International Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research (IJSBER)

EA Journals

Small and Medium Enterprises

Improving Employee Innovation Performance of SMEs Through Human Resource Management Practices: A Moderated Mediation Model (Published)

This paper proposes a theoretical model that analyzes the link between Human Resource Management practices (HRMPs) and employee innovation performance (EIP), the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and the moderating effect of organizational learning capability (OLC). A study was conducted using a cross-sectional approach in Sokoto, Nigeria, gathering data from sachet table water enterprises. Participants were selected through convenience sampling and questionnaires were personally administered. Hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest that EO mediates the relationship between HRMPs and EIP, while OLC moderates it. All six hypotheses were supported.This study adds to the current understanding of HRMPs by exploring the mediating role of EO and the moderating effect of OLC on enhancing and strengthening the same relationship

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Human Resource Management Practices, Small and Medium Enterprises, employee innovation performance., organizational learning capability

The Influence of Financial Monitoring on Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tanzania: A Case of Arusha City Council (Published)

The study examined the influence of financial monitoring on the performance of SMEs in Tanzania. The study was guided by resource- based theory. Cross-sectional research design and quantitative research approach were used in the study. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 204 SMEs in Arusha City Council. The regression analysis of data established that, financial monitoring in SMEs results in significant increase in sales revenue, profits, product lines and number of customers. The findings provide an indication that, financial monitoring is critical in ensuring positive performance of small and medium enterprises. Hence, owner-managers should capitalize in managing business finances and make close monitoring on all financial matters for the improved performance of their ventures. Similarly, the policy makers and training institutions need to have a well- established framework to assist SMEs on matters related financial monitoring and provide relevant trainings on key features of financial monitoring for improved performance of SMEs.

Keywords: Performance, Small and Medium Enterprises, financial monitoring

Environmental Turbulence and Strategic Flexibility of Small and Medium Enterprises in Port Harcourt, Nigeria (Published)

This paper examined the relationship between environmental turbulence and strategic flexibility of SMEs in Port Harcourt. Primary data was generated through structured questionnaire. The accessible population was (50) registered small and medium enterprises as listed in SMEDAN and National Bureau of Statistics Collaborative Survey. The entire population of 50 SMEs in Port Harcourt was adopted as a census.  The reliability of the instrument was achieved by the use of the Cronbach Alpha coefficient with all the items scoring above 0.70. The hypotheses were tested using the Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation coefficient. The tests were carried out at a 0.05 significance level. Findings from the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between environmental turbulence and strategic flexibility of SMEs in Port Harcourt. The specific findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between environmental turbulence and production flexibility, marketing flexibility and HR flexibility of SMEs in Port Harcourt. The study concludes that in the unpredictable and competitive world, organizations must have dynamic capabilities one of which is strategic flexibility to compete otherwise, they will move towards annihilation. Strategic flexibility provides the organization with the possibility of quick response and compatibility with the environment hence, allowing the organization to improve its efficiency. The study recommends that SMEs should develop strategic flexibility by deliberately and strategically crafting organizational capability, providing timely response and adapting to environmental changes that would meaningfully impact on organizational performance.

Keywords: Small and Medium Enterprises, environmental turbulence, strategic flexibility

An Evaluation of the Impact of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) Development on Economic Growth in Nigeria (Published)

This study evaluated the impact of small and medium enterprises development on economic growth in Nigeria. The study used aggregate asset base and aggregate capitalization of SMEs as the independent variables, while gross domestic product (proxy for economic growth) was adopted as the dependent variable. Secondary time series data were collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2018, National Bureau of Statistics 2018, and National Survey of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) 2013 & 2017 conducted by the Small & Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) for the period 2000 to 2018. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis based on the OLS technique (with the aid of SPSS version 19) were employed as methods for data analysis. The findings show that the aggregate asset base and aggregate capitalization of SMEs have little or no significant effect on the GDP. It was also discovered that there exists a long-run relationship among the variables even though the overall regression model was not statistically significant at 5%. It was recommended amongst others that more efforts should be put in place by Government to gather enough information on SMEs through the responsible. The Federal and /State Ministries of Industry in collaboration with SMEDAN should work out strategies for reporting the operations of SMEs in Nigeria, highlighting the asset base and aggregate capitalization of the sector and put in places policies to resuscitate the sector.

 

Keywords: Capitalization, Small and Medium Enterprises, asset base, economic growth

An Appraisal of Nigeria’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES): Growth, Challenges and Prospects (Published)

This paper took a critical appraisal of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. The major focus of this work was to expatiate on the growth, challenges and prospects of the MSMEs in the country. While attempting to give an appropriate definition for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises using employment strength and asset base criteria, the work revealed that SMEs contribute significantly to economic development in the provision of goods and services, creation of employment and contribute to a high standard of living. There are some setbacks facing the over 17,284,671 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria. These setbacks include; limited financing, lack of action plan to deal with eventualities, lack of managerial and marketing skill, and lack of research appreciation and technical expertise. The study concluded that entrepreneurship is regarded as the catalyst in most developing economies and that it is very crucial to the economic growth and development of Nigeria. As such, it was recommended that government policies should support the establishment, nurturing and growth of SMEs by curtailing or banning importation of certain products, training of young entrepreneurs, establishment of Centers for Entrepreneurial Development and promoting entrepreneurial spirit through the provision of conducive entrepreneurial environment, funding and empowerment programmes. This will facilitate the training and retraining of entrepreneurs and also help Nigerian youths to develop interest in entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Economic Development, Micro, Nigeria, Small and Medium Enterprises, Technical Expertise

Financing Constraints of Small and Medium Enterprises in South-Western Nigeria (Published)

