National competitiveness models in Africa: DBA defense at MSM

On 28 March 2018 Mr. Peter Maangi Mitiambo successfully defended his DBA thesis titled: Application of National Competitiveness Models in Africa: Assessing the Competitiveness of the CutFlower Sector in Kenya at MSM.

“During the whole period of my study, I benefitted from the vast amount of resources at MSM”, said Mr. Mitiambo afterwards. “I received immense support from my professors, supervisor, reader, evaluators and administration. I therefore highly recommend this program to those seeking further study at this level”.

The subject of Mr. Mitiambo’s doctoral thesis focused on the flower sector value chain in Kenya and looked at its state of competitiveness and what can be done to enhance it. Kenya has been a leader in flower production and export producing and selling a leading brand. However, recent concerns by leading flower stakeholders about the country’s performance and leadership in this business motivated Mr. Mitiambo’s to undertake this project.

Therefore the problem investigated was the state of competitiveness of the sector, the factors supporting or undermining it and the policy recommendations that could be put in place to strengthen it. “Through this study, I hope to contribute towards increasing knowledge about how to develop a flower sector in a country and make it useful in supporting the development and growth of the economy”, said Mr. Mitiambo’s.

“In this study, I have employed two models: Value Chain Analysis and Dual Double Diamond (DDD) models. Using these models, I identified and selected the relevant variables, collected and analysed the relevant data from flower sector stakeholders in Kenya, The Netherlands and the UK. The findings reveal important details about the state of competitiveness of the flower sector in Kenya and the policies that the government must employ to strengthen it”.