Internationalisation, internationalisation barriers, SMEs, exporting, Manufacturing Industry, Ethiopia.
The purpose of this study was to examine internationalisation barriers of manufacturing SMEs operating in Leather and Leather Products Industry located in the capital city of Ethiopia. The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) sector in Ethiopia is a significant group within the economy in terms of firm numbers and total employment. However, the SMEs sectors share of exports is disproportionately small, which raised considerable research concerns. Firm export propensity was the dependent variable and internal and external export barrier factors were used as explanatory variables. The study was conducted through mixed research design of quantitative survey and case study. From the population of manufacturing SMEs operating in the Leather and Leather products Industry, a sample was selected through the use of stratified random sampling to ensure the effective representation of the population of exporting and non-exporting SMEs in the capital of Ethiopia. In order to complement survey results nine (4 exporting and 5 non-exporting) SMEs were selected through critical case purposive sampling and an in-depth interviews were conducted. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS 20) was used to analyse the quantitative data whereas, qualitative data were analysed manually. Exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation and Binary logistic regression analysis are the analytical methods used. The statistical result showed that, logistics problem, insufficient finan
Full Text : PDF
- Andersson, S. 2011. ‘International entrepreneurship, born global and the theory of effectuation’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 18. 3 (2011): 627-643.
- Arteaga-Ortiz, J., and Fernandez-Ortiz, R .2010. ‘Why Don’t We Use the Same Export Barrier Measurement Scale: An Empirical Analysis in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’, Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 48, no. 3: 395–420.
- Azmera, A. 2013. ‘The Role of Government policy package in boosting Export: A Comparative Study of Ethiopia, South Korea and Vietnam’, IFSMRC AIJRM, Vol-01 Issue No-01 Jan-Jun 2013 ISSN: 2308-3034.
- Central Statistical Agency.2012. Report on Large and Medium Scale Manufacturing and Electricity Industries Survey Addis Ababa, August 2012.
- www.csa.gov.et/index.php/.../14.../123-latest-national-statistics-abstract.
- Ciuriak, D. 2010. ‘Supply and demand side constraints as barriers for Ethiopian exports: Policy options,’ bkp development trade and development discussion paper no. 02-2010. Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1659655. Retrieved on April, 13, 2013.
- Crick, D. 2007. ‘SMEs' Barriers towards Internationalisation and Assistance Requirements in the UK’, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 20 (3): 233-244.
- Dinh, H.T., D.A. Mavridis and H.B. Nguyen .2011.The Binding Constraint on Firms’ Growth in Developing Countries. In World Bank (ed.), Light Manufacturing in Africa? Practical Solutions to Creating Millions of Productive Jobs. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/FinalVolumeII.pdf.
- Ethiopia Leather Industries Association. 2013. Ethiopian Leather Industries Association: Current Members’ Brief Company Profile, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia [online], Available at http://www .elia. org.et /memb.html. Accessed on March 23, 2013.
- Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., and Anderson, R. 2010. Multivariate Data Analysis. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
- Johanson, J. and Vahlne, J.E. 2009. ‘The Uppsala Internationalisation Process Model revisited: from liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership’, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 40 No. 9:1411–31.
- Kocker, G.M and Buhl, C.M. 2008. ‘Internationalisation of Networks, Barriers and Enablers: empirical analysis of selected European Networks’, Kompetenznetze Deutschland, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology Germany.
- Koksal, H.M., and Kettaneh, T. 2011. ‘Export problems experienced by high and low performing manufacturing companies: a comparative study’, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol, 23 No.1:108-126.
- Leonidou, L.C. 2004. ‘An analysis of the barriers hindering small business export development’, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 42 No. 3: 279-302.
- Leonidou, L. C., Katsikeas, C. S., Palihawadana, D., and Spyropoulou, S. A. 2007.’ An analytical review of the factors stimulating smaller firms to export: implications for policy makers’, International Marketing Review, 24(6):735-770.
- Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. 2010. Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) 2010/11-2014/15, September 2010, Addis Ababa
- National Bank of Ethiopia. 2009. Annual report, 2008/09.[online] Available at :http:www.nbe.gov.et . Last accessed Jan 6/2013.
- National Bank of Ethiopia. 2010/11. Annual report | VII. Investment. Available at: www.nbe.gov.et Accessed Feb 22/2013.
- OECD. 2008. Removing Barriers to SME Access to International Markets. Paris: OECD Publications.Available at: http://www.oecd.org. Accessed 11.27.14.
- OECD.2009.Top Barriers and Drivers to SME Internationalisation. Report by OECD working Party on SMEs Entrepreneurship, OECD. Available at: http:www.oecd.org. Accessed 11.27.14
- Ojala, A. 2009. ‘Internationalisation of knowledge-intensive SMEs: The role of network relationships in the entry to a psychically distant market’, International Business Review, 18: 50-59.
- Okpara, J.O. 2010. ‘Strategic export orientation and internationalization barriers: evidence from SMEs in a developing economy’, Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4: 1-10.
- Ortiz, J. A., and Ortiz, R.A. 2010. Why don’t we Use the same export barrier measurement scale? An Empirical Analysis in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.Journal of Small Business Management, 48(3): 395–420.
- Pinho, C. J., and Martins, L. 2010. ‘Exporting barriers: insights from Portuguese small-and medium-sized exporters and non-exporters’, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 8(2010): 254-272.
- Rundh, B. 2007. ‘International marketing behaviour amongst exporting firms’, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41 Nos ½ : 181-98.
- Rutihinda, C. 2008. Export Barriers and Performance of Small and Medium Size Enterprises. Proceedings of the Academy for Studies in International Business, 8(1), 57-63.
- Saixing, Z., Xie, X. M., Tam, C. M., and Wan, T. W. 2009.’Relationships between business factors and performance in internationalisation: an empirical study in China’, Management Decision, Vol. 47 No. 2: 308-29.
- Singh, G., Pathak, R.D. and Naz, R. 2010. ‘Issues Faced by SMEs in the Internationalization Process: Results from Fiji and Samoa’, International Journal of Emerging Markets, 5, 2: 153-182.
- Stanton, J., and Stanton, P. 2011.’The Concept of Internationalisation and its Relevance to Small and Medium Service Enterprises (SMSEs)’, The Business Review, Cambridge 17. 2 (Summer 2011): 28-34.
- UNIDO. (2008).Industrious Africa: selected UNIDO activities in Africa, Volume II. www.unido.org/news/press/new-africa.html.
- UNIDO.2013. Ethiopia Country Brief. Available at: www.unido.org. Accessed on June 24, 2014].