Thematic Analysis of Entreprenuerial Skills on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises’ Performance in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Availability of capital and business resources are not suffice enough for business success and survival but, with crucial entrepreneurial skills. Inadequate entrepreneurial skills have been identified as a menace among business operators in Nigeria, and this has led to shutting down of most business organizations.  Consequently, this study has examined the effect of entrepreneurial skills on small and medium scale enterprises’ performance in Oyo State, Nigeria.  Structured questionnaire was administered on some managers/SMEs operators.  Survey research design was adopted for the study. Out of 33 local governments in Oyo State, Ibadan metropolis was chosen as the study area, occasioned by the highest number of local governments and most of these SMEs are concentrated in the area.  There are Six thousand, one hundred and thirty seven (6,137) MSMEs in Oyo State (National Survey Report (National Bureau of Statistics, 2017) which forms the total population of the study.  The sample size of 376 was determined with the aid of Taro Yamane’s (1967) formula while the simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting the list of registered SMEs. The data collected were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics such as frequency, simple percentage and regression analysis. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested.  The result of the regression analysis discovers that innovativeness has a positive effect on performance of   SMEs and the relationship is statistically significant (β=0.806; p=0.002).  Customer relation skill shows a positive effect on customer patronage of performance of SMEs and the relationship is statistically significant (β=0.789; p=0.001 <0.05).  Also, communication skill has a positive effect on service delivery of SMEs with β=0.770; p=0.001 < 0.05.   In view of the findings above, the study therefore concluded that the three explanatory variables have significant and positive effect on performance of SMEs. The conclusion also offers a wide range of significant contributions and implications that are beneficial and useful to many stakeholders such as managers of SMEs, employees, customers etc.  The study recommended that the management of the SMEs should embrace innovativeness especially in the area where it has not been explored.  It is also recommended for SMEs operators to prioritize customer relations and effective communication in terms of meeting their needs and expectations, establish a trusting relationship with them and provide them with quality service delivery.