This study was carried out with an intention of establishing the competencies that managers and owners of SMEs possess in Uganda. Alongside that, the researchers also established the quantitative methods that are used in operations of SMEs in Uganda. The motivation of this study was to establish the extent to which owners and managers of SMEs act professionally even when the businesses they operate may not necessarily be formal. This was based on a review of literature indicating that about 90% of SMEs operating in Uganda are informal in nature facing similar challenges of short life span and unprofessional operational activities. Data was collected from 366 SMEs to be able to establish the two key aspects of focus of this study. This represented 95% response rate out of 385 target sample expected to be covered at the beginning of the study. The unit of analysis was a single respondent who was either a manager or owner of a business while the sampling unit was an SME (entity). Findings indicated that despite the informal nature of SMEs in Uganda, they practice some level of professionalism in their operations as judged from the competencies identified and quantitative methods established as possessed and used in SMEs in Uganda.

This study was carried out to establish the possibility of enhancing SME sustainability in Kampala, Uganda through boosting key internal drivers of entity performance (records management, internal communication, family influences, and online presence). Using conclusive, cross-sectional, and case study research designs supported by the philosophical underpinnings of critical realism and positivism epistemology, data was collected from 278 SMEs using semi-structured questionnaires. Using SEM analysis, it was revealed that all the key drivers have a positive significant statistical effects of the sustainability of SMEs (records management [S.E = 0.3; p = 0.000], internal communication [S.E = 0.229; p = 0.017], family influences [S.E = 0.162; p = 0.041], and online presence [S.E = 0.321; p = 0.000]). It was therefore recommended that key internal success factors identified need to be considered in the management and operations of SMEs in Kampala. This is aimed at guaranteeing the sustainability of SMEs and the boosting of the private sector.

This research was carried out with an intention of establishing association between business networks and sustainability of SMEs in Uganda. A total of 384 SMEs were sampled for this purpose. From each SME, one respondent was considered. This respondent was either the owner or the manager. Survey method with specific focus on the use of closed ended questionnaire was employed in the study. Based on the factor analysis conducted on the data collected, three important components of business networks were established namely; quality of suppliers, operations of business associations and SACCOs as well as existence of loyal customers. To test the association, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results indicated that all components of business networks had significant association with SME sustainability in Uganda. Out of the three, quality of suppliers had the highest degree of association while operations of business associations and SACCOs had the lowest association. The same trend was reflected in the results from regression analysis with the exception of operations of business associations and SACCOs which did not have significant influence onto SME sustainability. Based on these results, it was concluded that quality of suppliers and existence of loyal customers had significant influence onto SME sustainability in Uganda. It was recommended that SMEs in Uganda need to focus on quality of suppliers as well as loyal customers in order to realize sustainability. These two types of business networks are therefore crucial to the sustainability of SMEs in Uganda. Though they did not have significant influence, business associations and SACCOs need not be ignored considering that they too had a significant association with SME sustainability.

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