Marketing Export Development Analysis Of ET-Fruit Company

Globalization forces companies to internationalize their operations in the global market.Export plays a vital role in the economic development of a nation as well as for the development of a particular exporting companies.Currently the country is struggling to increase exports and trying to control the imports for a few years.Due to the high-quality standards and low prices of products and increasing tariffs worldwide,the country is unable to increase the exports of commodities.Hence,for a few years,the government started funding to companies to improve their standards and decrease the tax is so that the balance of trade can be adjusted.Fruit and vegetables are essential commodities for developing countries seeking to diversify exports.The export trade in fresh fruit and vegetables has developed more rapidly than the total global trade in goods in the past ten years.Ethiopia export ranking is improving for a few years but in 2017,the export of the economy reached $2.2 billion.Country fresh fruits pass higher value due to its quality,and most significant crop in agriculture export commodities.Now,high dependency on traditional primary agricultural commodities and recurrent world market price fluctuations had exposed Ethiopia to foreign earnings instability.To reduce the high dependence on primary agricultural commodities and the associated vulnerability of negative price declines,diversification of trade from primary agricultural commodities into high-value agricultural commodities has attracted the attention of policymakers.The developments made in this area have brought the sector to the position of the fifth largest foreign revenue generator for the country.However,given the comparative advantage in marketing and the potential to achieve trade gains that the country possesses,the benefit from the horticultural sub-sector is far below its potential.Currently,the government has supplied continuous support to the development and promotion of the agricultural sector.Hence,this research aimed to explore the strategic selection and assessment of fresh fruit export of Et-fruit company and to investigate the overall pictures of Et-fruit practice in the formulation of strategic marketing planning,and the specific objectives were to identify the foreign market development opportunities for Et-fruit,to examine the relevance of Et-fruit's systems of controlling and evaluating its strategic marketing plan orientation and implementation as well as to determine the preferable international marketing strategy for Et-fruit.The researcher employed the descriptive method in the design of the research study.Indeed,both survey and interview methods used in the data collection.The survey method was done using a self-administered questionnaire.The first type(survey)addressed to the top and middle management,employees,and supplier;the second type(interview)employed with the board of directors and managers.Secondly,the method of descriptive mathematical-statistical analysis is used.The results of the study showed that the majority of the respondents stated that the Et-fruit supportive mechanism is not that efficient and effective;it needs to be improved.Apart,it did not assess the related markets of horticulture products.On the contrary,the company was found sound enough in establishing benchmark,relationship with rivals,inform stakeholders' about any changes in operations,handling exported products complain,have passionate employees with positive attitude towards the exports and future perspective of the company,company is currently performing with the full capacity with limited resource,and effective distribution system as compared to rivals.The strategic gap comprises of the less skilled personnel to execute strategic marketing planning and reach the overall market.Also,the results showed that Et-fruit Company does not have enough funding,though,with limited resources,respondents showed that the company is utilizing full capacity.In light of this,the researcher concluded that the strategic marketing plan of Et-fruit needs to be improved,and the present mechanism does not support its exports and execution due to less skilled personnel and limited funds.Also,it lacks proper environmental scanning.The research proffered the following recommendations;Full participation of stakeholders in the process of a strategic marketing plan is critically important.Therefore Et-fruit's management needs to work in this area,Top and middle management team needs to put an effort in enhancing its knowledge and skill of strategic marketing plan formulation,execution,and evolution,Et-fruit has to scan the environment continuously,so that it can cope up with the changing exports challenge thereby satisfying exports demand accordingly,and full assessment of the available agricultural products in the country was crucial,because,this will help the company to know which area or region,in what season,what types of Varieties of product is available.Et-fruit has to study and further improve effective distribution systems through identifying the proper marketing channel and moreover has to work on the supply chain management system dedicatedly.