ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND SMES MORTALITY REDUCTION IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

SMEs play important role in the development of national economies because they create job opportunities, promote economic stability and development of regional economies, produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuel economic progress, promote competition and produce high-value-added products. The critical importance of this sector warrants much more attention by all the stakeholders which include government agencies, academia and multinational companies because of their vested interest. Granted the aforementioned facts, this study sought to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and SMEs mortality reduction in Rivers State. The study adopted an explanatory survey research design. The study population comprised forty (40) registered SMEs operators in the manufacturing sector in Rivers State. A total of 120 subjects made up of owners of businesses, senior managers and marketing executives in the frame of three (3) respondents from each firm were surveyed through questionnaire administration. Five research questions were posed and five hypotheses were tested.