is Product
Uniqueness and Superiority; products which are exceedingly pioneering and new for
the market; assimilated distinctive features for the consumer; met consumers’ desires;
at reduced costs; and of greater quality.
2. Understanding Market and Marketing Ability is a critical activity in new product
results; the firm ensured the essential facets of the market understanding sound of
clients' needs and wants, price sensitivities, purchaser behavior, market volume, and
rivalry.
3. The third highly essential new product element which influences its’ success/failure is
technical and Production Synergy and Proficiency.
Furthermore, Cooper (1979) has pointed out six blocks of precise interest to marketers to
investigate the success of NPD that were predicted to be related to new product outcomes.
These are;
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I. The Commercial Entity; that with which the firm moves in the marketplace. This
solid mass includes the given properties and more chances of the new product, its
price, the nature of the push-out attempts, and the production or making attempt
underlying the push-out. The trading, business-like thing is the result of the new
product process.
II. Information Acquired; the nature or quality of information gotten (or experienced)
during the new product process. For example, whether the firm had accurate 1 facts
on market possible unused quality, on consumer behavior, on producing gives an
idea of price, and so on.
III. Proficiency of Process Activities; How well sure activities were undertaken during
the new product process (if at all), from idea generation to push out. For example,
whether or not a detailed market learning process, pilot producing, or a test market
were expertly undertaken, or undertaken at all.
IV. Nature of the Marketplace: The qualities of the new product's market. For
example, degree and nature of competition, market size and growth rate, and
product living wheeled machine qualities.
V. Resource Base of the Firm; the compatibility of the base of the useable material
of the business with the requirements of the undertaking; that is the
''company/product go into" in terms of a range of resources, including R&D,
producing, distribution, and sales force powers.
VI. Nature of The Project: the qualities of the new product undertaking or undertaking.
For example, the size of the undertaking, the level and complex part of the
technology, the change of the product, the starting point of the idea.
Furthermore, the investigations of Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1986) determined that the
following factors are essential to new product success:
i. A product differential advantage: a unique, superior product in the eyes of the
customer; a high performance-to-cost ratio; and economic advantages (cost-
benefit) to the customer.
12
ii. An understanding of users' needs, wants, and preferences and a strong market
orientation, with marketing inputs playing an important role in shaping the concept
and design of the product.
iii. A strong launch effort: selling, promotion, and distribution.
iv. Technological strengths and synergy: a good fit between the product's technology
and the technological resources and skills of the firm.
v. Marketing synergy: a good fit between the marketing, salesforce, and distribution
needs of the product and the firm's marketing resources and skills.
vi. An attractive market for the new product: a high growth market, a large market,
and one with high long-term potential; a market with weak competition and one
lacking intense competitive activity.
vii. Top management support and commitment
Furthermore, the study done on “factors influencing new product success and failure” by
Yap and Souder (1994) has identified seven major factor categories with their related
elements as below.
a. Project synergy
Project line strategy synergy
Marketing skill synergy
Engineering skill synergy
Production skill synergy
b. Product characteristics
Performance superiority of product
advantage
Unique features of product advantage
Compatibility as product advantage
Cost-effectiveness product advantage
Support and service advantage
c. Skill levels
engineering skill
Level of Manufacturing
Level of Sales Marketing skill
Level of Market research
Level of Project manager’s
marketing skill
d. Market characteristics
Degree of modification of required of
customer behavior
Degree of Market maturity
Degree of Market growth
Degree of Importance of purchasing
decision
Number of competitors in the market
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Level of Management skill
e. Technology sources
Hiring key personnel from another
Licensing
Developer’s previous contract
research
University research
Degree of own-off-the-shelf
technology used
f. Entry strategy
Pricing (skimming Vs penetration)
Positioning (against or away from
competitors product)
Distribution
g. Organizational characteristics
Amount of information flow between departments
Level of contact between departments
Earliness of top management involvement
Level of influence exerted by the product champion
To which the project manager is delegated broad authority
Non-participative style of project manager
To which
the organization is organic (organicity)
2.4. NPD process in the Fashion industry
NPD In the fashion industry is, in the Fashion industry, NPD is an active process labeled
by a high seasonal demand, which depends on the seasonal nature of fashion products.
Bandinelli et al. (2013) discussed that the complete NPD process in the fashion industry
runs at least 2 times per year, one time for each time division and with short time-to-market
and so that, several product changes take place, with unbroken stretch effects on one
another among designers, workers giving great care and marketing purposes, uses.
Frequently during a single time division, changes and adjustments are still coming about
when the last product is already on the shelves; this takes place to make some re-
arrangements and re-alignments in agreement with the person getting support or goods
request. As described in the written works, NPD is a great detail, wide range process which
starts from (i) design, (ii) modeling/prototyping (to get clear about the example put on view
14
products to be made clear at the taste open markets), (iii) detailed designing and making
things, (iv) material getting and then ends with (v) producing and distribution (Bandinelli
et al., 2013; S. C. Fernandes et al., 2016; Tiedemann et al., 2020)
According to Dewi et al. (2015), the phases of the NPD process in the Fashion industry
cover the design process, modeling/prototype, detailed designing and making things,
material selection, producing processes, and distribution. They further discussed the
process as; in the design process, the product idea is designed by the designer and in
harmony with the latest tastes. The design of the product then will go on (forward) to the
next step to make a first working design of the products. Next, in the detailed designing
and making things process, the bill of materials (BOM) and the effecting needs, requests
of in natural condition materials will be strong of purpose. In the production process and
distribution, the right materials and methods to produce and make distribute the products
will be selected (Dewi et al., 2015). Working well and good at producing an effect of
business managers of those stages will outcome in the good outcome of NPD undertaking.
The fashion industry is part of the textile industry where innovation and creativity become
essential factors to success. To satisfy consumers, the fashion industry should continuously
follow the fashion trend which makes the business very vibrant (Dewi et al., 2015). The
fashion industry is a continuously growing industry sector all over the world. Scot states
his idea as “The clothing industry is one of those increasingly familiar but puzzling sectors
of production in the modern world whose outputs play upon a cultural register of aesthetics
and semiotics, while producers are at the same time subject to the discipline of profitability
criteria and price signals in the context of market competition” (Scott, 2002).
According to Kim et al. (2016) NPD process has to do with several product changes, with
unbroken stretch effects on one another among designers, workers giving great care, and
marketing purposes. Frequently during a single time division, changes and adjustments are
still coming about when the last product is already on the shelves; this raises the need to
make some re-arrangements and re-alignments in agreement with the person getting
support or goods request RKJ and Rupasinghe (2016). for this reason, the NPD process
should be able to give a reaction quickly to customers’ needs and have a meeting with
degrees in which event is probable, and thereby get more out of makes in competition more
15
chances. This can make able the maker of goods of great scale by machines have more time
to do the needed change, adjust and get the approval from the customer.
However, the current NPD process is represented by frequent design works over again
because of, concerning many changes designers often make during the design process.
Besides, the projects are too complex to be adequately managed, and designers get over-
weighted with thoughtless operations, leading to a longer time of NPD process (Dewi et
al., 2015; Wijewardhana et al., 2020). The projects are behind the list of details because
there are too many unnecessary activities and works. When talking about special to some
science or trade questions, frequent hands-controlled works must be done because,
concerning the different systems being used in the company using different forms and sizes
different connections among many systems (Bandinelli et al., 2013).
Allen Scott (2002), for example, in his study about the challenges faced by the Los Angeles
industry, cites the need for the following elements: training and research institutes that can
supply new sources of labor and technology; a cluster of skilled and specialized
subcontractors; a promotional infrastructure (fashion shows, events, media); links between
fashion and other cultural industries; and more generally, an evolving design tradition that
incorporates place-specific elements. His emphasis is clearly on the production, design,
and marketing dimensions of the industry.
Generally, the main activities of the fashion industry can be categorized into three core
processes. These processes are design, production, and marketing (Scott, 2002). The
success of any product is lying over the success of these main processes (Rantisi, 2011).
The NPD processes in the fashion industry can be involved in these three departmental
activity processes.
2.4.1. Design
As Mete (2006)’s definition design is two things: process and product, as verb and noun
whereas design problematic resolution process, is investigating, setting the source of
inspiration, preparation, organizing to achieve a definite goal, carrying out according to a
specific purpose and creating; and the product is the end outcome, a proposed procedure
that is the result of that process or plan (Mete, 2006).
16
According to the International Council Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), Design is a
creative activity whose purpose is to create the multidimensional qualities of objects,
processes, services, and their structures in whole life cycles. Furthermore, Design is a form
of problem-solving, or systematic methodology of seeing at a problem which is mainly
aiming to solve a complicated problem and to construct or discover innovative options (J.-
Y. Hwang, 2013). Therefore, the design is the fundamental feature of innovative
humanization of technologies and the critical issue of cultural and economic exchange with
the considered tasks such as; a) enhancing global sustainability and environmental safety
(global ethics), b) acquiring welfares and self-determination to the whole public (social
ethics), c) supporting cultural multiplicity despite the globalization of the world and d)
giving products, services, and systems, those forms that are expressive of (semiotics) and
coherent with (aesthetics), their proper complexity (De Mozota, 2003).
According to Eckert & Stacey (2001)’s finding Fashion is a combined cultural
phenomenon created by the individual but connected to actions of a very large number of
garment designers pointing to form distinctive but similar clothes (Eckert & Stacey, 2001).
Designing in fashion is the application of elements and principles of design aesthetics and
natural beauty to clothing and accessories (Nyarko, Essuman, Peligah, & Crentsil, 2017).
The term 'to design' has been defined as 'Working out a structure or form of something, as
by making a sketch or a plan, to plan and make something artistically or skillfully ...an
intention, purpose' (Sinha, 2000). The process of fashion design is influenced largely by
the cultural and social attitudes of both designers and patrons and varies with time and
place (Eckert & Stacey, 2001). The inspirations obtained from any cultural clothes play a
great role in the development of cultural heritage.
Proje & Bizjak, (2018) have studied how a fashion can be developed from cultural
identities, and according to their explanation cultural heritage is strictly related to the
development of nationhood and countries so that, it signifies the origin of the collective
identity and self-respect of an individual and society, as it answers the basic questions of
who we are, where we come from and what we belong to (Proje & Bizjak, 2018). In their
finding, they have developed a fashion designing model for cultural-based fashion.
17
Another Design development tool for fashion design is founded to be fashion mood board
(Cassidy, 2011; Freeman, Marcketti, & Karpova, 2017; Koch, Taffin, Lucero, & Mackay,
2020). Fashion mood boards are important tools used to create new designs and
merchandising arenas. Using color, texture, image, form, and sometimes objects, mood
boards bring to visual life a feeling or emotion. Mood boards involve a variety of pictorial
demonstrations from concept boards to sales boards, with their precise use: from inspiration
for creators to product communication for merchandisers (Garner & McDonagh‐Philp,
2001).
The process of designing in fashion varies from company to company or designer to
designer. However, the common processes can be listed as idea generation, analysis, and
design. This could also be included under the fashion design boards such as theme board,
inspiration board, design board, illustration board, mood board, and trim boards (Cassidy,
2011). To design for universal, which highlights including a wider range of consumers, it
would be better to satisfy local consumers as they are the owner of the culture rather than
think of global satisfaction initially (Göllner, Lindenberg, Conradie, Le, & Sametinger,
2010).
According to Mete (2006) Clothing falls into two classifications: historic costume, the
fashion of a definite past period; and ethnic costume, traditional dress. Fashion outlines or
garment details widely held throughout historic periods would provide a source of
inspiration for new product design. For example, the empire silhouette reappears frequently
in fashion history. Fashion Designers may be inspired by the accessory and clothing styles
of other cultures. They find the same inspirational mixture of motifs, colors, shapes, spaces,
and lines in traditional clothes. Designers pursue an inspiration as of “exotic” cultures
whose fabrics and clothing styles are particularly unique (Mete, 2006).
2.4.2. Production
Garment production is an organized activity consisting of sequential processes such as
laying, marking, cutting, stitching, checking, finishing, pressing, and packaging. This is a
process of converting raw materials into finished products. It will be difficult to maintain
the industry if production is not, up to the mark if the preproduction phase of preparation
18
of material is not properly carried out. Especially while we are trying to moderate Ethiopian
cultural clothes to fashion it will be very hard in the production process as the
characteristics of the cultural fabrics need very exceptional handling than other fabrics.
