Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the businesses, which employ less than 250 persons. Though they are largely unstructured businesses, they interestingly, account for the lion’s share of the workforce in virtually every economy. To a large extent, they are usually sole-proprietorship businesses, especially at the micro and small levels.
Due to their small sizes, the large labour they employ, the ease of starting up and speed of adaptation to emerging trends and consumer tastes, SMEs have been touted as the drivers of future growth of an economy. Armed with the right management, access to cheap finance, quality workforce, government support and an enabling macro-economic environment, they have the potential to transform into the corporate …show more content…
Several researches have been conducted on the prospect and challenges of SMEs in Nigeria and abroad as Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have long been believed to be important in supporting economics development within a country (see Akhtar & CDASED, 1999; Mazzarol, Volery, Doss, and Thein, 1999; Al-Shaikh, 1998) while others such as Chukwuemeka (2006), Agwu and Emeti, (2004), Arinaitwe (2006), Lundström (2005), Oboh (2002), Okpara (2000), Wale-Awe (2000), Ihyembe (2000), Bruch and Hiemenz (1984), Binks and Ennew (1996), Baumback (1983); and a host of others have observed various factors or challenges that impedes the performance of SMEs ranging from inadequate finance, poor infrastructural facilities, inadequate managerial skill, weak and instability of government policies and other presumed factors and challenges causing premature death of SMEs as Beckman (1983) classified the problems as internal and …show more content…
This growing recognition has led to the commitment of the World Bank group on the SME sector, as a core element in its strategy, to foster economic growth, employment and poverty alleviation. The World Bank group in 2004 approved roughly $2.4 billion in support of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (World Bank, 2001). The non-delivery of satisfactory results by the past SME development efforts has made it imperative to study factors that could provide a more satisfactory result. The problem of interest to this research work is the identification of the main issues faced by SMEs in Nigeria, the potentials and opportunities in this business segment, challenges of SMEs, critical success factors, and key ingredients that will aid required growth and contribution to overall National development.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
The aims and objectives of this research project are:
i. To identify the challenges facing SME sector in Nigeria ii. To estimate the true potential of the Nigerian SME sector iii. To conduct a comparative analysis of the regulatory and macroeconomic conditions of SMEs in countries with similar macro-economic characteristics (e.g. oil dependence) with Nigeria and iv. To determine the critical success factors to be established by the Nigerian government and other stakeholders for the realization of the SME potentials.
1.3 Research Questions
The
Due to their small sizes, the large labour they employ, the ease of starting up and speed of adaptation to emerging trends and consumer tastes, SMEs have been touted as the drivers of future growth of an economy. Armed with the right management, access to cheap finance, quality workforce, government support and an enabling macro-economic environment, they have the potential to transform into the corporate …show more content…
Several researches have been conducted on the prospect and challenges of SMEs in Nigeria and abroad as Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have long been believed to be important in supporting economics development within a country (see Akhtar & CDASED, 1999; Mazzarol, Volery, Doss, and Thein, 1999; Al-Shaikh, 1998) while others such as Chukwuemeka (2006), Agwu and Emeti, (2004), Arinaitwe (2006), Lundström (2005), Oboh (2002), Okpara (2000), Wale-Awe (2000), Ihyembe (2000), Bruch and Hiemenz (1984), Binks and Ennew (1996), Baumback (1983); and a host of others have observed various factors or challenges that impedes the performance of SMEs ranging from inadequate finance, poor infrastructural facilities, inadequate managerial skill, weak and instability of government policies and other presumed factors and challenges causing premature death of SMEs as Beckman (1983) classified the problems as internal and …show more content…
This growing recognition has led to the commitment of the World Bank group on the SME sector, as a core element in its strategy, to foster economic growth, employment and poverty alleviation. The World Bank group in 2004 approved roughly $2.4 billion in support of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (World Bank, 2001). The non-delivery of satisfactory results by the past SME development efforts has made it imperative to study factors that could provide a more satisfactory result. The problem of interest to this research work is the identification of the main issues faced by SMEs in Nigeria, the potentials and opportunities in this business segment, challenges of SMEs, critical success factors, and key ingredients that will aid required growth and contribution to overall National development.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
The aims and objectives of this research project are:
i. To identify the challenges facing SME sector in Nigeria ii. To estimate the true potential of the Nigerian SME sector iii. To conduct a comparative analysis of the regulatory and macroeconomic conditions of SMEs in countries with similar macro-economic characteristics (e.g. oil dependence) with Nigeria and iv. To determine the critical success factors to be established by the Nigerian government and other stakeholders for the realization of the SME potentials.
1.3 Research Questions
The