(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008)
Noor, Fianti; Peters, Stuart; Stingelin, Natalie; Smith, Paul
The paper investigates the process of transition of the European textile industry away from being a mature industry towards a more knowledge-based one. The European industry has fallen into what Abernathy (1978, 1983) termed the 'maturity trap' due to a number of different
factors; firm inertia, the fragmentation of markets, increasing competition and regional and
national business cultures. However, the findings also suggest that a number of companies have
successfully circumvented maturity-trap and indeed shifted their capabilities from mature
businesses to ferment phase. There is now a concerted effort at the EU and national level to rescue the European industry from the maturity trap based on innovation and entrepreneurial management at the level of the firm.