Ready to wear apparel or garment manufacturing involves many processing steps,
beginning with the idea or design concept and ending with a finished product. The apparel
manufacturing process involves Product Design, Fabric Selection, and Inspection,
Patternmaking, Grading, Marking, Spreading, Cutting, Bundling, Sewing, Pressing or
Folding, Finishing, and Detailing, Dyeing, and Washing, QC, etc. In general, the basic
operation breakdown of the garment industry is shown in table 1 below.
Usually, the success of a factory is measured by the significant amount of innovation and
technology it follows in the production department. Therefore, the process should be
studied deeply whether it is appropriate for the wanted garment production or not.
Production in the garment process is the most important department for the success of the
NPD process. That is why this research is aiming to study the company’s resources and
capability of performing NPD projects.
Table 1: Garment manufacturing operation breakdown
S. No: Operation Job
1. Design /Sketch// It is given by consumers to manufacturers inclosing
sketches with sizes of specific styles
2. Basic Block A basic block is a distinct piece of garments without
any style of design
3. Working Pattern After a pattern is made for a particular style with net
dimension as regards the basic block along with
tolerance which is called a working pattern.
4. Sample Garments This will be approved by the buyer. After making a
sample, it is sent to the consumer for agreement to
rectify the faults
5. Approved Sample After rectifying the faults, a sample is again sent to
buyers. If it is ok then, it is called approved sample
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6.
Costing
Fabric Costing
Making Charged
Trimmings
Profit
7. Production Pattern Making allowance with net dimension for bulk
production
8. Grading If the buyer requires different sizes, so should be
grade as S, M, L, XL, XXL
9. Marker Making Marker is a thin paper that contains all the
components for different sizes for a particular style of
garments
10. Fabric Spreading To spread the fabrics on the table properly for cutting
11. Cutting To cut the fabric according to marker dimension
12. Sorting & Bundling Sort out the fabric according to size and for each size
make in individual bundles
13. Sewing To assemble a full garments
14. Ironing & Finishing After sewing, we will get a complete garment that is
treated with steam ironing & also several finishing
processes are done for example extra loose thread
cutting
15. Inspection Should be approved as the initial sample
16. Packing Treated by Polyethylene bag
17. Cartooning After packing, it should be placed In cartooning for
export
18. Dispatching Ready for export
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This table, table 1, shows the overall activities that take place to complete a product. These
activities mainly take place in Design and production departments.
2.4.3. Marketing
Marketing in any given industry/organization is a department that is responsible to study
the need of the product /service an organization is offering and at end of production it
studies how to distribute and sell a mass number of their products/services. In the fashion
industry, these have many options such as fashion shows, fashion magazines, catwalks,
advertisements, etc. This research will find a solution or other innovative strategy that
many peoples will follow and the sponsors will not deny.
2.5. Innovation in fashion industries
Fashion and technology have had intertwined cultural and material evolutions. From the
mechanical engineering of the 19th century that facilitated large-scale textile
manufacturing, to the chemical and synthetic developments that introduced today’s
material landscape, fashion and technology are modern industrial doppelgangers built on a
twinned ingenuity (Tomico, Hallnäs, Liang, & Wensveen, 2017).
There are two dimensions of “creativity and innovation” in the fashion industry. The
former concerns product innovation related to the creativity of fashion/textile designers
that is important to create stronger international brands and world-leading, competitive
products, and the second dimension concerns innovation on “business operations”, the use
of PR and marketing techniques, supply chain management, etc. (Goldsmith, Moore, &
Beaudoin, 1999). The innovation process comprises five stages: Recognition, invention,
development, implementation, and diffusion. The first of the three models of innovation is
incremental innovation or continuous improvement (kaizen) which is a Japanese-inspired
model of innovation. It means “improving existing” goods, processes, or services and
integrates applied research and production. The second is radical innovation and means the
“development of new” goods, processes, or services of value that have not existed
previously. It is an American big business model in which innovation is concentrated in
R&D labs and isolated from production. The third is a new model called ‘open systems’
21
regional innovation which represents firms, or networked groups of firms that have
demonstrated a regional capability to innovate and rapidly reinvent products.
In the fashion sector, innovation is a continuous and almost infinite process; the emphasis
should be on the necessity of innovation as a device of competitiveness for a fashion
business. In the field of product innovation, the market is always looking for new products.
Fashion companies should attempt to devise strategies for innovation since the successful
induction of new fashions is increasingly likely to be the result of such planned approaches.
In noting the necessity for a strategic approach, the industry is highly aware that not
everything is possible, and has learned by experience that new ideas must usually relate to
what already exists if they are to succeed. According to this explanation, it is clear that
inspiration for new fashion will be better if it is taken from the culture of the society so that
it will delight the consumers.
Innovation is an essential element in enterprises by creating new business activity,
generating growth, and ensuring survival for an existing business to gain a competitive
edge. However, the point is that innovation is driven by creative and enterprising
individuals and does not happen naturally. Today, the business of fashion requires
sophisticated management techniques in addition to a high level of creativity and
innovation (Hwangbo, Kim, & Cha, 2018).
Fashion firms compete through aesthetic elements and the symbolic value of their style
embedded in the visual characteristics of the individual elements of a collection (including
clothing and accessories) and how they are combined. Fashion style is the result of choices
concerning textiles and fabrics, weavings, colors, volume, shape, and silhouette. Fashion
designers have to use their expressive freedom to continuously renew it. First of all, a
designer has to use an expressive method, an expressive vehicle in the design; Creativity
has expressive freedom in work techniques, volume, colors. Creative innovations may be
generated by governments. These can lead to research and innovation in industrial
development. For example, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) is suggesting
and promoting an electric vehicle of marathon motors (TV, 2020); Universities are working
to build better relationships with the university and industry, hoping to bring them to the
market.
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2.6. New product development Strategy formation
A strategy is derived from a Greek word and is well defined by Brad (2018)as “it is a high-
level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty” (Barad, 2018).
Furthermore, he also explained the sense of the ‘art of the general’, which comprised
numerous subclasses of skills the term has been in use since the 6th century in East Roman
terminology. Since then the word strategy became very usable in different sectors
especially business organizations for the sake of competition of rivals. A strategy is a
roadmap of how a business intends to succeed in its goals which are its objectives and thus,
the strategy sets routs to those objectives (Lloyd & Aho, 2020). Once an organization's
goals have been established, every ounce of energy should be devoted to carrying out the
strategies to reach those goals. A strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or
more of the organization's goals or in another word (Hernandez Barros, Vidal-Garcia,
Vidal, & Martinez Torre-Enciso, 2016), it is a general direction set for the company and
its various components to achieve a desired state in the future (Ghemawat, 2016; Patel &
Cespedes, 2016).
Strategies as the foundation of NPD enable a firm to generate and configure the capabilities
and resources in the NPD process. Shih and Agrafiotis (2015) have identified three NPD
strategies that lead to increase competitive advantage. The first one is marketing strategies
that enhance NPD opportunities; which involves NPD-related duties, including evaluating
the customers’ involvement for past regular deals, design slant estimating, item
advancement, and commercialization forms. Second, Product innovation and technological
enhancement strategies; which simplify and qualify the NPD process about cost and lead
time minimization. The third one is, Strategic alliances creating business opportunities that
create competitive advantage by sharing threats and resources devoted to particular assets
(Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015).
According to Shih and Agrafiotis (2015) & De Brentani et al. (2010), a competitive NPD
strategy development considers could befall under, resource-based, resource & dynamic
capability-based and/or relational view & network-based where they could be explained
as;
23
Resource-based view
The RBV is constituted on the premise of achieving competitive advantage through a firm’s
collective resources. It focuses on the company as its unit of analysis by suggesting that a
firm is a bundle of resources that create tangible and intangible values. These resources can
be identified through many categories: physical (e.g. physical locations and specialized
machinery), human (e.g. abilities, skill, and knowledge), and organizational (e.g. history,
relationships, and management systems and culture)(De Brentani et al., 2010; Shih &
Agrafiotis, 2015).
Resources and dynamic capabilities
Resources and capabilities are separated by many researchers as Resources denote inputs
for the production process, and capabilities are collections of resources that are capable of
performing an activity or task. Grant (1991)emphasizes that “resources are the source of a
firm’s capabilities, while capabilities are the leading source of its competitive advantages”
(Grant, 1991). Dynamic capabilities form an extension of RBV by explaining how a
company can acquire competitive advantages in a rapidly changing business environment
(De Brentani et al., 2010; Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015).
It is argued that dynamic capabilities are organizational and strategic routines, which
enable firms to utilize internal and external capabilities in a reformation of knowledge,
resources, and competencies, thus generating new strategies of value foundation (Millson
et al., 2011). This constellation of resources has a positive influence on the NPD process
as they can be utilized to develop new products and services. NPD is considered as a high-
order dynamic capability, where a firm develops learning processes that can offer superior
products/services to markets (Kim et al., 2016; Tiedemann et al., 2020).
Relational view and network resources
RBV theory does not limit resources to those derived solely from a single firm. Studies
have increasingly suggested that resources can be obtained through external acquiring or
learning, or generated through inter-firm relations. The “relational view” suggests that
competitive advantage can increase from a linkage of companies, as relations among
manufacturers and customers should be seen as a strategic resource. Gumusluoglu and
24
Acur (2016), that the relational view is a blend of competencies, resources, and social
networks, in which a company is viewed as a nexus of relations (De Brentani et al., 2010;
Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015).
Noticeably, the basic foundation of strategy development is an organizational vision,
mission, and values, and after that strategy is formulated to clarify a systematic journey
that the vision, mission, and values will be successful (Lloyd & Aho, 2020). In formulating
a strategy, it is always very important, to begin with, an internal and external environment
analysis (Patel & Cespedes, 2016). This analysis needs to understand the industry forces
that tend to shape competition from internal and external. Therefore, industrial and
organizational managers should always be systematic to study their environments.
A careful analysis of the internal environment and the needs of the external environment
of the firm will allow it to assess where it can best achieve its strategic fit between them.
However managerial decisions will be as good as the available information and the capacity
of the decision-makers to process it (Weissenberger-Eibl, Almeida, & Seus, 2019). Thus,
managers use different tools and techniques such as SWOT (Ozbek, Pabuccu, & Esmer,
2020), PESTLE (Nandonde, 2019), Porter's 5 Forces (Wellner & Lakotta, 2020), The
Strategy Canvas (Khanmohammadi, Zandieh, & Tayebi, 2019), The Business Model
Canvas, McKinsey 7S analysis, etc., or any combination of them to scan their and internal
and external environments to develop an appropriate strategy for their organization.
Among these tools, SWOT analysis is the most widely used technique in strategic planning
(Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, & Smarandache, 2018).
A company which is aiming to come up with new product also need to analyze its internal
strengths and weakness that will help in manufacturing and marketing the desired product
and the external environment under which the opportunities and threats will be identified.
To do so, garment industry managers use SWOT analysis to determine the Strength,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of their environment (Chowdhury, Rafi, Siddika,
Kibria, & Islam, 2020; Ozbek et al., 2020; Putra & Kumbara, 2020).
“The fashion industry walks a fine line in designing new fashions by drawing
from various cultures and reaching into the past for inspiration while assiduously avoiding
25
outright copying and accusations of ‘cultural appropriation” (Ayres, 2017). Furthermore,
the development of new products is a key activity in the fashion industry, a knowledge-
intensive set of tasks that must be continually improved and developed to enhance the
competitive advantage of the manufacturer (Parker-Strak et al., March 2017). Increasing
the frequency and ‘newness’ of fashion collections and Consumer demand products that
reflect the latest trends which are available to buy immediately has become crucial for the
survival of many fashion companies (Gumusluoglu & Acur, 2016). These aspects coupled
with the challenging how retailers traditionally worked within the Fashion Product
Development process.
