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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of international networking in the relationship between entrepreneurial mindset and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization using evidence from exporting SMEs in Uganda.

This study adopted a cross-sectional research design. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 206 exporting SMEs that are members of the Uganda Export Promotions Board. Data was analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS.

The study established that international networking mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial mindset and SME internationalization. This suggests that international networking is a conduit through which entrepreneurial mindset relates to SME internationalization.

This study was conducted within the particular national context of Uganda. Replication of this research within other settings is needed to cross-validate the present findings. The study reveals that the entrepreneurial proclivity of managers and owners of exporting SMEs in Uganda can be enhanced through establishing networks in foreign markets to realize international expansion. SMEs should therefore initiate, build and strengthen partner relationships in foreign markets for successful international expansion.

The study reveals that the entrepreneurial proclivity of managers and owners of exporting SMEs in Uganda can be enhanced through establishing networks in foreign markets to realize international expansion. SMEs in Uganda should, therefore, strive to support entrepreneurial-oriented individuals to initiate and establish foreign market partnerships for successful international expansion.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the mediating role of international networking in the relationship between entrepreneurial mindset and SME internationalization from a developing country of Uganda.

Preferential market access is a pillar of the enabling clause in international trade, and as such has received scholarly attention in the recent past. This study aims to empirically examine intensity and utilisation of Uganda’s preferential market access.

Secondary data at the six-digit level of the harmonised system was sourced from the International Trade Centre’s and UN COMTRADE’s Trade Map database on trade flows to compute; trade intensity indices, Balsa’s revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indices and the existing potential trade. The time period was 2013–2022.

It is evident that Uganda is not taking full advantage of its preferential market access. The findings of the trade intensity analysis revealed that the strength of trade relations between Uganda and its preferential markets has been consistently weak in the period 2013–2022, while the intensity of trade relations with its FTA partners has been strong. The RCA results revealed that all Uganda’s agricultural exports to its preferential markets have a comparative advantage, with exports of roses reporting an exceptionally high RCA relative to other agricultural exports. The RCA results also show that the comparative advantage of Uganda’s coffee exports recovered after a significant fall in the period 2014–2022. The analysis of the existing potential for trade reveals a disproportionally low market share held by Uganda across all product lines, notably, only 2.3% of the US$29bn coffee imports in its preferential markets.

One limitation of this study is that it primarily relied on quantitative data from the International Trade Centre and thus lacks an exhaustive understanding of the circumstances at the export firm level. Qualitative data, such as interviews with exporters and policymakers, could provide deeper insights into the specific challenges and opportunities faced by Ugandan businesses in these markets.

This paper highlights the need for additional trade facilitation measures to address preferential market access bottlenecks such as stringent rules of origin and call for an aggressive government intervention in enhancing the export readiness of SMEs in Uganda. In addition, the paper is informative to Uganda’s exporters regarding the existing and potential increase in their exports to international markets.

The strength of Uganda’s trade relations with its preferential markets is empirically examined in this paper and provides useful insights for enhancing utilisation of preferential market access by beneficiary countries.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether each level in international networking (network extension, network penetration and network integration) matters in the internationalization of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The study adopted a cross-sectional and correlational research design. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 206 exporting SMEs in Uganda. The study employed a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using partial least square (PLS) to test the hypothesis.

The findings revealed that network extension and network integration do matter in SMEs’ internationalization, while network penetration does not.

SMEs in developing countries need to concentrate on network extension and network integration levels to successfully internationalize their operations.

The study provides initial evidence on whether network extension, network penetration and network integration matter in SMEs’ internationalization in developing countries like Uganda.

In this paper we aim to study the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity (KAC) of exporting SMEs in Uganda and their export performance.

This study is correlational and cross-sectional, and adopts firm-level data collected via questionnaires from Ugandan exporting SMEs. As we use the sub-domains of KAC to predict export performance and therefore these sub-mains are expected to be correlated, we apply hierarchical regression as an appropriate tool for analysis when variance on a criterion variable is being explained by predictor variables that are correlated with each other (Pedhazur, 1997). Using this tool we analyze the effect of a given sub-domain after controlling for other indicators (sub-domains) of KAC; a “control” achieved by calculating the change in the adjusted R2 and the significance of this change.

We find that only external knowledge acquisition (a dimension of potential absorptive capacity) and external knowledge application (a dimension of realised absorptive capacity) are the only significant predictors of export performance in our model. Contrary to previous thinking, we find that external knowledge assimilation and transformation are not significant predictors of export performance. Taken together, our independent variables explain about 35.4 percent of the variance in export performance of SMEs in Uganda.

The use of hierarchical regression is susceptible to problems associated with sampling error. However, the likelihood of these problems is reduced by our interaction with the data Practical implications – Our results imply that the initial focus of exporting SMEs should be on external knowledge acquisition and application.

Unlike most of the export performance literature, which have focused on the general effect of knowledge absorptive capacity as a global variable, this study explores the role played by the four dimensions of KAC and methodologically isolates the contribution played by each individual dimension in the context of exporting SMEs in a developing nation. As such we uncover the reality that not all the sub-domains of KAC are significant for export performance of SMEs in a developing country context.