External environmental factors influencing China-kenya trade: A case study of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Chinese Embassy in Kenya

Abstract

International trade has revolutionized over time with a number of environmental factors forcing the changes in ways tradeis conducted. Most of these factors stem down from the effect of globalization. The study aimed at investigating the external environmental factors influencing china-Kenya trade; a case study of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Chinese Embassy in Kenya. Theobjective of thestudy included; to establish the political factors affecting China-Kenya trade; to find out the economicfactors affecting China-Kenya trade; toinvestigatethe socialfactors affecting China-Kenya trade;to establish the technologicalfactors affecting China-Kenya trade;and tofind outthe environmental and legalfactors affecting China-Kenya trade. An analysis of the theories concerning international trade, leads to the conclusion that there is a natural distinction between traditional theory and recent theory. The study was conducted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Chinese Embassy in Kenya and case study research design strategies were used. The target population comprisedof member of staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade andsenior staff at the Chinese embassy in Kenya. The respondents were selected purposively.The study utilized interview scheduleas instrumentfor data collection. The data collected was analysed qualitatively and findings presented using short narrations. Results of the study revealed that external environmental factors like; political environment, legal environment, economic factors, social cultural factors and technological environment influenced the growth of Sino-Kenya trade. Policies developed by twonations have seen the increasein the flow of foreign direct investments although the balance between the two trading partners has not been achieved. This partnership is of great importanceto Kenya in terms of job creation, economic development and promotion of social relations between the two nations. The study recommends that appropriate measures need to be taken into consideration to ensure that the country (Kenya) exploits the China market, the national agencies on counterfeit products need to improve their strategies to ensure that substandard products are not dumped into the country. The Kenyan government need to adopt policies aimed at diversifying the future financing of economic growth.