Influence Of Free Trade Agreements On Business Growth Of Animal Feed Firms In Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Free Trade Agreement enables countries to buy and sell goods and services to member states with limited or completely no regulations for example tariffs and quotas. Countries take part in FTAs so as to remove barriers in trade and promote global trade and ties. This research was set out to establish influence of free trade agreement on business growth of Animal Feed firms in Nairobi County, Kenya. The research adopted a descriptive form of research design that gave a picture of a situation exactly the way it took place naturally. This type of design was applied to make judgement and develop theories. The target population of this research included 30 Animal Feed Manufacturing firms that had been licensed to work and operate in Kenya. Primary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics that includes frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The study found that FTAs; preferential trade relations, free movement of goods and people and treaty were used to a large extent. Preferential trade relations scored the highest mean in comparison to free movement of people and goods. More to that, the research showed that most firms are locally owned and have been in operation for more than ten years. Results from Chic-square showed existence of a statistically significant association between FTAs and business growth. This implies that more businesses should take advantage of the treaties in order to experience business growth especially where free movement of goods and services is concerned. Research recommends the need for government to develop policies and frameworks that create a favorable environment for member states to engage in business, partnerships so as to strengthen ties. The underlying limitation for this research was time and resources that limited the scope of this research forcing the researcher to investigate Animal Feeds Manufacturing firms in Nairobi County only however, the findings realized in this research cannot be generalized to provide a true picture of all the Animal Feeds Manufacturing firms in Kenya. In future, researchers should do a replica of this study in a different sector other than manufacturing, and find out whether the findings gotten under this study will hold. This will inform a more meaningful conclusion as to the behaviour of variables and how they relate.