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Today, many countries strive to develop their small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) sectors because of their acknowledged capacity to facilitate the optimal utilization of locally available resources while engaging local technology for the production of goods and services for local consumption as well as export trade. Also in area of agriculture, these enterprises serve as means of sustainable food production, improve employment generation, combat food shortage, and enhance economic growth and development. However, the growth performance of this sector in Nigeria has been dwindling over time, which requires government expenditure (GE) policy intervention. Therefore, this study examines the influence of public expenditure on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria employing unit root and co-integration tests for the period 1981–2019. The results reveal that SMEs and selected macroeconomic variables have a long-run relationship with SMEs output performance. It also shows that GE has direct and significant impact on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria, while government deficit financing (GDF) has adverse and insignificant effects on the Nigeria SMEs both in the short- and long-run period. Inflation rate (INF) has an inverse but significant effect on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria both in the short- and long-run periods. This study thus recommends, among others, that government should ensure the proper management of capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure in raising the growth of SMEs in Nigeria to achieve inclusive growth.

This paper aims to know the interest of leading small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Y generation in Surabaya City using mobile commerce, identify the effort that has been done by the leading SMEs actors of Y generation in Surabaya City to expand its business network by using mobile commerce, and analyze the success rate of the use of mobile commerce to expand the business network of leading SMEs of Y generation in Surabaya City.

This research is designed using qualitative method. The research is directed more toward a research with phenomenological approach because the research also gives the description related to the phenomena in the field to the actor of SMEs and Disperdagin of Surabaya City. The researcher picks Surabaya City as the location by considering the following: the number of SMEs in the Surabaya city is greater than any other cities in East Java considering that Surabaya is the capital of East Java. The number of SMEs is 37,906 units; it means that Surabaya is a city with high economic activity and this place is also the largest trading city after Jakarta. Based on the number of SMEs mentioned above, in this research, only leading SMEs are taken amounted to 161 leading SMEs in the Surabaya City. Information or technological exchange and development are faster compared to other cities because most of the community living in this city uses information technology in running their business.

SME actors in Surabaya city have high interest in using m-commerce. In expanding the network, the SME actors use online media. The SME actors in Surabaya have successfully expanded the business network through online marketing by using m-commerce to overseas including Germany, France, South Korea and the UK. Effective model is needed for the policy in Surabaya city is Disperdagin has its own website to overshadow all SMEs in Surabaya City, and identify the role of Disperdagin to SME or vice versa, and clustering SMEs in Surabaya such as cluster of handicraft and Food and Beverage (MAMIN). Factors that are the advantages of using m-commerce are wider business network; increasing sales; adding resellers and buyers; smooth business transaction; development of product innovation, process and marketing; the facilities provided by the government; and easy to use m-commerce application.

This is one of few papers that study the interest of SMEs actor in using mobile commerce in effort to expand business network. The use of m-commerce will grow the business capability of SMEs, thus increasing the role of SMEs as the counterweight to the structure of the national economy. Therefore, the government policy related to the use of e-commerce and m-commerce is very important to be socialized to business actors, especially the SMEs.

This paper attempts to identify the problem areas and developmental issues attached to women's entrepreneurship related to small medium enterprises (SMEs) particularly in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. It also attempts to devise certain stratagems for ensuring women's entrepreneurial growth and SMEs' advancement in the region.

The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase attempted to identify the problem areas in terms of nature, needs, desire, motivations and problems of women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia by an extensive review of the existing literature. The second phase incorporated a ground survey and focused interviews with groups of female entrepreneurs for assessing the factors related to entrepreneurship. The data pertaining to these issues were collected using 90 personally administered “schedules” in eight areas in Addis Ababa on the basis of stratified sampling. Basic level statistical analysis was performed using SPSS statistical package.

The focused interview identified problems in the areas of securing finances for establishing and running SMEs, lack of entrepreneurial and management competence and exposure, problems in finding the markets and distribution networks; limited opportunities for promotion and participation; limited amount of government and institutional support; absence of technological know‐how and integration mechanism; and rampant corruption in an undisguised or disguised form, as major bottlenecks.

