Export marketing involvement of African small and medium size enterprises: Tanzania's fish processing industry

Abstract

The extent to which small and medium size enterprises (SME's) are engaged in marketing their products in foreign markets is an important factor that can increase their performance in those markets. This study examined the Export marketing involvement of SMEs from the Least Developed Countries using the case study of SMEs exporters in Tanzania's fish processing industry. Using factor analysis, the study revealed three main dimensions of export marketing involvement of Tanzania's SMEs in the fish processing industry. They are distinguished as foreign product quality intensity, foreign marketing research intensity and foreign market promotion intensity. Firms with higher foreign product quality intensity were found to perform better than others in the export market. Heavy exporters were found to have greater export promotion intensity and experienced firms were found to emphasise on higher export product quality intensity. African Journal of Finance and Management Vol.12(1) 2003: 25-32