ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING CAPABILITIES AND PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING SME’S IN PORT HARCOURT

Abstract

This study investigated entrepreneurial marketing capabilities and performance of manufacturing SME’S in Port. Harcourt The population for this study is 337 registered manufacturing small and medium enterprise in port Harcourt. The study adopted the simple random sampling technique to select one (1) respondent per firm and generated 337 respondents. A 5-point likert-scaled questionnaire was administered to respondents composed of SME ’S managers, of which 296 copies of the questionnaire were returned, realizing 87.8 percent response rate. The analysis was made up of descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS version 22 providing aid. The inferential statistics absorbed three parametric inferential tests- Pearson’s Product Moment Coefficient (PPMC), One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Simple Regression Analysis. It was found that the dimensions of entrepreneurial marketing capabilities (innovativeness and competitive aggressiveness) studied have moderate, positive and significant influence on performance at 0.05 significant level. The study therefore, concludes that, entrepreneurial marketing capabilities positively and significantly Influences performance of SME'S arid recommends that management and individuals in SME’S measures to invest in opportunities that usher in innovativeness and competitive aggressiveness to improve sustainable competitive advantage in their operations in order to survive in the contemporary competitive business environment.