The paper is one of the important studies taken in the context of women entrepreneurship in Ethiopia. No such studies have been undertaken in the past that assess the women entrepreneur in the context of overall SME development. Only a few exist but give more importance to microfinance and micro‐enterprises. So the paper is original in context as well as in research terms. Proper attention to the issues raised and recommendations made could give a significant boost to entrepreneurial activities in the region.

Purpose: The concept of sustainability in the livelihood of rural people is the central point for the discussion for policymakers. Different policies for poverty reduction, developing economies, and environment management are not capable of using multimedia technology for rural entrepreneurial development.

Need of the Study: The study analyses the impact of multi-media and tries to understand its significance for rural enterprises to contribute to developing entrepreneurship in rural areas to minimise poverty.

Methodology: This research analysed a framework that highlights that multi-media technology offers different ways to earn a sustainable livelihood by enhancing the range of advanced technology, access to information assets, increased social networks, information transfer system, and modernisation of traditional working. A total of 450 rural entrepreneurs were contacted to collect the data from 6 different divisions of Haryana through a questionnaire on 5-point scale. A purposive sampling technique was used for primary data collection.

Findings: The multi-media technology influences rural entrepreneurial development through certain organisational factors, new products and services, improved customer service, generation of employment opportunities over time, increased loyalty, and novel combination of resources within the specific context.

Practical Implications: The study concludes the capabilities may be utilised up to maximum advantages that increase with the use of multi-media technology in the rural framework.

Although the benefits of strategic alliances are well documented, whether strategic alliances can be a viable entry strategy option for small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs) to successfully penetrate markets held by major incumbent suppliers is less clear. In this paper, strategic alliances are shown to be an effective entry‐cum‐deterrence strategy for SMEs to successfully penetrate markets that are well established and dominated by major corporations. In addition, the conditions under which SMEs can use strategic alliances as an entry strategy without restricting themselves to target only those markets ignored by bigger firms are identified. In terms of methodology, this paper follows a deductive approach – one based on game theory, to examine explicitly the reactions of bigger firms to the entry of SMEs into their markets, specifically taking into account the resource limitations faced by SMEs. To verify that the theoretical arguments presented are consistent with practice, two cases of the use of strategic alliances by SMEs as an entry strategy to penetrate markets dominated by major corporations are examined. The practices and experiences of these SMEs were found to be consistent with the theoretical arguments presented here.

Extant literature regarding factors essential for successful information technologies (IT) implementation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) does not significantly address readiness factors for IT implementation in an Indian context. This exploratory research develops and tests a framework to analyse the antecedents to organisational preparedness for adoption of IT infrastructure in SMEs.

This exploratory research adopts a mixed-method approach to test the technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework. In-depth interviews with SME owners are conducted to develop the case study, and the measures obtained are tested through a survey at a small and medium business industrial cluster in Southern India in SMEs.

The case study indicates SME owners’ drive to initiate technology preparedness for organisational sustainability is a key factor, a measure not seen during the literature review. An empirical study tests the measures. Pressure from customers, owner’s age, sales of SME, owner’s attitude towards IT and owner’s knowledge of IT was confirmed, which indicates organisational factors have more impact compared to technological and environmental factors.

The academic scope of this research paper can be extended to contexts such as readiness in IT infrastructure for digital transformation.

The validated research framework can be used by organisation stakeholders and SME IT practitioners for successful IT adoption.

SMEs contribute significantly to gross domestic product (GDP) and provide employment opportunities. Hence, this research provides a tested model that SMEs owners/managers can adopt as a framework to augment competitiveness to implement IT.

The study adopts a mixed-method research design and is, perhaps, a first in the Indian context to explore variables through case study and validate identified measures through an empirical study. The model can be used by SME owners and practitioners to ascertain factors for organisational preparedness for IT adoption.

Increasing the share of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in public procurement through targeted support policies is often fraught with organisational and institutional challenges as can be seen from the experiences of many developed countries. This has profound implications for emulating such policies in developing countries where administrative capacities may be low for efficient policy management. The purpose of this paper is to widen the canvass of SME procurement policy discourse by exploring a developing country context.

