Ministry of Commerce and Science
Canadian Federal Government

Line of Business

Bottom Line

Target audiences

The apparel, footwear, home textiles and related fashion-influenced industries headquartered in or having significant operations in Canada

Market Challenges

• Sales of goods by Canadian soft goods companies were declining due to competition from less-expensive imports
• New technology and management concepts necessary to achieve competitive operations, employment levels and income had not been adopted
• Companies in decline were reluctant to adopt the new approaches necessary for their survival, putting Canadian jobs at risk

Strategic Approach

• Push for adoption of selected technologies as the desired standards through public, third-party forums such as trade shows and industry analyst conferences
• Use these third-party forums to also educate top-tier Canadian retail executives on new technology and management concepts that would make them competitive
• Create and implement early pilot projects showing strong return on investment through decreased costs and increased sales

Marketing Services

• Liaisoned with Canadian national technology standards-setting organizations to get the right technologies standardized
• Heavily publicized successful results of the government-subsidized pilot projects of new technologies in affected industries
• Recommended appropriate technology conferences for senior industry executives to attend, where they could be educated in the new technologies and competitive business practices
• Promoted the accomplishments of selected successful executives in key targeted industry segments as national industry/science champions of successful change services

Outcomes

• New technology standards were adopted in Canada
• The Ministry achieved widespread political support and increased funding in support of the Ministry's efforts.
• Top-tier companies in targeted industries realized increased market share