LABOR REGULATION AND ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES IN THE SOUTH-AFRICAN CLOTHING INDUSTRY

This paper explores the impact of regional differences in labour regul ation on the accumulation strategies of firms in the South African clo thing industry. A strong positive relationship was found between domin ant accumulation strategies and forms of local regulation. In the cont ext of a footloose industry, South African clothing firms should have been able to make use of differences in labour regulation on a nationa l space. Yet, this study found that firms took advantage of difference s in labour regulation available to them in their immediate vicinity o nly. In particular, very few firms ventured further than a one-hour dr ive in their decentralizing activities. Firms in the urban areas that were not proximate to areas ensuring low cost and unorganized labour a dopted new technologies and operational methods such as unit productio n systems. Firms with head offices in urban areas situated within a on e-hour drive to areas with less democratic wage determination systems did not adopt modern operational systems. Instead, they emphasized lab our cost reduction accumulation strategies. The main strategy entailed production decentralization to the regions with more stringent contro ls on worker organization and pay scales that were a fraction of those in urban areas.