According to Gumusluoglu and Acur (2016), Formal NPD strategy includes specific
product concept statements, target markets, and structured project portfolio management,
which means, the NPD strategy defines what the organization aims to achieve from its new
products and offers strategic guidance for its NPD activities (Gumusluoglu & Acur, 2016).
However, the application of NPD strategy in fashion industries is appeared to be limited
(Parker-Strak et al., March 2017). But instead, a marketing strategy that would help to
produce cultural clothes has been developed by Cahyadi and Anna (2019) for Indonesian’s
Batik cultural clothes manufacturers (Cahyadi & Anna, 2019).
2.7. Environmental turbulences of FPD
Industries often are commonly represented by their changing state. For example, the
computer, media, and telecommunications industries often are noted as being highly in
windy motion, and everyone expects that condition to overcome. Nevertheless, all
industries at more or less point practice in turbulent conditions of fluctuating degrees. in
the turbulent environment have been described as having high levels of got in the way
change that makes come into existence uncertainty and state of not being able to be
predicted; dynamism and instability conditions with sharp incoherence in demand and
development rates; for a (short) time competitive advantages as going on all the time are
made come into existence or went away by time; and low barriers to entry/exit that as in
steady stretch change the in competition structure of the industry (Calantone et al., 2003).
26
These types of environments have been described as; unfamiliar, hostile, heterogeneous,
uncertain, complex, dynamic, and volatile. Furthermore, Calantone et al. (2003)
summarized it as frequent and unpredictable market and/or technological changes the
industry emphasized threat and doubt in NPD strategic development process. Furthermore,
manufacturing firms are facing challenges to advance the NPD process, especially, at a
times they are working in markets that demand novelty, tinier time-to-market, product
variety, and sophisticated quality product (Wijewardhana et al., 2020). That is why, NPD
process has come to be crucial in apparel manufacturing’s strategies (Bandinelli et al.,
2013).
Global media represent an important communication system for consumers around the
world-one that is highly important for the marketing/promotional strategies of the fashion
industry. Throughout that system, print media such as magazines are considered to be
important venues for promoting brands and products because of their strong imagery
enhanced by advanced technology. Fashion and beauty magazines in particular have been
one of the most successful magazine genres around the world (Jung & Lee, 2009).
Although media are made-up to reflect the social reality and norms of a society, they create
socially acceptable ideals (Jung & Lee, 2009). Because magazine advertisements are so
pervasive, they can have a significant impact on consumers. Studies have shown that
exposure to thin models through magazine reading contributes to body dissatisfaction,
decreased self-esteem and confidence, and negative feelings of guilt, anxiety, shame, and
depression (Pinhas, Toner, Ali, Garfinkel, & Stuckless, 1999; Tiggemann & McGill, 2004;
Workman & Johnson, 1993).
2.7.1. External /Macro-environmental factors
The purpose of an external environment analysis is to aid organizations to identify key
growths and upcoming consequences (Putra & Kumbara, 2020). The external environment
contains variables that are further than the control of an organization, but which need an
investigation to rearrange corporate strategy to shifting business environments. An external
analysis identifies possible threats and opportunities in the NPD process. Macro-
environment or external factors of fashion product development could be identified as;
27
political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental, and legal factors (S.
Fernandes, Honã, & Cruchinho, 2020; Retamal, 2017; Sun et al., 2014). These are
elaborated as follows;
Political factors allude to the administrative viewpoints that straightforwardly influence
the endeavor. Here enter the duties rules or business motivating forces in explicit areas,
guidelines on work, the advancement of unfamiliar exchange, government security, the
arrangement of government, global settlements or the presence of inside clashes or with
other current or future nations additionally how the diverse nearby, provincial and public
organizations are coordinated (Retamal, 2017; Sangroya & Nayak, 2017; Sun et al., 2014).
Economic factors identify with macroeconomic information, Gross homegrown item
(GDP) advancement, loan costs, expansion, joblessness rate, pay level, trade rates,
admittance to assets, level of improvement, financial cycles. Current and future financial
situations and monetary strategies ought to likewise be researched (Derbyshire &
Giovannetti, 2017; S. Fernandes et al., 2019; Nam, Dong, & Lee, 2017; Retamal, 2017)
Socio-cultural factors consider are segment development, social versatility, and changes
in way of life additionally the instructive level and other social examples, religion,
convictions, sex jobs, tastes, styles, and utilization propensities for society (Nam et al.,
2017). To put it plainly, the social patterns that may influence the venture business. Social
value implies individual perception about what the society would think or how it would
respond if a purchase was made by the individual. The perceived utility of an alternative
resulting from its image and symbolism in association or disassociation with the
demographics, socioeconomic and cultural-ethnic referent groups. “Consumers’ behavior
is shaped with a frame of reference produced by the social groups to which each individual
belongs” (Derbyshire & Giovannetti, 2017; S. Fernandes et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2014).
Consumers do not buy products only for economic reasons, but also to create and retain
social relationships. Status-seeking in society was also found to be one of the objectives
behind consumers’ use of a particular product. For instance, attractive fashion cewebrities
may be appealing to their audience, but when they participate in the value co-creation
process, they may inversely influence customers’ perception of co-created products.
28
Fashion celebrity involvement in product development has positive effects on new product
development performance, which implies that fashion celebrities can benefit fashion firms.
When collaborating with fashion celebrities, firms should make their objectives clear, and
select appropriate celebrities to fulfill these objectives (Zhang, Liang, & Moon, 2020).
Technological factors are to some degree more convoluted to break down because of the
high velocity of the adjustments around there. It is important to know the public interest in
the examination and the advancement of an innovative turn of events, the innovation
dispersion, the level of outdated nature, the degree of inclusion, the computerized gadget,
the supports bound to R & D + I, just as the patterns in the utilization of new advances
(RKJ & Rupasinghe, 2016).
These days, product customization by users tends to be an additional variable in the
manufacturing process, and smart industries will have got to be intelligent to customize
what each client has into attention, adapting to the predilections. One of the core features
of technology is to aid the assimilation and virtualization of the manufacturing design and
production process through the information and internet to produce smart products
(Wijewardhana et al., 2020).
The technological advancement in the global environment has reached Industry 4.0
(Dalenogare et al., 2018), which mainly aimed for; 1) Production necessities to familiarize
to the low, medium, and high demand by diversifying the product type; 2) Tracking and
self-recognition of parts and products through intelligent machines; 3) Superior interface
between Human Machine Interface (HMI); 4) production optimization through the Internet
tools of Things (IoT); 5) Radical change interaction with the value chain (Bertola &
Teunissen, 2018; Dalenogare et al., 2018; Wijewardhana et al., 2020). The model of
Industry 4.0 incorporates Smart Solutions, Smart Innovations, Smart Supply Chain, and
Smart Factory. Smart Solutions is constituted of Smart Products and Smart Services
(Millson et al., 2011).
In environments of rapid technological change, like in high-tech industries, companies
must be aware of the strategy of developing new products and/or process innovations with
emerging technologies (Bertola & Teunissen, 2018). Highlighting the important role of the
29
NPD process, De Silva et al. (2019) concluded that advanced technologies can be
implemented to improve the NPD process in the apparel industry by a collaborative NPD
process model through I4 technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality
technologies (De Silva et al., 2019).
Environmental factors are the primary elements to be investigated mindful of the
preservation of the climate, ecological enactment, environmental change, and temperature
varieties, common dangers, reusing levels, energy guideline, and conceivable
administrative changes here (S. Fernandes et al., 2019; Nam et al., 2017; Sangroya &
Nayak, 2017; Sun et al., 2014).
Legal factors allude to enactment that is straightforwardly connected with the association
capacities, data on licenses, work enactment, protected innovation, wellbeing laws, and
controlled areas (Abd Ghani, Nayan, Mohd Ghazali, Shafie, & Nayan, 2010; Stoyanova &
Harizanova, 2017).
2.7.2. Internal factors /micro-environment factors
The internal analysis of the organization is serious in recognizing the source of competitive
advantage (Sammut‐Bonnici & Galea, 2015). A company’s internal analysis is essential to
detect its strengths and weaknesses. The information about a firm’s strengths and
weaknesses can be acquired from the firm itself (Abd Ghani et al., 2010). These factors
could be investigated by a discussion with experts and top management in the company.
The strategic management process starts with an in-depth assessment of the business by
observing its internal resources and capabilities, these being the source of its core
competencies, which in turn create a competitive advantage.
2.8. SWOT analysis
SWOT Analysis is a tool used for strategic planning and strategic management in
organizations (Gürel & Tat, 2017). Gürel & Tat (2017) in their review have described that
SWOT analysis is a tool used to determine an objective and to identify the internal and
external factors which are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective (Gürel &
Tat, 2017). It is used to assess the internal strength and weakness, and to identify the
30
external opportunities and threats for an organization to set a strategic plan to meet a given
objective. The application area of SWOT analysis is not limited to a certain area or for
individuals/organizations as it can be used as per given objectives (Helms & Nixon, 2010).
It is also essential for the launching of a new business. SWOT analysis contains two
components; Internal and External factors.
Strength: one of an internal component that helps us to identify the organizational best
capabilities those are helping it advantageous over competitors. It locates the resources that
wanted to be advanced and persistent to remain competitive where competitive advantage
must be exclusive to the firm to make revenues than the industry average (Sammut‐Bonnici
& Galea, 2015). Strength is the distinctive capability that is used to value-adding to
something and makes it superior to others which means, something is more valuable than
another (Gürel & Tat, 2017). Therefore, strength denotes a helpful, favorable, and
resourceful characteristic.
Weakness: refers to the circumstances in which the current existence and capabilities of an
organization are weaker than competitor organizations or in other words, organization
weakness means the features or activities in which an organization is less effective and
non-efficient than its competitors (Gürel & Tat, 2017; Sammut‐Bonnici & Galea, 2015).
These are unwanted elements assessed from the internal of the organization. According to
some literature “, a weakness is a limitation or deficiency in resource, skills, and
capabilities that seriously impedes an organization’s effective performance. Facilities,
financial resources, management capabilities, marketing skills, and brand image can be
sources of weaknesses” (Jeyaraj, Muralidharan, Senthilvelan, & Deshmukh, 2012;
Kelegama, 2004; Ozbek et al., 2020).
Opportunity: is external conditions or circumstances which are appropriate for the success
of organizational objectives and are a benefit to motivating energy for an action to take
place in an environment (Gürel & Tat, 2017). Therefore, it has a supportive and
encouraging characteristic for the organization. An opportunity is a useful time or condition
that the environment grants to the organization to accomplish its goals (Sammut‐Bonnici
& Galea, 2015). Competition and forceful work ensure organizations great opportunities
31
(Helms & Nixon, 2010). In fact “opportunities are conditions in the external environment
that allow an organization to take advantage of organizational strengths, overcome
organizational weaknesses or neutralize environmental threats” (Kelegama, 2004; Ozbek
et al., 2020).
Threats are conditions that arise from the external environment and that are difficulties to
an organization’s competitive advantage (Sammut‐Bonnici & Galea, 2015). It is a situation
that jeopardizes the actualization of activity thus, it denotes to be disadvantageous (Gürel
& Tat, 2017; Jeyaraj et al., 2012). Because of these reasons, it should be avoided.
Generally, the main goal of SWOT analysis is to use the understanding an organization has
about its internal and external environments and to frame its strategy accordingly (Sammut‐
Bonnici & Galea, 2015). Its advantage is also very clear that it makes the procedure easier
to understand take appropriate action toward an observed situation. Moreover, many
studies have shown that in assessing the company’s resources, capabilities, and market
situation, this SWOT approach is the most frequent tool used by managers (Rahmawati &
Rahadi, 2020).
However, SWOT analysis falls short of determining strategies for any sector as it is not
able to compare and prioritize the importance level among the strategies alternatives (Özek
& Yıldız, 2020). Therefore, Fuzzy TOPSIS has been integrated into the SWOT analysis to
model the inherent uncertainty in human knowledge and behavior and to incorporate sector
managers’ views into the system to assess alternatives. In general, the framework of
strategy development procedures formed for this research is illustrated in figure 1 below.
32
Figure 1: NPD strategy development framework.
Source: Own illustration.
IFA
Factor evaluation
Recognizing need
of New product.
Team formation &
communication.
