Survival Strategies, and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) Growth in Nigeria

Abstract

Small and Medium scale businesses are universally associated with constant struggle against imminent collapse due to contextual hostility that bedevils the sector. While many of them often .die before their fifth anniversary, several others secure their survival by embarking on diverse practices aimed at gaining competitive advantage. This study is focus on discovering viable survival practices among small scale businesses in Nigeria using small scale business operators in Nigeria from 1999 to 2017. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was applied to examine the relationship between survival strategies {proxied by business skill and support services'{proxied by Sales Volume (SV and Market Share (MS). Findings from the study revealed that support services relates positively and significantly with small scale businesses’ Turn over. The more opportunities are identified resulting in improved business operation, the higher the turnover generated. More so, business skill was found to have a negative and insignificant relationship with market share. Finally, that business skill as survival practice has positive and significant relationship with sales volume of small and medium' enterprises. This has concurred with findings of several studies that risk-taking has the lowest positive influence on performance. It is recommended that small scale business managers should strive at developing their capacity to acquire sufficient competence to manage their businesses professionally; to have good understanding of risk management practices and be able to embed such practices into their normal business operations, learn to read and interpret financial statements to monitor the financial health and progress of their businesses. They should also continue to identify new opportunities beyond their existing competencies in order to ensure their continued survival.