SME FIRM PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA: LESSON FROM MALAYSIA (original) (raw)

Performance Of SME Firm In Nigeria: Malaysia Experience

Malaysia and Nigeria fall within the paradigm of developing countries seeking greater economic competitiveness in a global business environment. Both have developed policy framework and implemented strategic plans for the development of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) as an indispensable part of economic growth, employment creation and economic transformation towards evolving into an advanced nation by the year 2020. Malaysia through SME has moved from efficiency-driven to innovation-driven economy through effective mechanisms. While Nigeria SMEs is still facing tremendous challenges and threats in achieving economic transformation, despite the strategic policies, institutional framework sets as a priority by the Nigerian Government in ensuring SMEs performance This paper focuses on how Nigeria can learn from Malaysia experience in enhancing SMEs growth for economic transformation and government support through the blend of technology expertise and entrepreneurial skills. This is essentially a general review paper using a descriptive method for the assessment of the Government's support to SMEs performance focusing on sources of financing and technological programs that have been put through for economic transformation. Following assessment, Malaysia duplications of SME success can be sought from Nigeria in achieving his economic blueprints of vision 20: 2020. This will be proposed as a guide for policy makers in Nigeria and for the people in helping and encouraging SMEs and youths by creating enabling and conducive environment to execute.

Nigeria's SMEs and innovative product development: Challenges and opportunities in the 21st century

International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, 2012

Globalization has changed the way firms, industries contend with competition, and for any country to be relevant in this 21st century, there is a need for a paradigm shift in the way governance and businesses are conducted. It is against this backdrop that many emerging economies have embarked on economic restructuring and Nigeria is no exception. For a country like Nigeria with her vision 20:20, which is geared towards making her amongst the top 20 economies in the world, there is a need for her small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to play the leading role in this regard. The SMEs though faced with many challenges have been making a lot of impact in the economic development of many Asian economies and Nigeria cannot be an exception. Therefore, the country needs to develop knowledge and learning based economy that will aid the development of innovative products, by changing both her technology/business models. This paper has tried to find out why SMEs in Nigeria have not been able to...

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs): A Catalyst in Promoting Economic Development in Nigeria

This research paper has specifically x-rayed the concept of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and it was defined as a business which is owned, led by one or a few persons, with direct owner(s) influence in decision making, and having a relatively small share of the market and relatively low capital requirement. The contributions of SMEs to the economy were examined in this paper. The problems confronting SMEs and the possible strategies of combating the problems were also examined. A conceptual framework was developed by the authors and it explains/illustrates the series of variables that are integral in the area of SMEs and the effects it can possibly have on the economy. The concept of Economic Development was briefly described. A section was devoted to examining the roles of SMEs for economic Development in Nigeria. One of the major recommendations advanced in this paper was that the Government should urgently invest massively in improving the current infrastructural base in the country. 1.0. Introduction The national economy has remained a focal point in recent debates owing to the rising level of unemployment, poverty, insecurity, low productivity, human capital flight/brain drain. The need to advancing the socioeconomic , political and technological growth of any nation relies heavily on the creativity and technical ingenuity of the players/actors in that economy in transforming the available resources into productive use. It has been stressed by scholars that Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) is a driving force in developing and developed nations alike. The emphases on SMEs remain a recurring decimal in the lexicon of Nigeria and this is not unconnected with the realization of the roles of SMEs in job creation, poverty alleviation and foreign exchange conservation (Jimah, 2011; Ikherehon, 2002; Akingunola, 2011). Agu (2001) defined SMEs as a business which is owned, led by one or a few persons, with direct owner(s) influence in decision making, and having a relatively small share of the market and relatively low capital requirement. The earliest manifestations of SMEs in advanced countries were coltage industries that later transformed into industrial complexes and tech factories. SMEs today account for the bulk of output in most countries today. It is also a proven job creator: the share of SMEs in global productivity is over 30% higher in some countries, but generally growing. In China, SMEs employ over 50% of the workforce while in the United States (US), SMEs account for over 50% of Gross Domestic Product (Ehinomen & Adeleke, 2012). In Nigeria, SMEs employ over 60% of the labour force both in formal and informal sectors. The need to have a regulatory body to control the activities of SMEs in the country led to the formation of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDEN) in 2004 by an act of parliament towards the realization of the goals and objectives of SMEs. There is no doubt that SMEs play significant roles in the advancement and development of the economy. Some of these roles which have been briefly identified above remain integral to the progress of the nation. For these roles to be fully realized there is need for our educational system to fully be repositioned with the aim of accelerating the growth and development of SMEs. The establishment and management of SMEs no doubt have numerous implications on the economic development of the nation as documented by scholars in the field. The term Economic development has been defined by various scholars in different ways. According to Misra and Puri (2003), economic development means growth plus progressive changes in certain critical variables that determine the well-being of the people. They assert that there are qualitative dimensions in the development process which may be missing in the growth of a given economy expressed in terms of an increase in the national product or the product per capita. From the foregoing, it becomes obvious that economic development is far beyond the numerical growth in a nation's income which politicians often express to draw the attention of unsuspecting electorates. This growth or changes must cut across all the sectors of the economy and must be felt in the living standard of the citizens and this is what SMEs seeks to bring to reality.

