APPENDIX 2 FIRM PROFILES
FIRM A
Firm A is a manufacturing firm located in Nairobi and was founded in 1968. It produces garments and
has 100 employees. The firm’s turnover is about Ksh.60 million. The most important countries to which
its products are exported are Uganda and Tanzania. The most important countries from which it’s input
are bought are Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Germany. The firm connects to networks
using modem-based analogue technology and its network access is used to maintain contact with buyers
and suppliers. E-mail is used to place or accept product orders. The web is ‘seldom’ used to obtain
general information about input markets, to obtain general information about product markets, specific
customers and suppliers. It never uses the web to accept orders from international customers but
frequently uses the web to place orders with international suppliers. The firm never uses an Extranet or
Electronic Data Interchange.
The respondent expressed frustrations with e-commerce applications. He had tried to use B2B ecommerce but had not succeeded, stating that accessing websites requires money, which, adds to the cost
of purchasing products. He also observed that it takes time to download information and that the Internet
is cumbersome and expensive to use to penetrate global markets. He suggested that most people do not
take e-mail messages seriously, e.g. when companies are identified that are seeking products that the firm
produces, these potential purchasers do not respond to his emails.
Another frustrating experience resulted from the respondent’s lack of knowledge about how to use e-bank
services and the bank’s unwillingness to educate people about e-bank services. The respondent said that
the use of B2B e-commerce is curtailed by the fact that most people have no skills for its use. He feared
that the potential benefits of e-commerce cannot be realized in Kenya because of numerous problems.
Without existing contacts the use of B2B e-commerce is not useful. The respondent had approached the
embassies for help with information on markets in their countries, but this had not been successful and his
email requests had been ignored. He wondered how firms would take advantage of the AGOA if the
embassies continue to give negative responses.
FIRM B
Firm B is a garment manufacturing company that was started in 1987 and specialises in making T-shirts,
caps and banners. T-shirt making is the most significant source of revenue. The firm employs 120
workers and has an annual turnover of Kshs. 100 million. It manufactures products for the domestic
market and it also obtains its inputs locally. The firm is linked to networks using modem-based analogue
technology to directly access the public Internet. The firm makes frequent use of e-mail to download art
works for printing and embroidery. It is not a regular user of the web and uses it to obtain general
information about product markets. The firm does not use an Extranet or Electronic Data Interchange.
The firm had never used the Internet to purchase or sell any of its products internationally and local
buyers do not use Internet. The firm had never registered with an e-marketplace, but was in the process
of registering a web site although it was not in a hurry to register because it mainly serves the local
market. The firm was not using the Internet for supply chain management. It had started using B2B ecommerce to source raw materials and its suppliers or customers had not promoted this initiative. The
firm had yet to receive any benefits from using B2B e-commerce and it was observed that greater use
would be made if the applications were cheaper, quicker or more reliable than other means of trading
internationally. The firm was experiencing some pressure from corporate clients to register with a
website.
36