Edinburgh Napier University

  This thesis addressed the critical issue of the paucity in exporting by Jamaican manufacturing Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) even though these MSMEs are the key pillars of Jamaica’s economy. The purpose of this thesis was to address the gap in literature with respect to Jamaican MSMEs as well as to investigate the use of standards as an additional firm resource for increasing competitiveness and internationalising on a global scale. To gather data, the listings of registered manufacturers and exporters were obtained from the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) and the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO). Both databases were merged, and all redundancies were removed. Analysis of the population database revealed that these MSMEs were operating within seven industrial sectors, namely agro-processing/food & juices, chemicals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, electrical, furniture, minerals, metal products, doors and glass, printing & packaging and textiles & sewn products. A survey instrument was then issued to 387 MSMEs of which only 89 responded. Additionally, 3 case studies were developed from in-depth interviews with 3 of these MSMEs who responded to the survey; one was an established exporter while the other two did not export consistently.
The themes which arose from the research included manufacturing, entrepreneurship, export stimuli and internationalisation; these themes were all addressed from a strategic management perspective. Variables such as investment in standards (IS), manufacturing strategy (MS), entrepreneurial orientation (EO), competitive strategy (CS), number of employees (NEM), entrepreneur foreign language (EFL), entrepreneur foreign work experience (EFWE), entrepreneur foreign study and living (EFSL), entrepreneur education (EDU), age of firm (AF), family owned or not (FON) and the environment (EnF) were all analysed to determine their impact on internationalisation. The data was analysed by using correlation analysis, logit regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Principal Component Analysis, a factor analysis technique was used to determine the amount of variance in the data. A single factor MS was retained after extraction (using the default cut off criterion for extraction: eigenvalues over 1), and this factor or variable explained approximately 23% of the total variance in the 12 observed variables. Five models were developed to provide answers to MSMEs internationalisation in Jamaica. Model 1 investigated the impact the control variables AF and family owned or not (FON) had on internationalisation and the result demonstrated that there was not any significance. Model 2 considered all 12 variables, and this too was insignificant. However, Model 3 demonstrated that MS was the only variable that had any significance with respect to the internationalisation process despite its negative correlation; the F test had a p value of .027 where p < .05, therefore, the overall model was statistically significant. Interestingly, Model 4 demonstrated significance between manufacturing strategy and internationalisation in the non-agroprocessing industry; the F test had a p value of .028 where p < .05. Model 5 investigated the moderating effect that the EnF had on IS as a firm resource but despite the fact that the environment and investment in standards were negatively correlated, there was not enough evidence from logistic regression to conclude that the environment had a moderating effect on investment in standards.
The practical implications for this study are that the export model developed will assist government and private sector policymakers to assist in providing a more enabling business environment for Jamaican MSMEs to operate. It should make them take practical steps to eliminate the several bureaucratic processes which stifle and strangle doing business in Jamaica. Entrepreneurs who manage small firms should be better able to strategise the configuration of available resources to compete efficiently and boost their enterprises chances of internationalising. These strategies and policies developed will improve the stimulus for nonexporters to become exporters and current exporters to increase the yield of their exports. The export model will also be useful for Jamaica’s CARICOM neighbours to emulate.