International trade of african firms: explaining export participation and intensity

Le commerce international des entreprises africaines: facteurs explicatifs de la participation et de l’intensité

Adjiaratou Dianko
Additional contact information
Adjiaratou Dianko: UCAD - Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar [Sénégal]

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: International trade offers significant gains for enterprise development, particularly in terms of technology transfer, increased income and job creation. Africa's marginalization in trade suggests that companies are not reaping the full benefits associated with foreign markets. This research aims to empirically analyze the factors that explain the low participation of African firms in world trade, as well as the intensity with which participating firms trade with the rest of the world. Based on Enterprise Surveys data from the World Bank, a two-step selection model is developed. The first focusing on extensive trade margins, the second on intensive margins. The results show that size, age, the share of exporting firms in the industry, foreign capital and access to credit increase the probability of exporting. When it comes to the export effort, it is explained by a strong presence of foreign capital. On the other hand, the size and age of the company decrease with export intensity. A good understanding of the mechanisms that generate the constraints on firms' entry into external markets can guide public strategies to improve business performance on the continent and reduce its marginalization in world trade.

Keywords: O55 Paper type: Empirical Research; Performances à l'exportation; participation; intensité; entreprises; Africa Code JEL: F13; O55 Type de papier : Recherche empirique Export; F14; Afrique Code JEL : F13; Africa Code JEL: F13 F14 O55 Paper type: Empirical Research; selection model; firms; intensity; Afrique Code JEL : F13 F14 O55 Type de papier : Recherche empirique Export; modèle de sélection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-iaf
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05226546v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in International Journal of Accounting, Finance, Auditing, Management and Economics, A paraître, Vol. 6 (No 9 (2025)), pp.44-61

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05226546v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05226546

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().