Uganda –China trade evaluated from an export readiness perspective; evidence from oil-seed exports

Aaron Ecel*, Ronett Atukunda, Edwin Napakor and Jimmy Otim

Department of Marketing & International Business, Makerere University Business School, Kampala Uganda

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: eaaron@mubs.ac.ug

Accepted 05 March 2013

Abstract

This study was prompted by the poor performance of Uganda’s oil-seed exports in international markets, specifically in lucrative markets like china that present a huge and insatiable demand. The paper sought to examine the extent to which export readiness explains export performance.  In a cross sectional fashion, all firms in Uganda exporting oil seeds were studied. Currently there are 19 firms exporting oil-seeds. The findings show that, financial capability was the only significant predictor of export performance for Ugandan oil-seed exporters. Production capability and marketing capability did not have a significant relationship to export performance. The small population studied, the exploratory and cross-sectional nature of the study act as limitations to the study. They serve as a potential point of departure for future research on export readiness and export performance, both in Uganda and developing countries in general. The findings indicate that financial capability significantly determines the odds of success for SMEs exporting into the Chinese market. A firm’s financial muscle ranks supreme to other readiness factors.  The paper enables SME firms that export un-processed commodities into emerging economies such as china to gauge their export capabilities. The paper extends literature that covers export performance in emerging markets like china.

Keywords: Export Readiness, Export performance, International business, China, Uganda, International business