Survival Strategies and the Growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) In Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja

Abstract

The business sector is globally characterized as turbulent with huge and constant movement in and out. This is so because the business environment is changing, dynamic, turbulent, discontinuous and highly competitive. In the process, many small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) deploy diverse practices to gain competitive advantages for their survival. The study thus examines the survival strategies and growth of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging economy using selected SMEs in Abuja as a study. The empirical analysis was conducted using Ordinary least square (OLS) regression method; while t-test statistic was used to test each of the hypotheses. Findings from the study revealed that product line diversification had no significant effect on business expansion of SMEs. In addition, product branding has had no significant impact on the sales turnover of SMEs for the past few years. However, ideas/innovation was discovered to have a significant impact on the profit margin of SMEs for the past years. It showed the adoption of modern method production had increased their revenue generations. The study thus recommends that the most important strategy that can be used in repositioning SMEs and other micro enterprises in Nigeria is for them to identify the type of products they want to offer to the market. This means a determination of the type of products in which they have distinctive competence to produce. Further development of the technology would make transplantation and adaptation for use in diverse fields of production possible.