EFFECT OF DISTINCTIVE COMPETENCES AND TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES ON SME GROWTH IN NORTH-EAST NIGERIA
Keywords:
Distinctive Competence, Technological capability, SME growth, Business definitionAbstract
Distinctive Competencies and Technological
Capabilities are two elements that are used for
Business strategic planning
to
enable
entrepreneurs to define the scope and market in
which they compete to attain business growth.
This is, however, not always the case among
SMEs in North-East Nigeria, and that might
account for their inability to expand beyond the
level of survival. This study examined the effect
of these two elements on the growth of small and
medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in North-east
Nigeria. It adopted a descriptive survey research
design. The population of the study comprises
4,224,252 registered SMEs in North East Nigeria
as reported by the Small and Medium Enterprises
Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN,
2020). Through a random sampling technique,
four hundred (400) SMEs were selected as
samples. The size of the study was based on the
Taro Yamane sample selection formula. A five
point Likert scale questionnaire was used to
capture the opinions of respondents. The
Cronbach Alpha test for distinctive competence
and technological capabilities shows 0.9779 and
0.9785 respectively and the test for multi
collinearity and heteroscedasticity all produced
favourable responses. The study used multiple
regression analysis to determine the statistical
effects of the variables in business definition
measured by distinctive competence (DCOMP),
and technological capability (TECHCAP), as
independent variables and SMEs business growth
(BUSGROT) as dependent variables. The result of
the study indicates that distinctive competence
has a positive but insignificant effect on business
growth while technological capability has a
positive and significant effect on business growth
in North East Nigeria. Hence, it was concluded
from the findings of the study that SME growth
can be anticipated using these variables. Based
on these findings, it was recommended that SMEs
invest in modern technologies in key business
areas, and also in knowledge management as
their competence can easily be imitated by other
firms.
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