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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 study explores the evolution of Indian domestic electronics manufacturing post-economic reforms and also investigates the lack of natural growth stages among Indian start-up/SME electronics manufactures.

The theoretical framework is inspired by Dawar and Frost's survival strategy theory that local companies may follow to overcome competitive threats from MNCs. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, more precisely, a phenomenological approach to walking through policy/regulatory reforms amid market distortions, technological gaps and colonial mindset from the perspective of Indian domestic electronics manufacturers. The study has adopted Gioia method of data analysis to inductively suggest a few research propositions.

The phenomenological approach revealed eight essential structure (essence) narratives to explore the complex issue that plague the industry: make in India, made in India, preferential market access strategy, equitable market access strategy, blue ocean strategy, competitive positioning strategy, technical capability and importance of policy/regulatory arbitrage.

The situation of Indian electronics manufacturing units is comparable to the bonsai tree situation, where natural evolution in business stages does not exist; they are born and die as start-ups/MSMEs. The study advocates for equitable market access by removing market distortions. The long-term solution may lie in making available locally manufactured products as a dependable alternative to the imported products or produced locally by MNC OEMs in terms of cost, quality, technology, volume, after-sale service and integrated supply chain.

While the favorable FDI policies, digital India and make-in India initiatives have strengthened domestic electronics production, it is yet to significantly impact India's position in global trade, including manufacturing and exports.

This chapter has briefly discussed the problems of defining development and underdevelopment, and Gustavo Esteva's opinion that ‘underdevelopment’ was invented. The Proposal for Action of the First UN Development Decade (1960–70), Mr Robert S McNamara's view (President of the World Bank in the 1970s) on development, the Western World's Perception of Development, the |Nature of the UN Institution for Socio-Economic Development in Developing Countries, the role of International Trade and Development have been discussed in this chapter.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the citrus trade in Indonesia, the effects of tariff and non-tariff policies on the industry and the welfare of producers and consumers.

The research used annual series data from 1991 to 2021 and employed inferential, simulation, and descriptive analyses. The two-stage least squares (2SLS) of 19 simultaneous equations were used to estimate parameters.

The results indicate that free trade policies and restrictions have influenced the citrus industry, leading to a reduction in Indonesian citrus imports, and increased consumer and producer prices. However, eliminating import tariff policies on citrus from China and import restrictions increased producer surplus while decreasing consumer surplus, government revenue, and total welfare. Therefore, trade policies should be combined with non-trade policies such as citrus region development policies and advancing cultivation technology.

This study provides empirical evidence for the Indonesian government to formulate effective citrus trade and development policies. It emphasizes the importance of carefully considering the impact of trade policy on the citrus industry and the need to implement non-trade policies such as citrus zone development policies and advancing cultivation technology to benefit both producers and consumers.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2023-0148