Policy Issue:
Firms in developing countries face high costs and logistical difficulties when meeting buyer requirements from abroad. Firm capabilities aside, product testing and international accreditation can be difficult in the absence of a national system, which is referred to “national quality infrastructure (NQI)”.
ComPEL is supporting a randomized controlled trial that measures the effects of product testing on firm outcomes, including decisions to export. The intervention will take place at multiple points of the value chain of an industry, most likely the honey sector, to measure how quality testing can strengthen buy-seller relationships at those points. The research will also examine whether changes at one end of the value chain influences buy-seller relationships at the other end.