Improving Competitiveness for SMEs to Harness Available Trade and Investment Opportunities: The Case of Tanzania

Aikaeli, Jehovaness

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1021214

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Thus participating in trade fair can help them to reduce advertisement and promotion cost. The study by [15] shows some positive effects of trade fair to SMEs welfare, by concludes that trade fair makes the SMEs to concentrate in a quality product, good ways of product presentation and assessment of buyer reaction, audience interest, reaching the unknown and viewing the competition. In line with this contention, In Tanzania, trade fair has greatly contributed to the development of SME sector and it has been recognized as a significant sector in employment creation, income generation, and poverty alleviation and as a base for industrial development.…”

Section: Advantages Of Trade Fair To Smesmentioning

confidence: 94%

The Challenges Facing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Participating in Trade Fair: A Case of Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) in Tanzania

Ummulkulthoum¹,

Jianhua²

2017

International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research

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Section: Advantages Of Trade Fair To Smesmentioning

confidence: 94%

The Challenges Facing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Participating in Trade Fair: A Case of Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) in Tanzania

Ummulkulthoum¹,

Jianhua²

2017

International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research

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“…So this is an indication that SMEs do not have capacity to set up their own R&D units (Lee et al 2010) that generate R&Is to inform their entrepreneur decisions. According to Aikaeli (2007), SMEs' inability to get R&I information cripples their capacity to innovate and they resort to copying other peoples' innovations and investments. To avoid this kind of inbreeding, university libraries can, therefore, be their fallback position and supply them with R&I information.…”

Section: Research and Innovation Information Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In South Africa, an enterprise is categorised as small if it has 21-50 workers, while a medium enterprise is one that has 51-200 workers (The Republic of South Africa 1996Africa , 2003. In Tanzania, SMEs are those enterprises with 1-100 workers and have investment in capital worth 800 million Tanzanian Shillings ($ 357 941) (Aikaeli 2007 SMEs around the world contribute a high percentage to the nation's GDP. For example, in Singapore, SMEs employ over 50% of their population (Hin & Subramaniam 2005).…”

Section: Small and Medium Enterprises And Their Access To Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Research support services to small and medium enterprises by university libraries in Uganda: An entrepreneurial and innovation strategy

Buwule

Mutula

2017

S. Afr. j. inf. manag.

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Background: Sub-Saharan Africa tops the list of poorest regions in the world. The region is characterised by poverty, high unemployment rates, hunger and disease. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) the world over contribute significantly towards social economic growth and have the potential if well harnessed to contribute towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and also reverse the cycle of poverty on the African continent. Most university libraries in the developed world have put in place strategies to re-engineer information on research and innovation (R&I) for SMEs to support entrepreneurship and innovation programmes. However, university libraries in Africa are still lagging behind in this regard despite the fact that the region has the highest number of SMEs.Objectives: The objectives of this study were to: investigate how university libraries in Uganda are managing the universities’ research output; find out how the research output is disseminated to SMEs for their entrepreneurial activities, to understand how SMEs access and use R&I information for their entrepreneurial programmes; and propose feasible strategies of how best university libraries can re-engineer the dissemination of the research output for use by SMEs in their entrepreneurial endeavours.Method: The study used document analysis which is a qualitative data collection method. Empirical literature related to the research variables of the study was reviewed through systematic searching of manual and electronic documents on how university libraries treat their R&I information in relation to entrepreneurship.Results: The findings demonstrate that university libraries can re-engineer their R&I information services for SMEs through: repackaging R&I information in formats and languages easily accessible by SMEs; creating informal social networks for information sharing among SMEs; creation of R&I information library corners; University Library Consortia advocating for this concept; periodical announcements of new R&I information in the library through emails to SMEs; organising SME days in the library; creation of SME pages on the library website; conducting information literacy training sessions for SME entrepreneurs; and adding this concept in the library and information science curricular.Conclusion: This article discusses how university libraries, from a developing country context such as Uganda, can re-engineer research output for SMEs and use it to develop innovative solutions that can contribute positively towards SDGs and the social economic transformation of Africa at large.

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“…On the other hand, a high stock level for an SME means that the SME must have enough capital to buy a large amount of inventory. However, limited access to finance or capital markets is one of the factors that constrains many SMEs in Tanzania and in many countries (Aikaeli, 2007;Indarti and Langenberg, 2004). This aspect is important to Tanzania because the infrastructure is not at the European level.…”

Section: The Products the Prices And Placementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of purchasing contribution to the development and growth of SMEs, evidence from Tanzania

Nsimbila

Jurriëns

2012

IJESB

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The contribution of purchasing to the development and growth of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the overall performance of supply chain has been neither rigorously examined nor empirically substantiated. This paper provides empirical evidence on how purchasing variables (relationship, product quality and quantity, and price) contribute to the development and growth of SMEs in Tanzania. In this study, it was found that poor relationships between suppliers and SMEs and low quality of products sold by SMEs affect the provision of service to customers and lead to poor development and growth of SMEs while high prices of products and low quantity of goods have no direct effect. Conclusions drawn include: SMEs can improve the supplier relationship, e.g., by finding alternative product sources at low prices but not at the expense of quality, and by ordering the products from suppliers on time to avoid late delivery and stock depletion.

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Improving Competitiveness for SMEs to Harness Available Trade and Investment Opportunities: The Case of Tanzania

Cited by 11 publications

References 12 publications

The Challenges Facing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Participating in Trade Fair: A Case of Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) in Tanzania

The Challenges Facing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Participating in Trade Fair: A Case of Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) in Tanzania

Research support services to small and medium enterprises by university libraries in Uganda: An entrepreneurial and innovation strategy

Assessment of purchasing contribution to the development and growth of SMEs, evidence from Tanzania

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