Set NPD goal
Product type
Target market
Identify all factors
that positively or
negatively affect the
NPD success
Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Legal
Environmental
Investigate the firm’s
capability and resource
availability
Overcome threats and
weakness through
gained opportunities & Rank the NPD
strategies as their
importance
degree
NPD Strategy formation
EFA/PESTLE
Strategy evaluation
NPD Initiation
Definition (goal & target
market)
NPD factors analysis
33
2.9. Literature gap
According to Shagha's (2020)’s explanation “our clothes are a source of nonverbal
communications which send messages about who we are, where we come, what we do,
etc.” (Sangha, 2020). Thus, it isn’t only economics and cash flow that motivate the flow of
knowledge but, so do the histories of costume and cultural heritage needs investment (Gale,
2017.). The ethnic diversity of the Ethiopian population has made it rich in many cultural
clothes. These cultural clothes could be used as a source of the design inspiration of new
fashion product development in fashion industries (Ishdorj, 2017; Mower & Pedersen,
2019; Nofal, 2018). But most fashion product in the country is sourced from abroad
(Khurana & Ryabchykova, 2018). From that moment on the diffusion of fashion was from
the western to around the whole world which means culture and symbolic definitions are
all from them (Hibbert & Hibbert, 2005). Moreover, Ethiopian cultural clothes could be a
source of profit for fashion industries, cultural development for the societies, and a source
of exchange currency for the government.
The role of the textile and fashion industry for Ethiopian development is given a primary
level (Revolution, 2020; Staritz et al., 2016, 2019). These industries create and produce
products from some source of inspiration or another source of orders to gain cash inflow
or profit. Thus, the development of new products is an essential activity for these industries.
Furthermore, there is scarce research in this field of Fashion Product Development (FPD)
with comparative of few current theoretical models that helps the process. Accordingly,
the NPD strategy is one of a worthwhile inspiration for apparel industrialists from other
manufacturing industries (Gumusluoglu & Acur, 2016; Parker-Strak, Barnes, Studd, &
Doyle, March 2017).
In every industry, the NPD process takes an important significance because, it affects the
entire value chain and judgments on essential aspects such as cost, time, and quality
(Millson, Wilemon, & Kim, 2011; Sari & Asad, 2019; Tiedemann et al., 2020). The aim
of product development is integrating engineering and industrial design desires through an
organized process that permits the attainment of higher quality, lower cost, and shorter
development time (Bandinelli et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2016).
34
Moreover, industrialists are challenged to implement the NPD process, particularly, when
they are operating in a marketplace where the demand innovation, short lead time-to-
market, diversified product, and qualified product has become the heartbeat of success (De
Silva, Rupasinghe, & Apeagyei, 2019; Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015). Bandinelli et al. (2013)
discussed that the complete NPD process in the fashion industry runs at least 2 times per
year, one time for each time division and with short time-to-market and so that, several
product changes take place (Bandinelli et al., 2013).
Furthermore, in turbulent environments one can ask the question; ‘‘is the leader of one
generation positioned to be the leader of the next?’’ The problem is that nothing in business
and new product development (NPD) ever is constant (Adams‐Bigelow, 2006). Second, all
product innovation pathways to launch do not have the same challenges (Calantone,
Garcia, & Dröge, 2003; Grant, 1991). Different conditions of uncertainty permit different
approaches to innovation and new product development. The basic point is that the nature
of resources and processes required in different institutional contexts will set the stage for
different kinds of best practices or strategies for successful new product development (De
Brentani, Kleinschmidt, & Salomo, 2010; Shih & Agrafiotis, 2015).
Most importantly, the structure of an industry and national innovation systems can set the
conditions for innovation challenges by impacting the sources of information or input into
the creative process, the impact of standards and regulation, and the need for collaboration
and the types of business models that yield success (Calantone et al., 2003; Dalenogare,
Benitez, Ayala, & Frank, 2018; De Brentani et al., 2010; Dewi, Syairudin, & Nikmah,
2015; RKJ & Rupasinghe, 2016; Yap & Souder, 1994). Having a good formal NPD process
cannot lead to NPD success without having a good level of NPD strategy, and the strategy
is the antecedent (Calantone et al., 2003; De Silva et al., 2019; Derbyshire & Giovannetti,
2017; Dewi et al., 2015; S. Fernandes, Lucas, Madeira, & Cruchinho, 2019; Liu, Chen, &
Tsai, 2005; Sun, Guo, Ma, Li, & Dang, 2014). However, there is no structured NPD
strategy developing/forming model/method or framework that can simplify the process to
guide the researchers and Industrialist to develop NPD strategy.
35
HAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Methods
The conceptual design of this research is a systematic journey of developing NPD strategy
to develop Ethiopian cultural clothes inspired fashion by TOWS matrix strategy developing
tool. Thus, SWOT analysis is conducted by studying IFA and EFA based on PESTLE
analysis (MacDonald & Headlam, 2008) to deeply understand the business environment of
the case company. And fuzzy TOPSISS is used to prioritize the importance of these
strategies as all of them may not weigh equal. The overall research framework is derived
as shown in figure 1 and a methodological design is shown in figure 2 below. In this case,
African Mosaique Enterprise is the chosen industry as a case company of the research.
36
3.2. Research design
Figure 2: Research design
3.3. Data collection:
The data have gathered through primary and secondary data collection. In primary data
collection, a focus group of professionals has been conducted and an open discussion had
held to scan the internal and external factors. Furthermore, an interview questionnaire was
answered by the company’s owner and managing director has made to identify the strength
and weaknesses of the company. The external environment scanning was done by using
PESTLE analysis techniques by a group of six professional participants (Moser &
Data collection
External factor analysis Internal factor analysis
Developing NPD strategy
SWOT - analysis
TOWS matrix
Ranking Strategies
Fuzzy- TOPSIS
technique
PESTLE- analysis
Literature review
37
Korstjens, 2018; Stoyanova & Harizanova, 2017). After conducting a SWOT analysis and
depending on EFA and IFA an NPD strategy to develop Ethiopian cultural clothes inspired
fashion is developed TOWS matrix strategy development tool. Finally, the developed sort
of strategies is evaluated as to their importance level per identified criteria depending on
six experts’ evaluation values and calculated by linguistic fuzzy TOPSIS technique.
3.4. Population and Sample design:
As this kind of study needs a professional’s analytical view, the sample population is
chosen as a purposive sampling method (Etikan & Bala, 2017; Naderifar, Goli, & Ghaljaie,
2017). Thus, a team of different professionals but only from the most related and important
departments were built for this research. Accordingly, three focus groups were conducted;
first-team, for internal factor analysis which identifies the status of the company’s strength
and weakness; the second team, for external factor analysis which conducts the PESTLE
analysis and third team for alternative ranking or strategy evaluation.
The number of team members who conducted a PESTLE analysis is a group of six
professionals (Moser & Korstjens, 2018); two fashion designers; two industrial
management; one from the government-industry development office and one of the
marketing, have participated in an open discussion. For internal factor analysis, a group of
five people (Taherdoost, 2016) from a company’s top management has been selected. Then
after these two, internal and external factors have been identified the SWOT analysis has
been conducted and the NPD strategy developed from the TOWS matrix. Then finally, the
strategies were evaluated by six experts who three of them are Ph.D. holders in Industrial
management; two others are MSc. in Fashion Design and the one left is MSc. holder in
Business Administration has been taken to compare the developed NPD strategies as per
their importance level by using linguistic fuzzy TOPSIS (Ozbek et al., 2020; Wu, Wang,
Liu, & Yang, 2020).
38
3.5. Data analyzing tools and Techniques:
3.5.1. External factors analysis-PESTLE Analysis
PESTLE is an analysis tool used for business evaluation and is the most used model in the
evaluation of an external business environment that is highly dynamic (Perera, 2017). The
application of the PESTLE model; which examines several political, economic, social,
technological, legal, and environmental issues is to examine the obstacles and opportunities
in the sector highlights several obstacles to active and effective business (Nandonde, 2019).
Furthermore, PESTLE is used as a basis for finding the opportunities and threats of a
business that would be an essential element in SWOT analysis. The model appraises each
key element which is directly or indirectly and/or positively or negatively affects the
business performance and helps to set up better strategies so that the threats will be
overcome (Yu & Shi, 2013). The model could also be used for evaluating the market before
entering a business (Perera, 2017).
Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal framework is used
to analyze the macro-environment of Ethiopian current situation about creating a new
product which inspired on Ethiopian cultural clothes. In this case, all factors may affect
new product development in the fashion industry. PESTLE analysis has two basic
functions for a company. The first is that it allows identification of the environment within
which the company operates. The second basic function is that it provides data and
information that will enable the company to predict situations and circumstances that it
might encounter in the future. PESTLE analysis is therefore a precondition analysis, which
should be utilized in strategic management. The investigated data will be used in SWOT
analysis as a sub-study data findings (Stoyanova & Harizanova, 2017).
3.5.2. Internal factor analysis (IFA)
Internal factor analysis has been conducted to investigate the factors that may affect the
fashion new product development and which found in the case company. The main purpose
of this tool is to identify the elements by which the company is strong or weak (Zulkarnain,
Wahyuningtias, & Putranto, 2018). In this case, to find reliable results as much as possible,
a group of top management from the case company is selected and the main purpose of the
39
study is briefed by the researcher. Then finally the whole raised data were collected and
interpreted by the researcher.
3.5.3. SWOT Analysis
The data analysis technique used by the researcher is SWOT analysis techniques. SWOT
analysis is a form of situation and condition analysis that is descriptive (illustrating).
SWOT analysis is used using qualitative models. The analytical method used in this study
is Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats (SWOT) or can also be called the analysis
of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Gürel & Tat, 2017; Putra & Kumbara,
2020). The use of this method will produce strategic analysis and choices that can be used
to determine the success and failure factors. The SWOT matrix is a tool for organizing
organizational strategic factors that can clearly illustrate how external opportunities and
threats facing an organization can be adjusted to their strengths and weaknesses.
After the IFA and EFA have been identified the researcher has interpreted data and
identified as Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats by using this SWOT analysis
tool. This makes the process ready for strategy development. Strength and Weakness are
extracted from IFA such as; Financial, Skilled labor, R&D, Raw material supplier,
Marketing, Management, and production process (Zulkarnain et al., 2018). The integration
process and figurative illustration are shown in figure 3 below.
For the study of the external factors, PESTLE analysis was studied from the government
by focus group discussion and finally the investigated factors of Strength, Weakness,
Opportunities, and Threats the strategy will be identified in the way that success of the
objectives of the research will be met. The overall SWOT analysis technique is shown in
figure 3.
40
Figure 3: EFA & IFA integrated SWOT analysis
Source; own illustration.
3.5.4. TOWS matrix-strategy development framework
TOWS matrix is proposed by Weihrich (1982) as a conceptual framework for a systematic
analysis that facilitates matching the external threats and opportunities with the internal
weaknesses and strengths of the organization. The TOWS matrix serves as a conceptual
framework for future research about the combination of external factors and those internal
to the enterprise, and the strategies based on these variables. The TOWS matrix forces
practicing managers to analyze the situation of their company and to develop strategies,
tactics, and actions for the effective and efficient attainment of its organizational objectives
and its mission (Zulkarnain et al., 2018). In this paper, the TOWS matrix has been utilized
for the formulation of strategies to develop a new fashion product that is inspired by
Ethiopian cultural clothes for a selected case company.
SWOT
Weakness
Threat Opportunity
EFA
Strength
IFA
Economic Social Technological Legal
Political
Firm resources
Environmental
Firm’s capabilities
41
There are four possible types of strategies that can be generated from TOWS matrixes.
These are shown in table 2, whereas, SO (strength-opportunity) strategy is a strategy that
companies use to utilize or optimize their strengths to take advantage of various
opportunities; second, the WO (Weaknesses-Opportunities) strategy is a strategy that is
used as optimally as possible to minimize existing weaknesses to take advantage of various
opportunities; Third ST (Strengths-Threats) is a strategy used by companies by utilizing or
optimizing power to reduce various threats. Fourth, the WT (Weaknesses-Threats) strategy
is a strategy used to reduce weaknesses to minimize or avoid threats (Rahmawati, 2019;
Rahmawati & Rahadi, 2020; Weihrich, 1982; Zulkarnain et al., 2018).
