The Influence of Innovativeness on the Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Eldoret Town, Kenya (Published)
The study investigated the influence of entrepreneurial intensity on performance of small and medium enterprises in Eldoret town, Kenya. Based on the study this paper examines how innovativeness influences 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 findings showed that innovativeness as a dimension of entrepreneurial intensity had strong positive correlation with the performance of SMEs in Eldoret town. Therefore, it was recommended that the government should play a role in offering short courses to induct the business owners and expose them to advanced techniques in innovation.
Keywords: Eldoret Town, Innovativeness, Kenya, Medium Enterprises, Performance, Small