| Abstract: | Export is an important ingredient for country’s economic growth and
sustainable development, like in Ethiopia; it is the back bone of the country’s
economy. The main objective of the study was to assess challenges,
opportunities and performance of Ethiopian export market in the past three
years (2015 -2017). The study was conducted by the relevant primary and
secondary data from the key staff member of the exporting companies, their
associations and the government bodies through questioners and deep
interviews. After the data has been collected, it was analyzed by using simple
statistical techniques which is tables and percentages. The findings of the study
showed that, there are many challenges in the internal and external
environment of the exporters. The major factors are strong international
competition, high transportation costs and ineffective national export
promotion programs. In the overall export performance as country wide was
deteriorating year after year and the firm’s perception about their
performance was extremely dissatisfied. However, the country has opened
many doors for promoting the sector in many incentive packages. Finally,
based on the findings, results and analysis of the study a general and policy
implication recommendations are forwarded. In general recommendations, top
management of the company should work on the improvement of their product
quality and uniqueness, the firm should be cost sensitive for their products by
minimizing costs and increase their competitive advantages in the global
market. In additional, the policy implications to increasing the availability of
credit facilities, simplifying export sector regulations and formulation short term
and long-term export growth policies are essential to improve export
performance of the country. |