Table 2: TOWS matrix-strategy development framework,
Internal factors
External factors
Strength of the company The weaknesses of the
company
Opportunities of the company S-O (maxi-maxi)
strength-opportunities
O-W (maxi-mini)
Weakness- opportunities
Threats of the company S-T (mini-maxi)
Strength-Threats
T-W (mini-mini)
Weakness- opportunities
Adopted from Zulkarnain et al. (2018)
3.5.5. Linguistic Fuzzy TOPSIS technique for MCDM model
Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is a method that helps to combine contrary
questions to choose the preeminent result based on certain criteria, and chain diverse rules
with one other (Siksnelyte, Zavadskas, Streimikiene, & Sharma, 2018). Many researchers
have used different techniques of MCDM to rank alternative strategies. These include
Fuzzy-TOPSIS (Fuzzy linguistic Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal
Solution) (Fayek & Omar, 2016; Ozbek et al., 2020), fuzzy AHP (Analytical Hierarchy
performance) (Abdel-Basset et al., 2018; Junior, Osiro, & Carpinetti, 2014), fuzzy ANP
(Analytical Network performance) (Ervural, Zaim, Demirel, Aydin, & Delen, 2018), etc.
Among these, Fuzzy TOPSIS has been identified as a dominant tool in several MCDM
42
applications of NPD strategies (Awasthi, Chauhan, & Goyal, 2010; Ervural et al., 2018;
Fayek & Omar, 2016; Junior et al., 2014; Özek & Yıldız, 2020; Rashidi & Cullinane,
2019).
Junior et al. (2014) made a comparison analysis of fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy analytic
hierarchy process (AHP) to assess the qualities of the two methods in MCDM problems.
Their study distinguished the following benefits of fuzzy TOPSIS over fuzzy AHP (Junior
et al., 2014):
1. More capable of producing consistent preference order in response to changes in
criteria considered in MCDM problems;
2. Performs better when a small set of criteria are considered for analysis;
3. More capable of visualizing the relationship between different alternatives thus
enabling better support to group decision making;
4. Calculations are relatively simple;
5. Does not impose any limitations on the number of criteria or alternatives considered
in MCDM problems; and
6. Can adequately deal with imprecision and subjectivity in MCDM problems.
Furthermore, Fayek and Omar (2016) have stated the advantages of Fuzzy TOPSIS as;
1. The advantages of considering any set of prioritized criteria and their associated
alternatives;
2. Consistent results with changes in criteria evaluation;
3. The ability to visualize the relationship between different prioritized criteria and
their respective alternatives;
4. Simplified calculations; and
5. The ability to capture the subjectivity associated with the use of linguistic terms
when measuring prioritized criteria.
A fuzzy set can be defined as a set of items, with a range of relationship results, where the
relationship result can be taken as an in-between rate between 0 and 1 (Rashidi &
Cullinane, 2019). In the decision-making process, people sometimes may prefer to express
their preferences comfortably by linguistic terms rather than of quantitative form (Gou &
43
Xu, 2016). Hence, the fuzzy linguistic approach has been given good attention by scholars’,
and it is an effective way to model linguistic information (Özek & Yıldız, 2020; Rashidi &
Cullinane, 2019).
Depending on the above-stated literature findings, this study chose to utilize the fuzzy
TOPSIS technique. The fuzzy TOPSIS approach contains fuzzy assessments of criteria and
alternatives by which, the closest alternative to the positive ideal solution and the farthest
negative from the ideal solution will be chosen (Awasthi et al., 2010; C.-L. Hwang & Yoon,
1981). A positive ideal solution encompasses the best performance values for each criterion
whereas the negative ideal solution comprises the worst performance values.
The step by step process of fuzzy TOPSIS calculations as adopted from literature (Awasthi
et al., 2010; Ekmekçioglu, Can Kutlu, & Kahraman, 2011; Gou & Xu, 2016; C.-L. Hwang
& Yoon, 1981; Ozbek et al., 2020) are given as follows:
Step 1: Assignment of ratings to the criteria and the alternatives.
Let us assume there are J possible candidates called A= {A1, A2..., Ai} c which is used to
evaluate against n criteria, C= {C1, C2..., Ci}. The criteria weights are denoted by wi (i=1,
2…, m). The performance ratings of each decision-maker Dk (k= 1, 2…, k) for each
alternative Aj (j= 1, 2…, n) with respect to criteria Ci (i= 1, 2…, m) are denoted by �̃�k =
�̃�ijk (i=1, 2…, m; j=1, 2…, n; k= 1, 2…, k) with membership function µ�̃�k (x)
Step 2: Compute aggregate fuzzy ratings for the criteria and the alternatives.
If the fuzzy ratings of all decision-makers are described as the triangular fuzzy number �̃�k
= (ak, bk, ck) k= 1, 2, K, then the aggregated fuzzy rating is given by �̃� = (a, b, c), k= 1, 2,
K where;
a =min𝑘
{𝑎𝑘}, b =1
𝑘∑ 𝑏𝑘
𝑘𝑘=1 , c = max
𝑘{𝑐𝑘}
If the fuzzy rating and importance weight of the kth decision-maker are;
�̃�𝑖𝑗𝑘 = (𝑎𝑖𝑗𝑘, 𝑏𝑖𝑗𝑘, 𝑐𝑖𝑗𝑘 and �̃�𝑗𝑖𝑘 =𝑤𝑗𝑘1, 𝑤𝑗𝑘2, 𝑤𝑗𝑘3 i= 1, 2…, m; j=1, 2…, n
44
Respectively then, the aggregated fuzzy ratings (�̃�ij) of alternatives to each criterion is
given by �̃�ij= (aij, bij, cij) where
aij = min𝑘
{𝑎𝑖𝑗𝑘}, bij = 1
𝑘∑ 𝑏𝑖𝑗𝑘
𝑘𝑘=1 , cij = max
𝑘{𝑐𝑖𝑗𝑘}
Step 3: Compute the fuzzy decision matrix.
The fuzzy decision matrix for the alternatives (�̃�) and the criteria (�̃�) is constructed as
follows:
𝐶1 . . . 𝐶𝑛
�̃� =
𝐴1
::𝐴 𝑚
[�̌�11 ⋯ �̃�1𝑛
⋮ ⋱ ⋮�̃�𝑚1 ⋯ �̃�𝑚𝑛
], i = 1, 2, . ..,m; j = 1, 2, . . .,n. �̃� = (�̃�1, �̃�2, �̃�3
Step 4: Normalize the fuzzy decision matrix.
The raw data are normalized using linear scale transformation to bring the various criteria
scales into a comparable scale. The normalized fuzzy decision matrix �̃� is given by �̃�=
[�̃�ij] mxn, i=1, 2…, m j= 1, 2…, n. Where;
�̃�𝑖𝑗 = (𝑎𝑖𝑗
𝑐𝑗∗ ,
𝑏𝑖𝑗
𝑐𝑗∗ ,
𝑐𝑖𝑗
𝑐𝑗∗ ) And 𝑐𝑗
∗ = max (𝑐𝑖𝑗) 𝑖
(benefit criteria)
�̃�𝑖𝑗 = (𝑎𝑗
−
𝑐𝑖𝑗,
𝑎𝑗−
𝑏𝑖𝑗,
𝑎𝑗−
𝑎𝑖𝑗) And 𝑎𝑗
− = min𝑖
(𝑎𝑖𝑗) cost criteria
Step 5: Compute the weighted normalized matrix
The weighted normalized matrix (�̃�) for criteria is computed by multiplying the weights
(�̃�j) of evaluation criteria with the normalized fuzzy decision matrix �̃�ij;
�̃� = [�̃�ij] mxn, i=1, 2…, m j= 1, 2…, n, where �̃�ij = �̃�ij (*) �̃�j
Step 6: Compute the fuzzy positive ideal solution (FPIS) (A*) and fuzzy negative ideal
solution (FNIS) (A-).
The FPIS and FNIS of the alternatives are computed as follows:
45
𝐴∗ = (�̃�1∗, �̃�2
∗, �̃�3∗ … , �̃�𝑛
∗ ) Where�̃�𝑗 ∗ = max
𝑖{𝑣𝑖𝑗3}, i = 1, 2, m; j = 1, 2, n
𝐴− = (�̃�1, �̃�2, �̃�3 … , �̃�𝑛) Where�̃�𝑗 − = 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑖{𝑣𝑖𝑗1}, i = 1, 2, m; j = 1, 2, n
Step 7: Compute the distance of each alternative from FPIS and FNIS.
The distance 𝑑𝑖∗, 𝑑𝑖
− of each weighted alternative i=1, 2…, m from the FPIS, and the FNIS
is computed as follows:
𝑑𝑖∗ = ∑ 𝑑𝑣(�̃�𝑖𝑗 , �̃�𝑗
∗), 𝑖 = 1, 2, … , 𝑚
𝑛
𝑗=1
𝑑𝑖− = ∑ 𝑑𝑣(�̃�𝑖𝑗, �̃�𝑗
−), 𝑖 = 1, 2, … , 𝑚
𝑛
𝑗=1
Where dv (�̃�, �̃�) is the distance measurement between two fuzzy numbers (�̃� and�̃�). Then
the distance between two fuzzy sets will be calculated as;
𝑑𝑖∗ (�̃�, �̃�) = √1/3((𝑎1 − 𝑎2)2 + (𝑏1 − 𝑏2)2 + (𝑐1 − 𝑐2)2)
Step 8: Compute the closeness coefficient (CCi) of each alternative.
The closeness coefficient CCi represents the distances to the fuzzy positive ideal solution
(A*) and the fuzzy negative ideal solution (A-) simultaneously. The closeness coefficient
of each alternative is calculated as;
CCi= 𝑑𝑖
−
𝑑𝑖−+𝑑𝑖
∗ i= 1, 2, m
Step 9: Rank the alternatives.
46
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 PESTLE analysis- external environment factors evaluation
PESTLE analysis is an external environment scanning tool that is held to investigate the
factors that will shape the new fashion product development (NPD) that is inspired by
Ethiopian cultural clothes. In this research, all possible factors that can affect the process
of new products from Ethiopian cultural fashion development are identified. These factors
are all considered only Ethiopian current situations and phenomena. To investigate these
factors a focus group of six people; two fashion designers; two industrial management;
one from the government-industry development office and one from marketing were
selected by purposive sampling method have participated in an open discussion. The
discussion questionnaire was adopted from the study of Analysis of the External
Environment of Green Jobs in Bulgaria (Stoyanova & Harizanova, 2017). However, it is
modified as it can be fitted to this research purposes. Finally, the following factors have
been investigated.
4.1.1. Political factors
Ethiopia is a country that follows ethnic-based federalism that offers each ethnic group the
right of ‘self-determination. The politicians and activists in Ethiopia are playing a great
role in promoting cultural fashions. But still, the classification of regional states creates
boundaries for the acceptance of cultural fashion acceptance. Furthermore, there are more
than 80 ethnic groups that have their cultural clothes. These factors affect the new product
development as a proposed new product is based on Ethiopian cultural clothes. On another
side, the Ethiopian political status is going in the way of unifying the whole country. There
is also an encouragement of building an identity that can emphasize who we are and being
proud of our history and culture. Therefore the proposed new product should incorporate
these conditions.
4.1.2. Economic factors
The success of a new product is deeply tied with the economic status of the product
consumers and the country it is operated in. Ethiopia is a fast-growing country. However,
47
it is not enough to ignore the individual’s average income that would be the end consumer
of the product. Ethiopia is also one of the poorest, with a per capita income, and aims to
reach lower-middle-income status by 2025 (bank, 2019). This indicates the new product
should consider being as minimum price as possible to be used massively.
There is also financial support from the government. The bank credit for manufacturing is
one of financial support. Ethiopian development bank and Ethiopian Commercial bank
offer an opportunity for credits for investments from the government and other private
banks will also do this. This will help the manufacturers to expand their business or invest
in new product commercialization.