The study provides qualitative assessment using insights from policy implementation-related theories. Due to limited reporting of target data on SME participation in India, the study conducts analysis based on key informant interviews with 20 public sector enterprises.

The evidence drawn from India mainly shows uneven performance among the procurers in achieving the SME procurement targets, and reveals serious policy implementation shortcomings. These findings correspond and complement the earlier studies on SME procurement in the developed world. The Indian case additionally reveals barriers which may be common to other developing countries such as the lack of policy-administrative capacity compounded by the prevalence of “efficiency syndrome” on the part of procurers.

By providing an in-depth developing country-specific assessment, the study helps informing assumptions underpinning SME-oriented procurement policies. The study, therefore, fills a gap in the literature on SME-oriented public procurement policy-making and its execution.

This paper aims to examine the interconnection between marketing and entrepreneurship among small and medium scale enterprises in emerging markets.

Quantitative data were obtained from 113 micro, small and medium scale enterprises (SME) into services, manufacturing and agriculture selected conveniently within the Tema metropolis, a harbour city in Ghana; however, purposive sampling was used to choose owners and managers as respondents pre-occupied with marketing and entrepreneurial roles. These voluntary informants have operated between 4 and 9 years.

The study reveals a significant relationship between five dimensions of the study including market orientation and entrepreneurial success; customer orientation and entrepreneurial success; competitor orientation and entrepreneurial success; intelligence generation; and entrepreneurial success, including information dissemination and entrepreneurial success.

Blending marketing with entrepreneurial initiatives has the propensity to accelerate success for wealth and job creation for national development especially in emerging markets where poverty and under development abounds. Adoption of basic marketing principles enables local entrepreneurs to become vehicles for social re-engineering and for rapid socio-economic growth, which ultimately affects lives at the local level. The study was limited to opinion of SME managers and owners of a harbour city.

Application of basic marketing principles influences entrepreneurial success in emerging markets (EMs) highlighting opinions of managers and owners of SMEs strategy warranting attention of stakeholders. Thus, the study validates theoretical model of how prudent marketing and entrepreneurial attitude contributes entrepreneurial success. It also provides a new perspective on marketing principles and success in emerging markets.

Consciously incorporating basic marketing principles into operations of MSMEs will impact performances; hence, social lives of entrepreneurs will be affected positively.

This study being among the few in sub-Saharan Africa highlights how application of marketing principles to entrepreneurial operations is a vital role in growing local MSMEs unto the world stage. Therefore, blending basic marketing principles with entrepreneurial initiatives will accelerate wealth and job creation and national development to achieve the world's sustainable development goals aimed at reducing poverty.

The purpose of this study was to understand the usefulness of financial institution class ties in small commercial poultry farms’ (SCPFs’) survival in Ghana.

The study uses data from a network survey with associated attribute data on poultry small- and medium-sized enterprises. The data were collected in two waves between January 2014 and March 2015. Survival is estimated using a lagged probit model.

It was found that the survival rate of SCPFs is influenced by ties to universal banks and cooperative credit unions that have a positive effect while those with ties to savings and loans companies have a reduced survival probability.

The findings of the study make a significant contribution to the agricultural enterprise financing literature showing the relevance of the different financial institution types in the continued survival of agricultural SCPFs.

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of causation decision-making and effectual decision-making logic in challenging economic situations within agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana.

The authors collect and derive composite variables from effectuation, causation, financial capital availability (FCA) and crisis performance data through a randomized system based on literature precedents. This study analyzes the data using descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and ordinary least squared regression through STATA 15.

The authors find that effectual managers are indeed better off during crisis conditions. Also, there is a significant moderation relationship between the effectuation, FCA and crisis performance.

From strategic management and entrepreneurial process standpoint, the effectuation theory thrives within uncertain business environments. This notwithstanding, literature has often focused on hypothetical, uncertain business environments. The authors present plausible evidence of effectual business behavior from a real crisis, from small agriculture firms’ perspectives and an emerging economy context.