Promoting SME Competitiveness: Lessons from China and Nigeria

This paper examines the different challenges that face small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in China and Nigeria. It describes the level of SME development in both countries and impact of government policies and technology on the competitiveness of SMEs. Data for the study was collected using a structured questionnaire administered to 200 SMEs in both countries. Findings indicate that although the governments of China and Nigeria have made great strides in implementing policy reforms that offer support and encouragement to development of SMEs in their respective countries,. The Chinese government’s approach to SME development can serve as a model to for developing countries aiming to increase SME growth and success in their country. There is room for improvement in both countries: Nigeria needs to place emphasis on creating a solid infrastructure and microeconomic business environment that allows SMEs to thrive while China could see even more SME growth by focusing on providing more individualized support that encourages the development of specialized clusters

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES INNOVATION AS A PRE-REQUISITE TO REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Management Sciences Review, 2020

The study investigates the importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) innovation for regional development in SouthWestern , Nigeria. A descriptive survey was used, and the target population consisted of 140 registered SMEs in SouthWestern , Nigeria. The SMEs were selected using the National Bureau of Statistics 2019. The sample comprised 80 small-scale enterprises and 60 medium-scale enterprises. Data for the study were collected using questionnaire structured in 4point Likert Scale and direct interview with SME Owners/Managers. Findings established the importance of SMEs innovation in regional development in Nigeria. However, inadequate financial means for research innovation, infrastructural facilities, and government assistance are the most prominent barriers to SMEs innovation. Therefore, the place of SMEs innovation to regional growth cannot be underestimated. After all, SMEs creativity would spur increased productivity, effectiveness in terms of sales, customer base and profits in the monetary sense. And for any economy, this is advantageous as more opportunities are provided to the populace in terms of job opportunities, increase both the regional and gross domestic product (GDP) development of Nigeria. This study recommends the need for the Nigerian government to come up with a practical solution in terms of proactive and innovative financial service (funding) and technological innovations. This study also recommends the need to foster inclusive growth to boost SMEs innovation at the national, regional and state levels, thus reducing productivity and wage gaps between SMEs and large companies. Besides, through the provision of more resources to tackle SMEs challenges, the Nigerian government will be indirectly creating room for development through the opportunities SMEs bring, thereby boosting economic development and overall growth and poverty reduction. Consequently, it is suggested that state governments in Nigeria should give more opportunities for SMEs to thrive.

" !#$ INNOVATION AND SUCCESS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN KANO STATE NIGERIA

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the Nigerian economy and are considered as a backbone of industrial development in the country. The objective this study is to justify the level of relationship between innovation and success among SMEs. Determine the level of innovation and level of success among the SMEs and lastly to establish whether there is significance difference between the level of innovation and the level success between SMEs. The study followed a descriptive survey design, given the target population of 108 SMEs in Kano state; a sample size of 85 was selected. The data for the study are collected through use of questionnaires as the main tool. It discover that the independent variable (innovation) significantly influence change in the dependent variable (success). Therefore, it is crucial for SME to invest in R&D and innovation programs to always ensure that they are moving ahead, through the formation of cluster.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Key to Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) , 2021

In Nigeria, as in many other developing and emerging economies, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contribute to their socioeconomic development and growth hence, successive governments have invested resources in intervention programs aimed at stimulating the sector to achieve sustainable development. The main objectives of the study are to; review the role of SMEs to the socioeconomic development of Nigeria, identify current government efforts and challenges to stimulating SMEs performance especially as it relates to wealth creation and employment generation. The study found that; SMEs play a key role in socio economic development of the country especially in the area of employment generation and wealth creation. However, there are prevailing economic and political conditions that have not given room for SMEs to thrive, as evidenced in the internal and external challenging factors they are currently facing in the country despite the enormous government intervention initiatives. It is recommended that government should reform the implementation of these initiatives, ensure programmes continuity due to change on government, fight corruption and insecurity, improve on the business environment and evolve youth reorientation programme to cause them to embrace entrepreneurship. The methodology adopted for this work is narrative textual case study.

Toward an integrative model of SME performance in Nigeria

Nigerian government had been spending an enormous amount of money for the entrepreneurial and small business development programs in order to develop a vibrant SME sector. Nevertheless, most of these programs lasted with poor results generally. This led to the implementation of national policy on micro, small and medium enterprises, which identifies lack of application of knowledge and entrepreneurial attitude by SMEs as the principal reasons for their non-performance tradition. Although, this policy brings about unprecedented improvements in the sector, still it is contributing less compared to other developing countries. This is because, in the present rapid changing environment, the strategy of accumulating such intangible resources is not enough to determine significant performance. Consequently, this paper draws upon the resource-based, knowledge-based, and dynamic capabilities perspectives to initiate a move toward the development of an integrative model of SME performance in the Nigerian turbulent environment.

THE ROLE OF SME FIRM PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA

Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (OMAN Chapter), 2014

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role and contribution of SMEs performance in the national development of a developing country like Nigeria. The performance of SMEs plays a major role, but there is a dearth of literature about their contribution which are not well researched in Nigeria. This paper focuses on what SMEs performance contribute and what barriers are there which make them not to contribute at their optimum. A lot of research on the SMEs performance contribution is on developed countries and developing countries with little on developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – This is a general review paper on the performance of SMEs and its contribution that have been made and can make to the national development of Nigeria. Findings – the role SMEs performance in the national growth in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. The performance of SMEs and its contributions has manifested and shown that they are a major area to be researched to assist the policy makers and the SMEs, owners to encourage enabling and conducive environment for SMEs to perform more Originality/value – This work is aimed at raising awareness of the importance and the performance level of SMEs to national and economic development of a developing country like Nigeria.