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The Health of the Ugandan Coffee Business Ecosystem

Aim - The aim of this thesis is to understand the challenges of the Ugandan coffee industry by having a business ecosystem perspective. By using a broader perspective like the BE, one can see relations and connections that may not have been visible before. Furthermore, when using a BE perspective more actors are included in the systemic work, and important platforms and tools are included in the work of moving the BE forward as one entity. Methodology - A qualitative study was conducted to examine and understand the Ugandan coffee industry from a business ecosystem perspective. 18 semi-structured interviews were performed with coffee farmers and coffee organizations in Uganda. The data was divided into five different themes; Knowledge Sharing in the Business Ecosystem, Platforms and Interactions in the Business Ecosystem, Roles in the Business Ecosystem, Challenges in the Business Ecosystem and Youth in the Business Ecosystem. Conclusions - The findings of the thesis are that some parts of the business ecosystem are missing or lacking. Effective platforms for knowledge sharing are an issue, due to lack of access to a technological platform, monetary resources and low level of education. It was difficult to place some of the actors in different roles that exist in the business ecosystem, because sometimes an actor could fit the description of multiple roles. The interactions and the knowledge sharing also need improvement. Research limitations - Due to the sheer size of any business ecosystem, it is a daunting task to map one out. To make it more manageable, a particular part of the business ecosystem was examined. This might have resulted in the exclusion of important actors. Many of the interviews required an interpreter which meant that some interpretations may have been lost in translation. Furthermore, all the interviews with coffee farmers were arranged by a third party. Which could affect the results. Research contribution – In this thesis a business ecosystem perspective was applied on the Ugandan coffee industry, which has never been done before. Furthermore, it discusses what an unhealthy or lacking business ecosystem is or looks like, since there is little or no previous literature discussing this.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-68531
Date January 2018
CreatorsGarces Rivera, Marlen, Pfeiffer, Alexandra
PublisherKarlstads universitet, Karlstads universitet
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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