Strategic Entrepreneurship and Firms’ Competitiveness among Micro-enterprises in Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Strategic entrepreneurship has been identified and recognized as a catalyst for the overall socio-economic development of any developing nation like Nigeria through enhanced firms’ competitiveness among micro-enterprises, especially in the manufacturing sector within the South-west region. Despite its relevance, many micro-enterprises are struggling in an intense, volatile environment, unstable economic conditions and a lack of appropriate and sustainable strategies to attain competitiveness has been the bane for their survival in Nigeria. Stemming the tide of this challenge in the southwest, micro-enterprises owner-managers needed to adopt and incorporate Strategic entrepreneurship, a concept that will enable them to compete favourably to survive in a highly competitive environment, thereby growing them into small, medium and large enterprises, which have implications for enhanced economic growth and development in Nigeria. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the impact of Strategic Entrepreneurship on firm competitiveness. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design with a population of 91,889 formal micro-enterprises from the manufacturing sector. A sample size of 398 (Males = 52.0%) aged 21-60 years from six southwest states was determined using the Taro Yamane formula, with a purposive sampling technique for distributing the questionnaire to the respondents. A closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect the data. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation (PPMC) and multiple regression. Results of correlation analysis showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and firm’s competitiveness with (r = .59**, p<.05). The result also established that strategic entrepreneurship significantly predicted firm’s competitiveness with (R= 27, R²= .35; F (1, 396) = 219.12, p<.05). The study concluded that strategic entrepreneurship plays a significant relationship and predictive role on firm’s competitiveness. It was recommended that managers of micro-enterprises especially in the manufacturing sector should inculcate strategic entrepreneurship into their business such that it will make them to be more competitive ever in the face of the current economic turbulence in Nigeria.