Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
Surviving the Phase-out of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement:
Evidence from Mauritius
Harshana Kasseeah1 and Vinaye Dey Ancharaz2
Mauritius is a small island economy where textile and clothing firms were
previously benefiting from preferential access to the EU and US markets
under the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA). With the phasing-out of the
MFA, a large number of foreign-owned textile and clothing firms that had
set up in Mauritius to benefit from the advantages of the MFA closed
shop and left, leaving thousands of unemployed in their wake. However,
some firms have survived and continue to operate. This paper
investigates the characteristics of firms in Mauritius that have survived in
the aftermath of the termination of the MFA. The study is conducted at a
micro-level by studying 20 clothing firms interviewed in Mauritius. Data is
obtained from face-to-face surveys with directors, executive officers and
managers of the firms. The findings indicate that firms that have survived
are owned by local entrepreneurs and export primarily to the European
Union.
JEL codes: F13, O1
1
Corresponding author: Dr Harshana Kasseeah, Department of Economics and Statistics, Faculty of Social Studies and
Humanities, University of Mauritius. Email: h.kasseeah@uom.ac.mu
2
Dr Vinaye Dey Ancharaz, Senior Development Economist, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development,
Geneva, Switzerland. Email:vancharaz@ictsd.ch
The authors wish to thank IDRC for providing funding for this study and thank members of the African Clothing and
Footwear Research Network for their helpful comments and suggestions.
1