This study focused on the investigation of the financing constraints of small and medium enterprises in South- Western Nigeria. The study determined how high bank changes, high legal documentation fees and collateral securities are related to financing constraints for small and medium enterprises in south- western Nigeria. The study was carried out using a quantities methodology through administration of a structured questionnaire. The data gathered was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as percentages, correlation analysis and multiple regression, with the aid of statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 with a cut off set a p= 0.05 level of significance. The study was conducted in six states of south – west Nigeria that is Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti. The result show that high bank charges constitute financing constraint since p-value is < 0.05; there is no significance evidence to conduct that high legal documentation fees is a constraint to financing small and medium enterprises since p-value is > 0.05 and there is positive but weak relationship between collateral securities and financial constraint of small and medium enterprises in south-west Nigeria. This study has contributed to literature on financing constraints of small and medium enterprises

Keywords: Financing, Financing Constraints, Small and Medium Enterprises

The Role of Legal/Regulatory Framework of the Ghana Public Procurement Policy on SME Participation in Public Procurement (Published)

Access to public procurement contracts is a challenge for most Small and Medium Enterprises. While most of these challenges are either inherent in the very nature of SMEs or the business environment, there is however a major challenge inherent in government policies which is often ignored, and this is the focus of this study. The study thus seeks to identify the inadequacies in the Public Procurement Act of Ghana that inhibit SME access to public procurement contracts and how supportive legal framework could improve SME access to public procurement opportunities. The researcher used a combination of exploratory and descriptive research approaches and the sample comprised of one hundred and twenty (120) SMEs, purposively sampled for their eligibility to participate in public procurement processes and thirty (30) randomly selected public sector institutions. Primary data was collected through the administration of survey questionnaires, and the data collected was analyzed both quantitatively qualitatively. A major finding is that while the intent of the Ghana Act (Act 663) section 2(t) is to promote local businesses, the provision is administratively disproportionate as it does not take the peculiar characteristics of size, capacity, experience, and financial resources of the SMEs into consideration and so does not provide a level playing field for the different categories of local businesses. It can be concluded that limitations in the procurement and regulatory framework in terms of disproportionate application of requirements affect SME participation and success in winning public procurement contracts and that governments can influence the nature and pace of SME growth through the differential impact of government legislation on firms of different sizes.

Keywords: Legal and Regulatory Framework, Public Procurement, Small and Medium Enterprises

An Appraisal of Nigeria’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES): Growth, Challenges and Prospects. (Published)

This paper took a critical appraisal of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. The major focus of this work was to expatiate on the growth, challenges and prospects of the MSMEs in the country. While attempting to give an appropriate definition for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises using employment strength and asset base criteria, the work revealed that SMEs contribute significantly to economic development in the provision of goods and services, creation of employment and contribute to a high standard of living. There are some setbacks facing the over 17,284,671 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria. These setbacks include; limited financing, lack of action plan to deal with eventualities, lack of managerial and marketing skill, and lack of research appreciation and technical expertise. The study concluded that entrepreneurship is regarded as the catalyst in most developing economies and that it is very crucial to the economic growth and development of Nigeria. As such, it was recommended that government policies should support the establishment, nurturing and growth of SMEs by curtailing or banning importation of certain products, training of young entrepreneurs, establishment of Centers for Entrepreneurial Development and promoting entrepreneurial spirit through the provision of conducive entrepreneurial environment, funding and empowerment programmes. This will facilitate the training and retraining of entrepreneurs and also help Nigerian youths to develop interest in entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Economic Development, Micro, Nigeria, Small and Medium Enterprises, Technical Expertise

A Configurational Approach of the Relationship between Information Security Management and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya (Review Completed - Accepted)

Enterprises corresponding to a backbone of a modern society recognize information security management (ISM) as one of business management factors.Companies suffer significant financial and reputational damage due to ineffective information security management, severely impacting their performance and market valuation. Information security is vital for protecting important assets of organizations, including the information resources and the organization’s reputation. SMEs have the capacity to achieve rapid economic growth and in Kenya they employ about 85 percent of the Kenyan workforce. The need to link ISM with performance has become especially important for firms striving to achieve superior performance. However, there have been little documented evidences that existed for specific relationships between ISM and SME performance. To better understand this relationship, this paper takes a holistic approach guided by a cross-sectional research design. Using the hierarchical and moderated multiple regression (MMR) analyses, the theoretical models and hypotheses in this study were tested based on empirical data gathered from 94 SMEs that participated in the 2013 Top 100 Survey. The results revealed that entrepreneurial orientation significantly moderated the relationship between information security management and performance of SMEs. This study will enhance the skill set in Kenyan SMEs, producing a more sustainable solution, as well as contributing to the open literature.

Keywords: Information Security, Information Security Management, SME Performance, Small and Medium Enterprises, economic growth

CRITICISMS, VARIATIONS AND EXPERIENCES WITH BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS (Published)

The objective of this study is to highlight the importance of the use of BMC to the entrepreneurs and the academic world. In pursuing this objective, the authors want to discuss the BMC problems and criticism and show its variations in order to help entrepreneurs use these models in the right way ‚and successfully plan their businesses. The shortcomings and weaknesses of the model will then be compared with experiences made in the class ‘Entrepreneurship II’ offered in a undergrad course of Business at a Brazilian university in the state of São Paulo. The experience with them highlighted the importance of the use of BMC and it was helpful in developing their business plans. The contribution of this study to the body of knowledge is to fill the vacuum that exists in terms of academic study concerning the use of Business Model Canvas by the entrepreneurs when developing their business plan as well as to advance research in the areas of small and medium enterprises

Keywords: Business Model, Business Model Canvas, Business Plan, Entrepreneurs, Small and Medium Enterprises

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