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A Case Study of the Performance of Export Processing Zones Garment Firms in Mauritius and Kenya in the Dawn of Agoa Phase IV

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was enacted on May 18, 2000. The purpose of AGOA was to bring about fair and equitable trade between the U.S. and Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries through duty-free access to the U.S. market for various textile and apparel products. Kenya and Mauritius are two Sub-Saharan African countries that participate in AGOA and have experienced export growth in clothing and textiles under the EPZ program. However, the usefulness of Export Processing Zones (EPZ) within a country has been a long debated subject. Critics argue that the costs of setting them up greatly outweigh the benefits. While Mauritius successfully implemented the EPZ program in the 1970's and managed to maintain its position as a strong global clothing and textiles trade contender, Kenya has not been as successful. Although Kenya has experienced improved clothing and textile export performance since the inception of the EPZ program in the 1990's, the country has not managed to secure its share of the global clothing and textile trade market. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether the presence of Export Processing Zones in Kenya and Mauritius has been beneficial to each country's industrial development, using AGOA as a catalyst. Results of this study presented as a case study indicate that while the presence of export processing zones was beneficial to industrial development for both countries, more needs to be done to maximize the benefits for Kenya in the advent of AGOA IV. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Textiles and Consumer Sciences in partial
fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: October 29, 2007. / Mauritius, Kenya, AGOA, Export Processing Zones / Includes bibliographical references. / Pauline M. Sullivan, Professor Directing Thesis; Mary Ann Moore, Committee Member; Daekwan Kim, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_168194
ContributorsAdala, Jessie (authoraut), Sullivan, Pauline M. (professor directing thesis), Moore, Mary Ann (committee member), Kim, Daekwan (committee member), Department of Retail Merchandising and Product Development (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
PublisherFlorida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text
Format1 online resource, computer, application/pdf

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