Discovery of the flower industry in Ethiopia: experimentation and coordination
Mulu Gebreeyesus & Michiko Iizuka
#2010-025
This paper examines the discovery process of a recent and
extraordinarily successful, nontraditional, export activity in
developing country – namely the flower industry in Ethiopia. To be able
to break into non-traditional exports, developing countries do not need
to invent new products, but mainly producing at lower cost goods that
are already established in the world markets. This necessitates tapping
into the global pool of knowledge and diffusion of the imported
technology in the course of experimentation. This is an ongoing learning
process which involves continuous interaction among different actors,
institutions and networks. The paper adopts a functional innovation
systems framework in a catching-up country context, to map the dynamics
of the interactions among various actors in the discovery process and
how success was achieved. It provides detailed information on sector
development based on a recently conducted census of all flower farms in
Ethiopia and follow-up interviews with industry leaders and policy
makers. The study highlights the strategic collaboration required
between government and the private sector in the promotion of a
non-traditional export in a developing country. It should enrich our
understanding of development strategies in the context of an
increasingly globalized world.
Keywords: non-traditional exports, developing countries, functions of
innovation systems
JEL: 033, 025, 055
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872