Technological Skills and the Performance of Managers of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria (Published)
This study was to assess the influence of technological skills on the performance of managers in Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs). The study was born out of the fact that over the years, one of the major challenges of SMEs managers has been grossly attributed to the absence of inadequate use of technology. The study adopted survey research design. Population of the study was made up of 320 registered SMEs in Uyo. Using Taro Yamene’s formulae for sample size determination, 180 was arrived at as the sample size. Source of data was from primary source gotten from copies of administered questionnaire. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the study. The descriptive statistics were percentage and frequency distribution tables which were used to capture respondents’ demographic characteristics and frequency distribution of the responses on the study variables. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient statistical tool was used in assessing the relationship between the studied variables. Findings revealed that there exist a positive correlation between technological skill and production output; technological skill and efficiency of SME managers; and technological skill and competitiveness of SME managers. Conclusively, it is established that SME managers possessing effective Technological skill is very important to the performance of their enterprises.
Citation: Imagha O.A., Okon M.G., Akpaetor U.A., Nkanor W.N. and Umana E.S. (2023) Technological Skills and the Performance of Managers of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, International Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research, Vol.11, No.1, pp.,40-53,
Keywords: Competitiveness, Efficiency, SMEs, production output, technological skills
Impact of Covid pandemic on Small and Medium-sized Practices in East Africa (Published)
The Covid-19 (“Covid”) pandemic caused small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to close down or shrink substantially in 2020 and 2021. These SMEs constitute over 95% of enterprises in most countries of the world. As the trusted business advisors to the SMEs, there was a unique need to find out how the small and medium-sized practices (SMPs) themselves were affected by the pandemic. By October 2021, a representative sample of 197 SMPs from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda had responded to the abridged closed-ended questionnaire. In an earlier study completed in 2019 (adopting a much broader questionnaire), a total of 409 SMPs from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda had responded. The SMPs had reduced in terms of employment. SMPs with less than 10 personnel had increased from 34% to 38%. The SMPs used only 12 days for development/training (benchmark = 20 days) and the utilization ratio was only 52% (benchmark >70%) implying pandemic had disorganized teamwork and staff morale. On a positive note, the charge-out rates had increased marginally by 2% to USD264 per day. Clients billed had increased by 20% to 79 per annum but the average fees per client fell by 6% as clients tried to cut costs due to the pandemic. That notwithstanding, the average revenue per SMP increased by 28% to USD296, 000 per annum implying that SMPs (as a bloc of businesses) benefitted during the pandemic period. The study was purely quantitative hence the qualitative aspects of how the SMPs in East Africa managed to cope with the lockdowns have not been captured. Secondly, this study was limited to income side (due to its lower sensitivity) but the sustainability of SMPs can also depend on their level of operating expenses, profitability and partner drawings. SMPs in East Africa should benchmark their individual practices to these research findings. Evidence shows that more and more SMPs are being licenced annually hence competition for fees is likely to increase in coming years. This study had contributed to literature about the Covid pandemic and its influence on the SMPs and the methodology can be adapted to other regions in Africa.
Keywords: : Human Capital, Competitiveness, Covid pandemic, SMPs
Assessment of Market Practices and Organizational Competitiveness of Sheba Leather Industry (Plc) (Published)
Ethiopian leather development strategy has put the shoe industry on the forefront position to accelerate the development of the sector. The study focuses on the assessment of market practices and organizational competitiveness of Sheba leather industry. The main purpose is to find the factors that allow and prevent the company from coping up with competitive pressures and to find out the competitive advantages enjoyed and disadvantages faced by the company. A concept of competitiveness and parameters for measuring it has been discussed. The porter diamond model has been chosen to analyse the company’s competitiveness. As source of data four department managers and the general and deputy manager of the company were contacted by the researcher. The result depicts the low level competitiveness of the company. All determinants of competitiveness (factor conditions, home demand condition, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure and rivalry) are found to be insignificant with the exception of natural resource endowment of the country in hides and skins and low labour cost availability. Lack of strong existence of related and supporting industries and factor conditions like scarcity of skilled labour, unavailability of raw materials (chemicals and shoe accessories) are the factors that limit the company from utilizing its cost advantage in raw hides and skins and sustaining its market share on domestic and international market. The study forwarded the diversification of the company’s product destination into large bases and the establishment of distribution outlets in different part of the country to base the company’s market on strong domestic demand.
Keywords: Competitive Advantage, Competitiveness, porter diamond model