4.1.3. Social factors
The social factor is the important factor to be considered to develop a new product based
on cultural clothes. From a marketing point of view, the population of Ethiopia growing,
and it the second populous society following Nigeria from the African continent. This
means the number of a consumer is increased. Furthermore, the proposed new product has
a significant role in promoting the culture of society. Contrary, there may be a threat of
scrubbing cultural originality. Thus the new product should consider the way that it will be
representative of the society’s identity and lifestyle so that they would be proud to own it.
It is also very important to understand who plays a role to promote the products for marking
in society. Celebrities and social leaders have the power to influence the acceptance of the
product in the market. From last season the influence of Gildo Kasa; who is a music artist
on ‘Adidas brand women trouser is a good example. It was accepted all over the country
and it even reached to given his name as to ‘Gildo trouser’. This kind of social factor also
needs to be understood to decide in new product development.
4.1.4. Technological factors
Technology has a big role to play in the successful new product development. As the
process of new product development is different there are also different types of
technologies that are needed in each process. Starting from designing to the final
commercialization of a new product, technology plays a great role. The evolution of CAD,
48
CAM, and E-commerce is some advantages of technological development. Today fashion
design has reached new heights by computer-aided methods of design. Devi, K.S., et al.
(2017) has proposed for the fashion industry the innovative creation, IDS (Interactive
Display on any Surface) is converting any surface as a touch screen is playing its major
role in various consumers and business environments.
Additionally, the academician researches that can be used in the new product development
process are also considered as technological opportunities to the new product development
process. Therefore, the company will be benefited from working together with related
academicians to improve and innovate new technologies.
4.1.5. Environmental factors
Environmental factors deal with the sustainability of the environment. In the recent new
product, developments are very conscious of the safety of mother earth from the
manufacturing process to the final disposal process. These new products also consider and
take it into account in the way possible to minimize hazardous of the product.
4.1.6. Legal factors
These factors are related to the rules and regulations or policies of the sector that the new
product will be evaluated. Besides that, the product should also be legally acceptable in
society’s cultural norms.
In general, the summary of PESTLE analysis for External environment factors evaluation
Ethiopia as investigated by the selected focus group is shown in the table below follows.
The discussion questionnaire used to study PESTLE factors is attached to Appendix-1.
Table 3: Summary of PESTLE Factors analysis
Political factors Economic actors
Some cultures may not be accepted in some
regions
Striving to build a Unifying image
Fast-growing country.
The average income of
individuals is low
Cheap labor
49
The system is building attitudes toward
cultural development.
Politicians are wearing cultural clothes inside
and outside of the country.
Motivates local manufacturing and exports.
Financial supports and credit
centers are available.
Motivating import substitution
Socio-cultural factors Technological factors
Cultural variety
Income variation
Growing population
Clothing boundaries by religion, ethics, and
accepted norms.
The different climate over the country and
seasons in the year
Age group variation
Celebrities and leaders have an influencing
power
Available advanced
technologies that could be used
in the NPD process
Academic research center
available in the environment of
the company
Environmental factors Legal factors
Environmental safety policy Ethiopian quality standard.
Internal Factors Evaluation
Internal analysis is an attempt to determine the organizational capability in operations and
achieve performance. In this case, an open discussion of 45 minutes was held with the case
company’s top management to evaluate the company’s strengths and weaknesses that can
be valuable in the NPD process. At the meeting time, the researcher has given a brief
overview of the research's main purpose and the importance of their feedback for the
researcher and their company. Then the participants are asked to identify the strength and
weaknesses of their company on a raised element of the company such as Financial, Skilled
labor, R&D, Management commitment, Production process, Marketing, etc.,
50
implementations in the NPD process. Additionally, 15 interview questions which are
adopted from https://www.memosavvy.com/swot-questions/ had answered by the
company owner/ managing director. (See Appendix- 2).
SWOT Analysis
Depending on the EFA and IFA evaluations the SWOT analysis of the company is
conducted. The data gained from PESTLE analysis is evaluated and identified as an
opportunity and threats of a company and IFA findings are used to determine the strength
and weaknesses (Zulkarnain et al., 2018). The findings from EFA are evaluated and
categorized as an opportunity that an organization can be benefitted from by using it
whereas, the negative factors that can affect the company or may cause it in risk are
identified as a threat to the company. Similarly, IFA has been evaluated and factors that
the company is executing well and efficiently were identified as strength whereas,
contrarily acted factors were taken as weakness. Then finally the following result is
founded. In general, table 4 describes the SWOT analysis of the case company.
Table 4: AME Plc.'s SWOT Analysis.
Strengths Weaknesses
S1. Competent staffs
S2. Company location
S3. Good reputation
S4. Strong brand
S5. Working collaboratively with
government rules and policies
S6. 0 wastage strategy
S7. Strong work culture
S8. Strong financial position
S9. Cultural cloth developing vision
S10. Product line variety
S11. Top management commitment
W1. Lack of patents
W2. Lack of technology enhancement
W3. Employ skills
W4. Staff shortage
W5. Inventory management system
W6. The difficulty of adaptability to new
product variability
W7. Limited shops
W8. Product promotion
W9. Lack of experience in the local
market
Opportunities Threats
51
O1. Society unifying designs are
required
O2. Increasing consumption of culture-
inspired clothes
O3. Government motivation and support
for local manufacturing, import-
substitution, and export
O4. Developing country
O5. Cheap labor
O6. Growing population /consumers
O7. Leaders and celebrities have a
powerful influence on the society
O8. Advanced technologies
O9. Academic researches and training
center
O10. IP Authority
O11. Social media
T1. Cultural varieties
T2. Low average income society
T3. Income variation
T4. Ethics, religions, and socially
accepted norms
T5. Seasons and climate variety
T6. Diversified age group
T7. OHS policies
T8. Competitors
T9. Quality products in the market
TOWS-matrix Strategy development
Depending on the founded SWOT analysis the TOWS- matrix is generated to make the
findings ready to generate an NPD strategy for a selected case company to design a
successful fashion product inspired by Ethiopian cultural clothes. In TOWS-matrix the
internal factors have combined with external factors in the best way that help the company
to overcome its difficulties to meet its goal. According to the above TOWS matrix results,
the list of strategies developed for African Mosaique Enterprise is shown in table 5 as
follows. The brackets are short codes of the respective strategies.
52
Strengths Weaknesses
INTERNAL FACTORS
TOWS-Matrix
EXTERNAL FACTORS
S1. Competent staffs
S2. Company location
S3. Good reputation
S4. Strong brand
S5. Working collaboratively with government
rules and policies
S6. 0 wastage strategy
S7. Strong work culture
S8. Strong financial position
S9. Cultural cloth developing vision
S10. Product line variety
S11. Top management commitment
W1. Lack of patents
W2. Lack of technology enhancement
W3. Employ skills
W4. Staff shortage
W5. Inventory management system
W6. The difficulty of adaptability to new
product variability
W7. Limited shops
W8. Product promotion
W9. Lack of experience in the local
market
Opportunities S-O Strategies (maxi-maxi) O-W Strategies (maxi-mini)
O1. Society unifying designs are required
O2. Positive attitude toward developing cultural
clothes
O3. Government motivation and support for local
manufacturing, import-substitution, and export
O4. Developing country
O5. Cheap labor
O6. Growing population /consumers
O7. Leaders and celebrities have a powerful
influence on the society
O8. Advanced technologies
O9. Academic researches and training center
O10. IP Authority
O11. Social media
SO1. Training & development
(S1, S8, O8)
SO2. Strategic staffing
(S8, O5)
SO3. NPD Intellectual property management
(S11, O10)
SO4. Technologies and process innovation
(S8, O8, O9)
SO5. Multi-culture audience product strategy
(S1, O1)
WO1. Fashion cewebrity involvement in
NPD
(W8, O7, O2, O6, O11)
WO2. Distribution channels expansion.
(W7, O3, O4)
Threats S-T Strategies (mini-maxi) T-W Strategies (mini-mini)
T1. Cultural varieties
T2. Low average income society
T3. Income variation
T4. Ethics, religions, and socially accepted norms
T5. Seasons and climate variety
T6. Diversified age group
T7. Environmental safety policies
T8. Competitors
T9. Quality products in the market
ST1. NPD Market segmentation
(S1, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6)
ST2. Eco-friendly product development
(S5, S6, T7)
ST3. Product differentiating
(S3, S4, T8, T9)
ST4. Incorporate social value in the NPD process
(S9, T1, T4)
TW1. Cost minimizing product
(T2, W9)
Table 5: TOWS-matrix Strategy development
53
According to table 5, TOWS-matrix strategy development, 12 main strategies that would
help the company to accomplish an NPD process. All these strategies are developed
depending on the result found from SWOT analysis, table 5, of the company which is
African Mosaique Enterprise Plc. These strategies are shown in table 6 below with assigned
short codes for further processes.
Table 6: NPD strategies and their corresponding codes
S. No: Codes Alternative strategies
1. SO1 Training & development
2. SO2 Strategic staffing
3. SO3 NPD Intellectual property management
4. SO4 Technologies and process innovation
5. SO5 Multi-culture audience product strategy
6. WO1 Fashion cewebrity involvement in NPD
7. WO2 Distribution channels expansion.
8. ST1 NPD Market segmentation
9. ST2 Eco-friendly product development
10. ST3 Product differentiating
11. ST4 Incorporate social value in the NPD process
12. WT1 Cost minimizing product
4.4.1. Lists and descriptions of developed NPD strategies.
Developed NPD strategies and their main functions for the company as well as the short
descriptions are given in table 7. This information gives how it is formed why it is formed
depending on the way they formed as factors identified in table 5.
54
Table 7: lists and descriptions of developed NPD strategies.
S.
No:
Generated
NPD
strategies
Leads of developed strategy and descriptions
1. Training &
development
To avoid weaknesses W3 and W5
Using available strengths in the company that is competent
staffs and strong financial position to give pieces of training
for employees by using the available technology
opportunity in the environment would help AME to
overcome the weakness identified as employee skills and
inventory management system.
In this case, the company may use its competent staff to
provide the training or invest in training to find someone
appropriate for desired training from academics around it.
2. Strategic
staffing
To avoid weaknesses W4
The staff shortage of the company would be an obstacle to
the success of NPD unless it is avoided by taking advantage
of cheap labor available in the Environment.
Thus investment would be the exchange for it.
3. NPD
Intellectual
property
management
To avoid weaknesses W1
There is an IP Authority in Ethiopia and so that committed
management should apply for IP registration to ensure the
success of NPD in the market.
4. Technologies
and process
innovation
To avoid weaknesses W2
The availability and implementations of IT and process
innovations are core determinants successful NPD
process.
Hence AME has a good financial position it will make it
wise to invest in implementing technologies and process
innovations that are available in the environment.
55
5. Multi-culture
audience
product
strategy
To take advantage of the market (O1)
As Ethiopian cultural clothes are varied by multi-ethnics
and geographical areas, it would be hard to satisfy the
whole consumers with a single cultural cloth-inspired
product.
But, by taking the political factor advantage that is an
effort of building a unifying image, it would be possible to
design multi-cultural audience products to reach the mass
market in the country.
6. Fashion
cewebrity
involvement in
NPD
To avoid weaknesses W8
There a positive attitude toward cultural fashion
consumption in Ethiopia and even some politicians and
celebrities are using it.
Thus, AME would be benefited by promoting new
products through these celebrities and fashion leaders to
introduce the products to the market as most fashion
consumers are influenced by them.
7. Distribution
channels
expansion.
To avoid weaknesses W7
The availability of retails and selling shops are the most
important thing for marketing and commercialization of a
new product.
However, AME Company has a limited shop in the
country. But there is supportive government policy in the
country.
Thus, the company should request the government for
expansions and additional shops, otherwise, they should
invest by their selves.
8. NPD Market
segmentation
To avoid Threat T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6
Market segmentations help the managers to provide the
right product at the right place at the right prices.
56
The society of Ethiopia is diversified by age, income,
cultural clothes, etc., and so, it would be very important to
decide the targeted group to create an effective NPD.
9. Eco-friendly
product
development
To avoid Threat T7
Currently, Environmental safety has become the core
element of the NPD process.
Accordingly, it is also included in Ethiopian rules and
regulations for industries so that they incorporate
environments in their overall activities.
