The Impact of Regional Integration on SMEs Performance. A Survey of Manufacturing SMEs in the East African Community (EAC)

      Аннотация: This Research project is defined by the research objective that is to examine the nature of regional integration and the experiences by SME’s in EAC and considers research questions in their relation to the types of strategies and the external factors influencing the firm’s strategies as well as changes in their structure. The objectives SME’s pursue and the extent to which their objectives are achieved is also considered. The impact of selected external (exogenous) variables such as Access to finance; Adequate legal and regulatory environment; technological and innovative capabilities; formation of inter-firm linkages such as subcontracting, clustering and exporting; as well as infrastructure on the performance of SME’s is analyzed and presented. The ability of regional SMEs to meet the economic expectations placed on them and their uniqueness compared with large organizations is investigated. Examination of the relevance of existing models of SME, entrepreneurship and their role in the regional development and presentation of this new conceptual framework.

Ключевые слова: Regional integration, Small & Medium Enterprises, performance, East Africa Community