2. Uptake Of Market ‘Induced Innovation’ by Upstream Actors in Tanzania

Abstract

This chapter investigates the uptake of innovation induced by downstream actors by sunflowers SMEs in Tanzania with the use of an interview-based qualitative study of data collected in Dodoma, Tanzania. This study reveals that SMEs pay less attention to organizational innovation. However, they are much more focused on production innovation in the interest of servicing markets. Furthermore, the study reveals that a major factor that influences the uptake of innovation from downstream are not final consumers, but rather government agencies. For instance, most SMEs involved in the study search for funds to buy small oil refinery machines after government bans of the selling of raw oil. This suggests that processors still think consumers will absorb everything because there is lack of supply and demand is high.

Awareness and compliance with feed quality standards: the case of chicken feeds in Tanzania

“…This result is interesting as the block analysis finds the institutional factors (as a block), to be the most important in the sense of creating awareness and compliance, while these factors one by one play a very little role in explaining the awareness and compliance level. As the institutional factor block is very much related to the activities of TBS, this finding echoes the study by Nandonde et al (2015) on the sunflower industry in Tanzania. They looked for the source of innovation based on ideas from down-stream actors, i.e.…”