Globalization and Innovation in a Mature Industry: Furniture Manufacturing in Canada

Drayse M. H. Globalization and innovation in a mature industry: furniture manufacturing in Canada, Regional Studies. Canadian furniture manufacturers have been relatively successful in responding to the competitive challenges of more open continental and global economies. The industry has followed a high-road development path based on innovation in products, processes, and business practices, and exploitation of export markets in the United States. While employment has declined in recent years due to a slowdown in US sales and increasing use of imports by Canadian firms - trends reinforced by the current recession - the furniture industry has been more successful than most Canadian manufacturing industries since the beginning of the modern free-trade era in 1989.