MANAGEMENT INNOVATION AND GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Management innovation remains the driving force and the major strategy for firms’ growth and survival in the present-day competitive business environment. To achieve this end, SMEs operators adopt product, process, market, and technological innovative strategies. However, due to poor creative and innovative skills by SMEs in Nigeria especially in Awka Anambra State, firms are not fully predisposed to learning continuously and therefore find it very hard to detect and fill gaps between what the market desires and what the firm currently offers.

This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which management innovation affects the growth of SMEs in Awka, Anambra State.  The population of the study was eleven (11) SME firms with total staff strength of one hundred and sixty-nine (169). Yamane’s (1967) formula was employed to elucidate the 119 respondents used for the study. T-Test statistic was applied to test the stated hypotheses of the study at a 0.05% level of significance.

The study found product, process, and market innovations to be positively and strongly related to the growth of SMs in Awka, Anambra State, and concluded that Management innovation is a catalyst for SMEs growth in Awka Anambra State. The study recommended among others that SME operators should consistently and persistently introduce novel products to penetrate new and existing markets to  with stand the storm of sturdy business competition that is prevalent in that sector of the economy.