10. Product
differentiating
To avoid Threat T8 and T9
Product differentiation is one of the competitive
advantages in the fashion business. Fashion products
which are available in Ethiopian market are an importing
product and it would be an advantage for AME to produce
Ethiopian cultural clothes inspired fashion in the country.
11. Incorporate
social value in
the NPD
process
To avoid Threat T1 and T4
Cultural clothes-inspired fashions should also consider the
appropriation of the product for the consumers.
Then, keeping the cultures, ethics, and norms of the
society in the NPD process delighting the consumers will
ensure the success of NPD.
12. Cost
minimizing
product
Take advantage of threat T2 to overcome weakness W9.
As observed by EFA of the research the average income
of Ethiopian society is founded to low average income
populations.
Thus, by taking this threat as an opportunity and the
weakness, lack of experience in the local market to
incorporate cost-minimizing strategy in the NPD process
will help the company to smoothly penetrate the targeted
market.
57
4.5. Ranking alternative strategies using fuzzy-TOPSIS MCDM tool.
After the strategies are being developed from the TOWS matrix, the researcher was used
the linguistic fuzzy-TOPSIS method to prioritize the level of importance of all developed
strategies. In this case, six professionals; three Industrial Management Ph.D. holders, two
fashion designers MSc holders, and one Business Administration MA was chosen
purposefully to evaluate the pairwise importance level comparison. Seven levels of
importance comparison levels were selected. Also, their triangular fuzzy number (TFN)
has taken from (Ervural et al., 2018), and only three comparison terminology; medium-low
(ML), medium (M), and medium-high (MH) are modified to slightly low (SL), equal (E)
and slightly high (SH) so that they are more clear to the pairwise comparison.
4.5.1. NPD strategies ranking criteria in the Fashion industry
NPD process in the fashion industry passes through three main departmental categories
and the overall management. These three are Design, Production /manufacturing/ and
Marketing. Thus, the developed strategies are evaluated these four; Management, Design,
Production, and marketing criteria to prioritize their level of importance for planned NPD.
Even though, the weight of these four determinants is not equal for the success of the NPD
process. Therefore, their weight is also calculated by fuzzy TOPSIS by the linguistic
evaluation taken by selected experts. The calculation process is written procedurally in
Appendix 3, and the final criteria value and NPD strategies, performance value is shown
in table 8 and table 9 respectively as below. The first process done was preparing a matrix
for the evaluation of the criteria and their pairwise comparisons were evaluated by
linguistic fuzzy scale taken from Ervural et al. (2018) studies. Accordingly, the following
values are obtained as shown in table 8.
Table 8: Aggregate fuzzy ratings for the criteria and the alternatives
Criteria Aggregated CW N. Aggregated CW
Management 0.00 4.25 9.00 0.00 0.43 0.90
Designing 0.00 5.75 10.00 0.00 0.58 1.00
58
Production 1.00 4.42 10.00 0.10 0.44 1.00
Marketing 1.00 5.58 10.00 0.10 0.56 1.00
The aggregated value of the values of the criteria is calculated and normalized to be used
for further procedures. Thus, normalized aggregated criteria weight is the weight of the
selected criteria.
After all, procedures stated in Appendix-3 done the importance degrees of all developed
NPD strategies are calculated. The rank and closeness coefficient values are shown in table
9 below.
Table 9: closeness coefficient values and rank of NPD strategies
Alternative
strategies d* d- CC* Rank
SO1 0.28975 0.30303 0.5112 7
SO2 0.42585 0.15693 0.2693 12
SO3 0.34619 0.23663 0.4060 11
SO4 0.21711 0.36319 0.6259 5
SO5 0.21378 0.36992 0.6338 4
WO1 0.30714 0.27231 0.4699 9
WO2 0.31661 0.26825 0.4587 10
ST1 0.29688 0.28798 0.4924 8
ST2 0.26677 0.32154 0.5465 6
ST3 0.18383 0.40369 0.6871 2
ST4 0.15007 0.43699 0.7444 1
WT1 0.18923 0.40373 0.6809 3
As shown above, in table 9, the performance values and/or importance degrees of each
developed NPD strategy are obtained. Thus, ST4 is founded to be superior to all other
strategies and followed by ST3 and WT1 respectively. This implies that the strategies
developed by combining the strength of the company with the threat of the environments
are founded to be the most influencing factors that the company should consider to ensure
the success of NPD it is performing. Specifically, the factors ranked top 1 to 3 are made
59
from threats of the company. So, the company should be wise to consider and take the right
footstep to minimize or avoid threats as much as possible, because it is identified to have a
great impact on the NPD performance.
Figure 4: Importance value of NPD strategies
Accordingly, by replacing the codes with subjective strategies the performance of these
strategies can briefly be understood from figure 4. Hence, SO2 and SO3 are founded to be
the least important strategies for the success of Ethiopian cultural clothes-inspired fashion
product development in African Mosaique Enterprise Plc.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
importance value of NPD strategies
60
4.6. Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influence of a fashion NPD that is
inspired by Ethiopian cultural clothes and then to develop NPD strategies. Then, as a result,
12 main strategies are developed and their importance values are evaluated per multi-
criteria by experts. As a result, the performance evaluation of the NPD strategy is founded
between 0.2693 to 0.7444 where the maximum possible value is 1.00 and the least possible
value is 0.00 as shown in Table 11. But this does not mean that the least rated strategies do
not determine the NPD success, it is just a comparative importance value that is different.
These strategies could be discussed in detail as follows;
1st. Incorporate social value in the NPD process
According to Sangroya and Nayak (2017), the social value indicates an individual’s
perception about what the society would reflect or how it would react if a purchase was
made by the individual. Thus, as is found in this research Ethiopian societies are founded
to be concerned with religion, culture, ethics, and accepted norms for clothing
consumptions. The comparative evaluation of these factors also indicates superior to the
others. So, it is very important to incorporate these factors in new product design.
2nd. Product differentiating
Product differentiation is rated the second maximum performance. As many works of the
literature agree it the most important determinant of new product success (Bandinelli et al.,
2013; De Brentani et al., 2010; Sari & Asad, 2019; Yap & Souder, 1994). In this research,
it is developed as a strategic plan for the company as a competitive advantage over the
existing competitors’ products in the market. This implies that the company needs to design
a unique and superior product to win the market.
3rd. Cost minimizing product
The targeted market, Ethiopian society, is identified as a low average income population
and the company has no experience in the local market. As a result, by using these threats
and weaknesses as an advantage, creating a cost-minimizing product will help the firm to
penetrate and reach a mass market. Furthermore, cost minimization is stated as an NPD
success driver by Shih and Agrafiotis (2015).
61
4th. Multi culture-audience product design
Ethiopia is a multi-cultural societal country. Furthermore, the political movement factor of
the country foretells that common values are very acceptable and supportable to build
unity. Thus, by co-operating these two factors the company should take this opportunity
for the success of the new product by minimizing the product varieties. Unless otherwise,
the product user will be just some group of the society.
5th. Technologies and process innovation
Technology and process innovation is a critical strategy for the success of an NPD. It will
improve many elements of the processes and performance of the product (Santos, Loures,
Piechnicki, & Canciglieri, 2017). This could also determine the cost, quality, lead-time,
etc., of the NPD.
6th. Eco-friendly product development
Recently, the issue of Environmental safety is shining out all over the world. Ethiopian is
also giving attention to eco-friendly products and manufacturing processes (Behagel, Arts,
& Turnhout, 2019). Thus, it will be a wise decision for the company to incorporate the
environment in its whole NPD process to be successful as it is founded as a threat in the
country.
7th. Training & development
Training & development is a human resource management strategy that focuses on
identifying the employee’s competencies and providing them an appropriate training AME
Company is founded to have unskilled employers and it should consider training and
development of its employees to ensure the success of NPD. Most importantly, knowledge
and skill should go parallel with the technologies and innovations. Thus, this strategy is
one of the success determinants of NPD.
8th. NPD Market segmentation
This strategy is developed because, the targeted society is demographical, economic, and
geographically diversified. Thus there should be clear segmentation of the NPD target
market. There is no single product that can satisfy the whole consumer, it is essential to
specify scientifically the best market for the product.
62
9th. Fashion cewebrity involvement in NPD
Fashion cewebrity is a web celebrity that has many followers that will be influenced or
inspired by their fashion tastes. As a result of the development of the social media
cewebrity, (who use/consume the product) involvement in NPD is founded to improve the
NPD performance. This kind of promotion strategy is founded to be effective in china
(Zhang et al., 2020). The targeted society of this study is also identified to be influenced
by public celebrities. Thus, it is a very important strategy to be considered.
10th. Distribution channels expansion.
Distribution channels are the most important for product commercialization for every NPD.
Unlikely, African Mosaique Enterprise plc. has only two shops and both are in Addis
Abeba from all parts of Ethiopia. This will limit or hang the success of NPD performance.
But, the government of Ethiopia supports the manufacturers in many ways like bank loans,
land leasing, and other facilities (Oqubay, 2018). Through these opportunities this
limitation will be avoided and so that, the company will successfully overcome the NPD
process.
11th. NPD Intellectual property management
Intellectual property is the system of managing product trademark, patent, or copyright.
Innovation in any technology needs an original idea and to sustain to the market speed a
product development strategy to create the concept that certifies fast thus far stable market
entry (Damodharan, 2020). While the above-described processes of evaluation signify
primarily the. Hence, the significance of IPR strategy in a company, a patent pool, or a
technology, there will be a necessity of evaluating patents for a lean and robust product
development strategy.
12th. Strategic staffing
Staffing is a human resource management strategy that helps the company by assigning the
right person for the right activity. It also guides when to hire and fire strategically as per
required asks and situations (Olaniyan Timothy, Olaniyan Enoch, & Ayangbekun
Oluwafemi, 2019). This strategy is developed because an employee deficiency is
recognized in the company. However, it is rated the least above all the other developed
NPD strategies.
63
In general, this research is concerned to contribute to how an NPD can be successful and
perform well. Thus, a research framework and procedural steps to identify the factor that
may affect the process is shown by an exemplary study. Anyone can use these procedures
to investigate the right NPD strategy for a selected product, specified company, and
identified target market.
64
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Conclusion
This research has identified many factors which affect NPD processes. Most interestingly,
it makes clear how industrial managers should conduct their macro-environment and
micro-environment analysis to develop a successful NPD strategy. According to this study,
from 12 developed NPD strategies, a social value factor incorporation is founded to be a
leading strategic factor in Ethiopia to consume Ethiopian cultural clothes’ inspired fashion.
In this research, Ethiopian cultural clothes’ inspired fashion product type was chosen and
the case company is African Mosaique. Thus, the developed strategies fit only the specified
company for the identified product, in a targeted market. However, an EFA results and
values could be utilized by other fashion industry which is aiming to develop the same
product line for an identified target market, Ethiopia.
Furthermore, the study has developed a research framework by that, a new product
development strategy will be developed. Then, one can use it for his/her academic/industry
application as it simplifies the procedures and saves time. Developing an NPD strategy is
a risky and complex activity that needs careful study and research skills. It is not a single
course activity, rather, it is a multi-disciplinary activity winded together and gives a supper
sight that can see things multi-dimensions.
65
5.2. Recommendations
New product development strategy a critical guider to new product success. Thus,
industrial managers should spend enough time and resources on strategies before jumping
to activities in NPD processes. For example, idea generation is the primary activity in the
NPD process and but, it is not clear that what kind of ideas have to be generated and there
will be no frame that could guide the process. Unlikely, NPD strategy tells what is to be
considered and what the final output should be. It feels like walking on an already known
road when working with NPD strategy as it foresees all possible challenges and the possible
solutions are also determined earlier in strategy. Especially, for a dynamic change, volatile,
fast-changing customer demand business such as fashion industries, it is very worthwhile
to adopt an NPD strategy for fashion industry managers.
Moreover, fashion designers need something to be inspired from to create new designs.
Behind every fashion, we are consuming there is some meaningful message for the
designer and even the consumer. Thus, I like to recommend using Ethiopian cultural
clothes as an inspiration to develop new fashion products especially for the local market so
that the society be benefited from its own culture.
