Internationalization and Export Performance of Sme’s in Gikomba Market in Nairobi, Kenya
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Date
2016Author
Maleche, Kenneth A
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
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There is strong empirical support for an association between characteristics of an SME‟s entrepreneur and internationalization, yet the impact of environmental perception remains relatively under explored. The study sought to establish the relationship between internationalization and the export performance of SMEs in Gikomba market. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and was guided by the following objective; to establish the relationship between internationalization and export performance among SMEs in Gikomba market. The study utilized primary data which was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. From the target population of 208 businesses a 30% random sample of 63 respondents was selected for the study. A 5-point Likert scale was used to measure the output of each item answered by the participants. Descriptive statistics were used to describe (and analyze) the variables numerically. A multivariate regression model was used to analyze the relationship between internationalization and export performance among the SMEs. The outcome of the study establishes a relationship between internationalization and export performance with the regression analysis yielding Coefficient of Multiple Determination (R2) of 0.871 implying that up to 87.1% of the variation in Export performance can be attributed to the internationalization strategies adopted by the SMEs in Gikomba market. The p-value of 0.001 indicates that the impact of internationalization practices on Export performance is significant at 95% confidence level among the SMEs in Gikomba market. The study recommends that more SMEs in Kenya adopt internationalization approaches to build their core competencies. The study further recommends that firms in Kenya put in place mechanisms to facilitate international trade through integration and collaboration given the fact that network relationship plays a pivotal role in the process of internationalization. The study was limited to the extent that, a study of this magnitude should have included a survey of a sizeable number of firms. However time and material resources did not make this feasible. On the other hand, some of the respondents were non-committal posing major challenges in the field during the data collection costing the researcher since he had to do a lot of data editing after field work. The study recommends further research to focus on the critical success factors in the implementation of internationalization practices. Studies involving confirmatory factor analysis will need to be carried out to further test the model so established and to confirm the findings of the study. Further studies can be conducted to test and confirm the factor loadings in different firms so as to establish the validity and strength of the model. Moreover, further research efforts to identify optimal internationalization practices and on the possibility of setting local benchmarks. The need for further research into this aspect of international business management is further compounded by the fact that exports performance optimization among SMEs is a relatively new phenomenon in Kenya.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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