Feasibility of establishing a market information system in the Horn of Africa: Insights from northern Kenya

Context Market information system (MIS) is a system designed to support marketing decision-making. Jobber and Fahy (2009) define it as a system in which marketing data is formally gathered, stored, analysed and distributed to stakeholders on a regular basis in accordance with their information needs. MISs were introduced in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region in the context of structural adjustment policies1 from the 1980s and 1990s. The aim of introducing the system was to overcome knowledge deficits and imperfect information, a situation created after states2 withdrew from market (Goetz and Weber 1986; Manda 2009).