Market Orientation and Performance of Fruit Exporting Firms in Kenya: A Theoretical Perspective

Abstract

Globalization has brought about stiff competition between international firms and every firm is at pains to improve its performance. Fruit exporting firms in Kenya face the same global competition challenges, and the key to success is for management of such organizations to effectively utilize their available resources. There is lack of methodological and empirical studies on fruit exports from Kenya. It is not documented how Kenyan fruit exporters internationalize and why they have failed to grow from infancy to maturity as international firms.  This study had four objectives in mind: one was to determine the relationship between market orientation and firm performance; two, was to find out the moderating effect of firm characteristics on the relationship between market orientation and firm performance; three, was to determine the moderating effect of innovation on the relationship between market orientation and firm performance; and the last one was to determine the joint effect of the market orientation, firm characteristics and innovation on the overall performance of the fruit exporting firms in Kenya . A pilot study of five firms was conducted to determine the reliability of the instrument of collecting data as well as the validity of the collected data. In the cross-sectional survey conducted for the full study, 224 firms were identified as dealing in the exportation of fruits and vegetables. Of the 224 firms, further scrutiny of the firms revealed that 111 firms were focusing on fruit exports alone. Due to the firms being very few, a census survey was conducted on the sector. Of the 111 questionnaires sent 85 respondents gave their feedback giving a response rate of 76%. After analyzing the data and regressing on each of the hypotheses, the results indicated that all hypotheses were accepted with varying degrees. This means that the four variables had influence on the performance of firms in fruit exporting business. It was therefore concluded that market orientation should be adopted by fruit exporting firms in Kenya. Market orientation can be recommended as a basis for most firms in fruit export business in Kenya. The results of this study can also be extended to other groups of firms dealing with other agricultural products like vegetables and other garden plants.

Keywords: Market Orientation, Firm characteristics, Firm performance, Fruit exports, Foreign exchange.