اثربخشی سیاست های دولت برای ارتقاء صادرات بر عملکرد صادرات SMEs صادر کنندگان کاکائو در کامرون The effectiveness of government policies for export promotion on the export performance of SMEs Cocoa exporters in Cameroon

Introduction Exporting is becoming the most common form of internationalization because it is associated with minimal resources, lower risk and structural flexibility (Olejnik and Swoboda, 2012). This has made it possible for Small and Medium-size Enterprise (SMEs) to increasingly become involved in global trade. The case of SME Cocoa exporters in Cameroon is no difference. However, the extent of their internationalization is limited by the barriers to exporting (Leonidas, 1995; Leonidou et al., 2011). Exporting has both macro and micro benefits to the economy. These economic benefits form the basis for government intervention in encouraging exporting (Francis and Collins-Dodd, 2004; Gençtürk and Kotabe, 2001). This intervention takes the form of policy provisions to provide both financial and non financial resources (Leonidou, 2004). These resources also helps SMEs overcome barriers to internationalise and motivates both exporters and non-exporters to pursue exporting (Leonidou, 2004; Gençtürk and Kotabe, 2001). This form of government policy intervention to improve exporting and export performance is called export promotion programs (Francis and Collins-Dodd, 2004; Gençtürk and Kotabe, 2001). The OECD broadly defines GPEP as the set of ‘specific measures that amount to the government bearing a portion of the private cost of production of exporting’ (OECD, 1984). SME Cocoa exporters in Cameroon constitute an ideal research context to investigate the role of GPEP on export performance for two reasons. The first is related to the evolution of international Cocoa marketing from a predominantly state-owned/controlled monopoly before the late 1980s and the increasing privatisation after that which saw the growth of SMEs Cocoa exporters (Coulter and Abena, 2010). This evolution and the growing number of SME Cocoa exporters creates a research need to investigate the effectiveness of GPEP on the export performance of SME Cocoa exporters in Cameroon. Given that this is an under-researched area, the findings improve our understanding not only of the effects of GPEP, but also the practical and policy implications for helping SME Cocoa exporters to maximise the benefits of GPEP. Secondly, studies on Africa, therefore, are important because they reveal a dearth of international involvement by African firms which makes advancing theory in Africa a paramount issue to export development (Darlene, 2015; Jieke et al., 2016). Africa is responsible for more than 75% of Cocoa produce and exported globally which makes it a global phenomenon worth investigating (Boansi 3013; ICCO, 2014). Regarding Cocoa exporting, Cameroon is ranked 4th in Africa and 5th in the world (ICCO, 2014). The Cocoa sector is a priority area for the Cameroonian government, employing about 70% of the rural population and contributing 14% to total export earnings (ICCO, 2014) in spite of price volatility (IMF, 2015). Cameroon’s major export destinations are; Spain 13.3%, Netherland 9.7%, China 11.4%, Italy 6.8%, France 6.4% and USA 5.9%, Germany 4.8%, Belgium 4% ( IMF country stat. 2014).