Entrepreneurship Training and The Management of Small and Medium Scale Service Industries in Imo State (Published)
This study investigated the influence of entrepreneurship training on the management of small and medium scale service industries in Imo State. Two research questions guided the study and four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study design was descriptive survey. The population of the study consisted of 677 entrepreneurs of small and medium scale service industries in Imo State, out of which 251entrepreneurs were sampled using proportionate random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a 20-item validated structured questionnaire with overall reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained using Cronbach alpha method. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. Findings revealed that entrepreneurship training received by entrepreneurial managers strongly influence their staffing but have weak influence on control of employees’ job performance. The study concluded that entrepreneurship training acquired by managers of small and medium scale service industries in Imo State is not sufficient for effective control of their personnel’s job accomplishment. The study recommended among others that; entrepreneurial managers should enroll in coaching classes to develop entrepreneurial skills for effective management of their industries.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship Training, Management, small and medium scale industries
Working Capital Management –Performance Relationship: A Study of Small and Medium Enterprises in Akure, Nigeria (Published)
Despite the available potentials for sustainable growth and development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) especially in developing economies, poor management of working capital has continued to deny most SMEs the optimum performance needed to annex the inherent potentials in the business. The study therefore seeks to investigate the relationship between management of working capital and Performance of small and medium enterprises; assess various sources of financing working capital; evaluate working capital management and identify problems associated with the management of working capital of SMEs in Akure, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey with primary source of data collection through a well-structured questionnaire, to elicit information from randomly selected respondents. Both the descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis. The study discovered a significant and positive relationship between working capital and performance of SMEs; identified bank loan, loan from family members and friends, and personal savings as major sources of financing working capital. The study also revealed cash as mostly used of all other working capital components while ineffective management of cash appeared to be most worrisome of all the problems associated with working capital management in the study area. The study concluded that effective working capital management ensures that SMEs have enough funds for day to day running of the business, which suggests consideration for other sources of financing working capital such as cooperative societies among others, for optimum performance needed by SMEs to annex the potentials for sustainable growth and development.
Keywords: Akure-Nigeria, Management, Performance, Relationship, SMEs, Working capital.
Management of Open Innovation in Developing Small Businesses (Published)
Open innovation is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly important for the theory and the practice in recent years. The reasons for this can be found in the new innovation cycles, industrial research and escalation of development costs and also the lack of resources. The phenomenon of open source has attracted researchers and practitioners of innovation. The era of open innovation starts when companies understand that if they want to commercialize their ideas, they should look for a way to bring them to the market of ideas. They need to deploy the roads outside the current businesses and to realize that their center, where the knowledge is created, does not always equal the innovations that need to be found within the company. The approach of open innovation enables innovations to move easily between the external environment and the internal process of innovation of the company. How often open innovation approach is put into practice and whether there are recognized patterns are issues that are examine by our empirical studies.
Keywords: Competition, Customers, Management, Market, open innovation, suppliers
Management Styles and Employees’ Performance in Small Scale Business Enterprises in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria (Published)
This study examined management styles and employees’ performance in small scale business enterprises in Akwa Ibom State. Six specific objectives, six research questions were formulated.The expost-facto design was adopted. The population of the study comprised 1632 employees of small scale business enterprises from which sample size of 373 was selected using Krejcie and Morgan formula. Management Styles Questionnaire(MSQ) and Employees Performance Questionnaire (EPQ) were used to collect data. These instruments were validated by three research experts and tested to be reliable using Cronbach Alpha, and a reliability coefficient of 0.90 was obtained. A total of 373 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and found useable. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the research questions and also test the six null hypotheses. The result of the analysis of the research questions showed a positive relationship between management styles and employees’ performance small scale business enterprises, with the exception of autocratic and lasses-faire management styles whose results were negative. Result also showed that participative management style was more positively related with employees’ performance than other management styles. Hence, there is a need for operators of small scale business enterprises to involve their employees in decision making so as to improve their performance.
Keywords: Employee, Management, Perfoemance, Style