The Canadian apparel industry has experienced erosion of its market share to imported products. Exporting is a strategy to counteract this situation, yet only about 3% of total Canadian apparel shipments are exported. The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of Canadian apparel CEOs toward exporting and compare characteristics of exporters and non exporters. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 511 apparel manufacturers, with 56 usable questionnaires returned. Results of t-tests, indicated that CEOs of non-exporting firms perceived exporting to be more complicated than did CEOs of exporting firms. CEOs of exporting firms tended to have higher educational levels and were more likely to have traveled to the U.S. than CEOs of non-exporting firms.
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