A study of marketing opportunity in exporting animal products from Malaysia : an application of shift-share method

Abstract

A decade of Malaysian animal products’ data, ranging from the year 2006 to 2015, was analyzed using shift share method. The 10 year data was divided equally into two periods to ensure accuracy in analysis. The two equally divided periods are: firstly, 2006 to 2010 is considered as initial time period; secondly, 2011 to 2015 is the next terminal time period. The main objective of this study is to explore marketing opportunities in exporting Malaysian animal products. The shift share analysis showed a drastic change over the two-time period, indicating occurrences are influenced by the market share. The most meaningful and accurate representation was the computation that divide the positive and negative net shift of changes in the growth and variable around the different parts of the world. The percentage net shift represents the percentage of total growth or total gain/loss of the market share. Hence the net shift is utilized as the criterion which indicate the selection of market for trade opportunity. The overall results of the shift share indicate that there are availability of opportunities in countries, such as Cambodia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Myanmar, representing the Asian region. However, it also indicates that Europe, USA, and other developed countries, played negligible role in providing export marketing opportunity due to the lack of excessive production and development in the animal industry. This study uses shift share analysis and found that Malaysia stands to improve in the following ways: (a) regional and educational development are needed for the advancement of husbandry industry in Malaysia; (b) cautious and appropriate planning in tackling known and unknown challenges with technology and educational advancement in the field could assist tremendously; (c) governmental policy, appreciation, and encouragement in the growth of the industry would definitely boost future export marketing in this sector; (d) enthusiasm is the key factor which can help to maximize the growth of the husbandry industry. All the factors stated could potentially encourage export opportunity for this industry in the future. The derivative conclusion from the shift share analysis conducted in this study indicated that the trend in the Malaysian export of husbandry product would lead us to become a leading export nation in this region. There is also an indication that an increase in the husbandry industries would lead to the Malaysia’s overall export growth rate. The shift share analysis applied in the regional export research and analytical study is a useful tool to depict the regional changes in the export industry of this country. In addition, the results of this study indicated that there are potential opportunities from countries, like Thailand, Malta, Bahrain, Macau, Oman, USA, Canada, Papa New Guinea, and countries partnering with FTA.