There are relatively few companies from the branch defining their present condition as very good or excellent. In a bad condition are more than half of the entities interviewed.
The joint in the armor of the competitiveness of the branch are the investments in marketing and advertisement.
The good news is that the quality of the goods as well as the competitiveness of the prices is quite high. There is still much to be desired from the productivity of labor. There are considerable reserves for the improvement of the situation here.
The qualification of the staff and the productivity of the machines and the equipment are at a relatively high level.
It is the competitiveness indicators that are the most significant reason for optimism among a great many of the managers in the sector. The forecast for the second half of the year shows considerable optimism - only a third (33 %) expect deterioration and the number of optimists (29 %) is almost as big.
The obvious reasons for the situation within the branch are the changes in the international economical climate, as a result of the financial crisis and the resulting consumption reduction. Almost all enterprises have experienced the impact of the crisis on their business.
A considerable reduction of the production - up to 44 % of the interviewed share their expectations to witness a reduction between 31 and 50 %. Strongly pessimistic are about 10 % of the companies, according to which the sector will go down by more than 51 % this year.
A direct social impact of the business reduction are the expectations for an employment reduction. One third of the companies shall reduce its staff with between 20 and 50 % of the labor force.
Managers are optimistic about the salary range in the sector - 72 % think that the level will hold, and 11 % even expect some rise.
As for the company strategies available, 25 % of the companies have been or will shortly be ISO-certified.
One third of the enterprises participate in expositions, fairs and other specialized forums in Bulgaria, and 14 % participate in expositions abroad.
In order to plan the development of the sector it is very important to know the degree to which the companies are familiar with and ready to implement the European standards for the production of textile, textile products, clothing and knit-ware. In 62 % of the companies the European norms are implemented or about to be implemented, while 23 % declare that the process has been fulfilled.
One fifth of the companies have a budget for technical innovations. About the same is the number of the companies for which the training and the qualification improvement of the staff are a main priority and which have provided resources for this process.
As for the regulation and the institutional frame, the companies from the sector evaluate with criticism the business environment, the efficiency of the legal changes, the insurance and tax payments, the work of the institutions. A serious impediment for the business is the low efficiency of the education system which does not produce the specialists necessary for the sector. One third of the companies have difficult access to bank financing.
In the domain of the government policy encouraging the sector and assuring its stable development, the entrepreneurs support mainly measures protecting local producers (31 %), measures to encourage the consumption through the reduction of insurances and taxes (25 %), measures to encourage and support the export (14 %) and measures to maintain employment rate (10 %).