66
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APPENDIX-1
PESTLE- Analysis questionnaire
1. Political factor evaluation discussion points
What are the key political drivers of Ethiopian political relevance to cultural
clothes-inspired fashion product development in Ethiopia?
How is the current policy influencing culture inspired fashion movement?
Is there anything that can be changed? Is the policy seen as a strength or it is a
weakness for the sector of local garment and fashion industries?
What are the government directives, funding council policies, national and local
organizations’ requirements, and institutional policy?
How politicians are reacting toward Ethiopian cultural cloth-inspired fashion?
2. Economic evaluation discussion points
What are the important economic factors influencing fashion consumption in
Ethiopia?
Funding mechanisms and streams, business and enterprise directives, internal
funding models, budgetary restrictions, income generation of target customers.
How is a country’s economic development going?
3. Social evaluation discussion points
What are the main social and cultural aspects in Ethiopia which influence the
creation of cultural clothes-inspired fashion?
What the demographic varieties that can influence the new fashion product
development that inspired Ethiopian cultural clothes?
What are the population size, educated people, unemployed personnel, etc., which
have any direct or indirect influence on the fashion new product development
process in Ethiopia?
What are the social attitudes, ethics, and norms toward fashion products?
General lifestyle changes, changes in population, distribution, and demographics,
and the impact of different mixes of cultures
Is there anything that can contribute to the increase in cultural-inspired fashion
product production and consumption?
4. Technological evaluation discussion points
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What are current technology imperatives, changes, and innovation s?
Major current and emerging technologies of relevance for cultural clothes inspired
fashion product development?
How is academic research available in the country?
5. Legal evaluation discussion points
What is the current and forthcoming legislation affecting the new fashion product
development in Ethiopia?
6. Environmental evaluation discussion points
What is the relationship between fashion industries and environmental changes?
Is there any policy regarding this?
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APPENDIX-2
Interview questions for IFA
Name of respondent ___Anna Getaneh ___ position: - Owner / Managing Director __
1. Are there any patents for the products that you are selling?
No
2. Do you have competent staff to design, produce and market your products?
Not 100% but we are building capacity every day
3. Does the physical location of your company offer an advantage over competitors?
We are a big long-term goal so we needed enough land to fulfill that goal - we are
20 minutes outside Addis so we are well placed.
4. Do you have a good reputation among the national and international community?
We have over 20 years of international experience and 6 years locally - doing
fashion and development work
5. Do your products have strong brands?
Yes
6. Does your company works collaboratively with government policies and regulations to
design products?
Yes and we also have an O% waste policy
7. Do you have a strong work culture?
Discipline = Freedom
Developing the right work culture is key to the success of any company
8. Do you own a state of the art technology?
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No, We focus on classic manufacturing, using local labor - our goal is to create
jobs and sustain a tradition
9. Do you have a strong financial position?
We are still building and investing also in capital expenses, to ensure and position
the company to compete internationally
10. Do employees lack specific skills that are important to achieve their goals?
Capacity building is one of our keys areas, the develop the right skills to work on
high-end manufacturing
11. Is there a shortage of staff?
Always
12. Do you have financial difficulties meeting set objectives?
No
13. Have you discovered a shortage of cash inflows for several months?
Due to Covid-19 yes, we are positive and it will pick up in 2021
14. Have you experienced a lack of an inventory management system?
At times
15. Is there a difficulty of adaptability to product variety?
Yes
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APPENDIX 3
Fuzzy TOPSIS calculation to Evaluate alternative NPD strategies
performance
Importance Abbreviation Fuzzy
Number
Very low VL (0, 1, 1)
Low L (0, 1, 3)
Medium M (3, 5, 7)
High H (7, 9, 10)
Very high VH (9, 10, 10)
Table 10; Fuzzy linguistic terms and their fuzzy number representations for criteria
weighting
Codes Criteria Management Design Production Marketing
C1 Management
C2 Design
C3 Production
C4 Marketing
Table 11; Criteria weighing pairwise comparison matrix with respective codes.
Importance Abbreviation Fuzzy
Number
Very low VL (0, 0, 1)
Low L (0, 1, 3)
Slightly low SL (1, 3, 5)
Medium M (3, 5, 7)
Slightly high SH (5, 7, 9)
High H (7, 9, 10)
Very high VH (9, 10, 10)
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Table 12. Fuzzy linguistic terms and their fuzzy number
Source; Adapted from Ervural et al. (2018)
The comparison platform was papered as follows with a coded strategies alternatives to be
filled by selected professionals. The codes are explained above under the TOWS matrix.
Step 1: Assignment of ratings to the criteria and the alternatives.
Alternative
strategies
Evaluation criteria
Management Designing Production Marketing
Management 3. 5.00 7.0 0. 3.00 9. 1. 5.33 9. 0. 3.67 9.
Designing 1. 7.00 10.0 3. 5.00 7. 0. 5.67 9. 0. 5.33 9.
Production 1. 4.67 9.0 1. 4.33 10. 3. 5.00 7. 1. 3.67 7.
Marketing 1. 6.33 10.0 1. 4.67 10 3. 6.33 9. 3. 5.00 7.
Step 2: Compute aggregate fuzzy ratings for the criteria and the alternatives.
Criteria Aggregated CW N. Aggregated CW
Management 0.00 4.25 9.00 0.00 0.43 0.90
Designing 0.00 5.75 10.00 0.00 0.58 1.00
Production 1.00 4.42 10.00 0.10 0.44 1.00
Marketing 1.00 5.58 10.00 0.10 0.56 1.00
Step 3: Compute the fuzzy decision matrix.
Alternative
strategies
Evaluation criteria
Management Designing Production Marketing
SO1 0 6.167 10 5 8.167 10 1 8 10 0 7.5 10
SO2 0 8.167 10 0 6 10 0 6.333 10 0 5 10
SO3 7 9.667 10 0 7.5 10 0 4.167 10 0 6.5 10
SO4 1 8 10 5 9 10 7 9.833 10 0 5.5 10
SO5 0 6 10 7 9.667 10 3 7.667 10 3 8.333 10
WO1 3 8.167 10 0 6.167 10 0 4 10 9 10 10
WO2 7 9.333 10 0 4.667 10 0 5 10 7 9.833 10
85
ST1 3 8.333 10 0 6 10 0 5 10 7 9.833 10
ST2 3 7.667 10 0 7.667 10 3 7.667 10 0 7.667 10
ST3 3 8.333 10 1 8.333 10 0 6.5 10 7 9.833 10
ST4 1 7.833 10 3 8.833 10 1 7.833 10 7 9.667 10
WT1 7 9.5 10 0 7 10 0 7.833 10 5 9.333 10
Step 4: Normalize the fuzzy decision matrix.
Alternative
strategies
Evaluation criteria and criteria weights
0 0.43 0.9 0 0.58 1 0.1 0.44 1 0.1 0.56 1
Management Designing Production Marketing
SO1 0 0.62 1 0.5 0.82 1 0.1 0.8 1 0 0.75 1
SO2 0 0.82 1 0 0.6 1 0 0.63 1 0 0.5 1
SO3 0.7 0.97 1 0 0.75 1 0 0.42 1 0 0.65 1
SO4 0.1 0.8 1 0.5 0.9 1 0.7 0.98 1 0 0.55 1
SO5 0 0.6 1 0.7 0.97 1 0.3 0.77 1 0.3 0.83 1
WO1 0.3 0.82 1 0 0.62 1 0 0.4 1 0.9 1 1
WO2 0.7 0.93 1 0 0.47 1 0 0.5 1 0.7 0.98 1
ST1 0.3 0.83 1 0 0.6 1 0 0.5 1 0.7 0.98 1
ST2 0.3 0.77 1 0 0.77 1 0.3 0.77 1 0 0.77 1
ST3 0.3 0.83 1 0.1 0.83 1 0 0.65 1 0.7 0.98 1
ST4 0.1 0.78 1 0.3 0.88 1 0.1 0.78 1 0.7 0.97 1
WT1 0.7 0.95 1 0 0.7 1 0 0.78 1 0.5 0.93 1
Step 5: Compute the weighted normalized matrix + Step 6: Compute the fuzzy positive
ideal solution (FPIS) (A*) and fuzzy negative ideal solution (FNIS) (A-).
Alternativ
e strategies
Evaluation criteria
Management Designing Production Marketing
SO1 0 0.26 0.9 0 0.47 1 0.01 0.35 1 0 0.42 1
SO2 0 0.35 0.9 0 0.35 1 0 0.28 1 0 0.28 1
SO3 0 0.41 0.9 0 0.43 1 0 0.18 1 0 0.36 1
SO4 0 0.34 0.9 0 0.52 1 0.07 0.43 1 0 0.31 1
SO5 0 0.26 0.9 0 0.56 1 0.03 0.34 1 0.03 0.47 1
WO1 0 0.35 0.9 0 0.35 1 0 0.18 1 0.09 0.56 1
WO2 0 0.4 0.9 0 0.27 1 0 0.22 1 0.07 0.55 1
ST1 0 0.35 0.9 0 0.35 1 0 0.22 1 0.07 0.55 1
ST2 0 0.33 0.9 0 0.44 1 0.03 0.34 1 0 0.43 1
86
ST3 0 0.35 0.9 0 0.48 1 0 0.29 1 0.07 0.55 1
ST4 0 0.33 0.9 0 0.51 1 0.01 0.35 1 0.07 0.54 1
WT1 0 0.4 0.9 0 0.4 1 0 0.35 1 0.05 0.52 1
A* 0 0.41 0.9 0 0.56 1 0.07 0.43 1 0.09 0.56 1
A- 0 0.26 0.9 0 0.27 1 0 0.18 1 0 0.28 1
Step 7: Compute the distance of each alternative from FPIS and FNIS.
a) Fuzzy Positive ideal solution
Alternative
strategies
Fuzzy Positive ideal solution
Management Designing Production Marketing
SO1 0.08588 0.04980 0.05819 0.09589
SO2 0.03681 0.12172 0.09797 0.16935
SO3 0.00000 0.07193 0.15004 0.12421
SO4 0.04090 0.02213 0.00000 0.15409
SO5 0.08997 0.00000 0.05988 0.06393
WO1 0.03681 0.11619 0.15414 0.00000
WO2 0.00818 0.16599 0.12971 0.01274
ST1 0.03272 0.12172 0.12971 0.01274
ST2 0.04907 0.06640 0.05988 0.09142
ST3 0.03272 0.04426 0.09412 0.01274
ST4 0.04499 0.02766 0.06165 0.01577
WT1 0.00409 0.08853 0.06507 0.03155
b) Fuzzy Negative ideal solution
Alternative
strategies
Fuzzy Negative ideal solution
Management Designing Production Marketing
SO1 0.00409 0.11619 0.10216 0.08059
SO2 0.05316 0.04426 0.05950 0.00000
SO3 0.08997 0.09406 0.00425 0.04835
SO4 0.04907 0.14386 0.15414 0.01612
SO5 0.00000 0.16599 0.09509 0.10884
WO1 0.05316 0.04980 0.00000 0.16935
WO2 0.08179 0.00000 0.02550 0.16096
ST1 0.05725 0.04426 0.02550 0.16096
ST2 0.04090 0.09959 0.09509 0.08596
ST3 0.05725 0.12172 0.06375 0.16096
ST4 0.04499 0.13832 0.09792 0.15577
WT1 0.08588 0.07746 0.09775 0.14264
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Step 8: Compute the closeness coefficient (CCi) of each alternative + Step 9: Rank the
alternatives.
Alternative
strategies d* d- CC* Rank
SO1 0.28975 0.30303 0.5112 7
SO2 0.42585 0.15693 0.2693 12
SO3 0.34619 0.23663 0.4060 11
SO4 0.21711 0.36319 0.6259 5
SO5 0.21378 0.36992 0.6338 4
WO1 0.30714 0.27231 0.4699 9
WO2 0.31661 0.26825 0.4587 10
ST1 0.29688 0.28798 0.4924 8
ST2 0.26677 0.32154 0.5465 6
ST3 0.18383 0.40369 0.6871 2
ST4 0.15007 0.43699 0.7444 1
WT1 0.18923 0.40373 0.6809 3
