2005 Volume 46 Issue 1 Pages 51-69
Tuna, after shrimps, forms the most valuable seafood product in both export and domestic market in Sri Lanka. The first section of this paper discusses the present status of tuna industry in Sri Lanka. Secondly, this paper analyzes the impact of technological innovation, effort in international business, manager’s perception on obstacles to export and utilization of public instruments on export performance of permanent and sporadic tuna exporters. Market analysis showed decreasing trend towards to both main export markets. Results of the empirical study suggested that 96% of export performance of tuna exporters was explained by tested independent variables. Permanent exporters were engage in technological innovation in greater intensity than sporadic exporters. Especially, permanent exporters put more effort in international business than the innovation. Considering the manager’s perception, external to the country barriers were made big burden on export performance and sporadic exporters have to suffer a lot. The behavior of public instruments was neutral on the improvement of export performance. Trade promotion instruments were the widely used tool among permanent exporters and sporadic exporters were less familiar with these tools.
