To read this content please select one of the options below:

Entrepreneurship programs, operational efficiency and growth of small businesses

Aderemi Ayinla Alarape (Centre for Industrial Research and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‐Ife, Nigeria)

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy

ISSN: 1750-6204

Article publication date: 21 August 2007

2505

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact of owners/managers of small businesses participating in entrepreneurship programs on operational efficiency and growth of small businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

It is a cross‐sectional study analysis of the impact of exposure of owner‐managers of small businesses on their performance (i.e. operational efficiency and growth rate) in a non‐contrived environment. The data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for the analysis and the degree of error is α=0.05.

Findings

Small businesses, whose owner‐managers who have the experience of participating in entrepreneurship programs, exhibited superior managerial practice; hence, a higher gross‐margin and rate of growth than small businesses whose owner‐managers did not have such experiential learning.

Research limitations/implications

The members of the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, Lagos Chapter served as the population for the study. The membership strength was 224 and all were contacted; however, only 62 members responded. Considering the fact that this is 62 firms not just 62 individuals, it looks reasonably large. A possible area for future research is the comparative study of the impacts of the frequency of participation and variants of entrepreneurship programs on performance of small businesses.

Practical implications

There is a need to improve the managerial practice of small businesses through exposure of owners/managers to entrepreneurship programs in order to enhance their performance and their transition to medium and large businesses.

Originality/value

The paper developed an experiential learning‐performance framework to examine the impact of entrepreneurship programs on performance of small businesses and linked higher operational efficiency and growth rate to better managerial practice, a fall‐out of experiential learning from exposure to entrepreneurship programs.

Keywords

Citation

Ayinla Alarape, A. (2007), "Entrepreneurship programs, operational efficiency and growth of small businesses", Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 222-239. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506200710779530

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles