Title: Tunisian exports competitiveness: a dynamic analysis by the shift-share approach

Authors: Rafiaa Zayani; Kamel Helali

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, University of Sfax, Airfield Road Km 4, BP 1088, Sfax. 3018 Tunisia ' Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, University of Sfax, Airfield Road Km 4, BP 1088, Sfax. 3018 Tunisia

Abstract: Since the early 90s, Tunisia started to implement a policy of economic openness that has tried to help it integrate the global economy. However, despite the government incentives, the Tunisian economic situation has declined due to the fall of exports, which plays a key role in growth. Export gains achieved in some sectors (mainly textiles) have weakened. Other sectors managed to maintain their market share through price efforts, which would affect the companies export gains and therefore their potential medium term investment. The objective of this study was to analyse the international specialisation of Tunisia and the responsible factors for the growth of disparities between of the Tunisian exports and those of its main competitors-Morocco and Turkey. In this context, we evaluated the Tunisian exports competitiveness compared to its main competitors through the shift-share analysis approach over the 1990/2012 period. Relying on the econometric results, it can be deduced that the decline of the Tunisian exports is determined by neither the geographical nor the sectoral specialisation structure. They are the arguments related to the sectoral performance and price competitiveness that explain the recent developments.

Keywords: exportation performance; shift-share analysis; Tunisian exports; competitiveness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJC.2017.084728

International Journal of Competitiveness, 2017 Vol.1 No.2, pp.173 - 187

Received: 16 Jul 2016
Accepted: 07 Feb 2017

Published online: 22 Jun 2017 *

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