Relationship between Risk-Taking and Business Performance among Small and Medium Enterprises in Eldoret Town, Kenya (Published)
The measure of entrepreneurial activity in an organization is the level of creativity and innovation across all its operations. How intense the creative and innovative disposition is determined by the success of organizations as reflected in performance outcomes. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial intensity and performance of small and medium enterprises in Eldoret town, Kenya. Informed by the study, this paper explores the influence of risk-taking on the performance of SMEs in Eldoret town. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. It targeted all the SMEs in Eldoret town. Systematic sampling technique was adopted to select a sample of 100 SME owners/managers to be involved in the study. The collected data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics was presented in form of percentages, frequencies, pie charts and graphs. Pearson correlation was employed to test the hypotheses of the study. The study established that there is a strong positive correlation between risk-taking and business performance of SMEs in Eldoret town. Therefore, committing business resources to venture in uncertain and unfamiliar environments could result in increased returns and market share for the business.
Keywords: Business Performance, Eldoret Town, Kenya, Medium Enterprises, SMEs, Small, risk-taking