Determinants of Collective Marketing Action and Profitability of Smallholder Farmers Enterprise in Uganda

This paper explores the theoretical underpinnings of Collective Market as a practical Marketing model promoted to address the problem of social and economic inclusion into global agro-commodity market supply chains of smallholder farmers in Africa. A qualitative study based on the grounded theory approach was used supported by the philosophical underpinnings of objectivism ontology and interpretivism epistemology. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore the perspectives of farmers and stakeholders participating in collective marketing and export programs. Data was analyzed using the provisions of Grounded Theory and the concept of Theoretical Saturation guided the determination of sample size and sampling adequacy. Data validity was established through credibility, dependability, conformability and transferability parameters. This study is purely based on a qualitative research design. It does not attempt to provide a quantitative empirical test for the proposed theory. The has provided a theoretical explanation of the relationship between collective marketing and profitability of smallholder farmer’s and offers a practical understanding for academia, promoters of collective marketing and policy markers concerned with integration of smallholder farmers into global supply chains. It will enable better planning of collective marketing for smallholder farmers, with the potential to focus efforts towards commercializing smallholder agriculture, advance inclusion into global markets and achieve poverty eradication goals. The study makes the first known attempt to construct a Theory of Collective Marketing” to systematize the understanding of collective marketing. The theory proposed is grounded on original data.