Mediating role of access to finance and moderating role of business environment on the relationship between strategic orientation attributes and performance of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria

The main objective of this study is to examine the mediating role of access on finance and the moderating role of business environment on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO), learning orientation (LO), technology orientation (TO) and performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. Data were collected from the SMEs operating in North Western Nigeria using a cross-sectional study design. The study adopted cluster sampling and randomly selected 522 respondents and questionnaires were distributed and collected through the personally-administered method. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the study hypotheses. This study finds that EO, LO and TO are important strategic orientations for the performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The findings reveal that SMEs’ access to finance depends on the degree of MO, LO and TO of the enterprise. It is expected EO would improve a firm’s accessibility to finance, but the finding of this study does not support this expectation as EO negatively influences firm performance. Interestingly, the results further show that with better access to finance, MO, LO and TO influence firm performance. Furthermore, business environment does not have a significant moderating influence on the paths between EO and performance, MO and performance, LO and performance and TO and performance. The results of this study provide important insights to owner-managers, policy-makers and researchers to further understand the effects of strategic orientations on firm performance. Owner-mangers of SMEs should emphasize on EO, MO, LO and TO; however, it is important to note that over-concentration on EO may result in lower accessibility of financing. Policy-makers should encourage SMEs to improve their cash flow, profit and retained earnings which may encourage financial institutions to provide them with financial services. Lastly, limitations of the current study and avenues for future research are discusse

The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, learning orientation, technology orientation and SMEs performance in Nigeria

In spite of the recognized significant contribution of SMEs to the nations’ economy, Nigerian SMEs performance is below expectation. Their low contribution to GDP and employment shows this gross under performance.Moreover, the SMEs high failure rate is another indication of their low performance.Hence, past literature's suggest that strategic orientations have a significant effect on firm performance, even though most of the studies concentrated on investigating one or two strategic orientation at a time.Research on the combination of these important strategic orientations in a single model is scarce, and there is paucity about the best orientations to be adopted.The objective of this study is to investigate the positive influence of entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, learning orientation, and technology orientation on SMEs performance in Nigeria.A cross-sectional study of questionnaire survey research design was conducted and data was generated from 362 usable questionnaires of owner-managers of small firms.To conduct the analysis, the study applies PLS-SEM to understand the positive effects of entrepreneurial, market, learning and technology orientations on the performance of SMEs in Nigeria.The results indicate that entrepreneurial, learning and technology orientations have positive affect on performance, however, in this context, the result do not support the view that market orientation positively affect firm performance.Essentially, the findings suggest that SMEs need to combine their entrepreneurial ability with learning from their environment and adopting new technology trends in the markets

Strategic Orientation, Access to Finance, Business Environment and SMEs Performance in Nigeria: Data Screening and Preliminary Analysis

The aim of this paper is to explore the collected data concerning on the influence of strategic orientation, access to finance, business environment and SMEs performance in Nigerian. Samples of five hundred and twenty-two were selected from the total population of 3,671 SMEs operating in northwestern. Therefore, this study employed stratified sampling technique to divide the three states into three strata. Additionally, data screening and cleaning were performed with the intention to satisfy the assumptions of multivariate analysis. Thus, the study conducted missing data analysis, outliers, normality and multicollinearity assessments. Likewise, the entire analysis was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) v18. Conclusively, the data found to fulfill the requirements for multivariate analysis. Keywords: SMEs Performance, Nigeria, Access to Finance, Data Screening, Strategic Orientatio

Determinants of SMEs performance in Nigeria: A pilot study

The objective of this research work is to examine and explore quantitatively a small sample of data on the determinants of SMEs Performance in Nigeria. The study adopted survey approach to collect 46 usable questionnaires from SMEs in Kano as one of the strata based on stratified random sampling method. The model produces six factors that are used as a determinant of SMEs performance in Nigeria. Therefore, validity and reliability of the instruments were examined through panel of expert and also the small sample of the data was analyzed using SPSS v18.Results confirmed the validity and reliability of the instruments adapted in the pilot study

Mediating role of access to finance on the relationship between strategic orientation attributes and SMEs performance in Nigeria

In spite of recognized significant contribution of SMEs to nations’ economy, Nigerian SMEs performance is below expectation.This is because SMEs in Nigeria today faces severe limitations in financing, management skill, marketing, modern technology and technical expertise. The objective of this study is to investigate the mediating role of access to finance on the positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO), learning orientation (LO), technology orientation (TO) and SMEs performance in Nigeria.A sample size of 522 SMEs operating in Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states of Nigeria were selected using stratified simple random sampling techniques.Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyze the data.Hence, the data analysis was conducted using SmartPLS 3.0. The results of path analysis indicate that access to finance mediates the positive relationship between MO, LO, TO and the performance of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria.This is an important additional explanation for the existence of the relationship between these strategic orientations and firm performance.The results further suggest that SMEs need to use their strategic activities to improve their ability to obtain finances in order to perform well.Finally, recommendations for further research are also discussed

Influence of strategic orientation on SMEs access to finance in Nigeria

The paper examined the influence of EO, MO, LO, and TO on SMEs financial capital accessibility in Nigeria.The purpose of this paper is to establish the role of firm strategic orientation in helping SMEs improve their financial access. A total of 362 questionnaires from SMEs in North Western Nigeria were used in this study.Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the study hypotheses.Using SmartPLS 3.0 the findings indicates that strategic orientations are important drivers of firm success to finance.The result further suggests that SMEs who configured and utilized their strategic activities are more likely to get more cash flow, profit and retained earnings and will obtain a loan from external sources.To get an adequate financial capital SMEs need to improve their marketing activities, learn more from their experience and environment and lastly produce product with high technological improvement.At the same time they should avoid too much emphasis on taking risky business decision and investments

Mediating role of access to finance on the relationship between strategic orientation and SMES performance in Nigeria: A proposed research framework

Even thoughthe importance of SMEs ininfluencing economic growthis acknowledged, Nigerian enterprises performance is not as anticipated. The low contribution to GDP and employment shows a gross underperformance. Besides, SMEs high failure rate is another indication of low performance. However, inadequate access to finance occupies a central position for the low performance of SMEs in Nigeria. Similarly, previous studies suggest that strategic orientations have a significant influence on firm performance, even though the role of access to finance in understanding the mechanism through which these variables are related is neglected.Hence, this paper aims to undertake a review of the related literature to develop and propose a research conceptual framework for SMEs performance.Based on the combination of four strategic orientations and the role of access to finance, this study proposes that access to finance may further explain the relationship.It highlights the importance of the research on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, learning orientation, technology orientation, access to finance and SMEs performance in Nigeria

Mediating role of access to finance on the relationship between strategic orientation attributes and small medium enterprises (SMEs) performance in Nigeria

In spite of recognized significant contribution of SMEs to the nation economy, Nigerian SMEs performance is below expectation.This is because SMEs in Nigeria today faces severe limitations in financing, management skill, marketing, modem technology and technical expertise. However, access to finance occupies a central position for the low performance of the SMEs in Nigeria. The objective of this study is to investigate the mediating role of access to finance on the positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO), learning orientation (LO), technology orientation (TO) and the performance of SMEs in Nigeria To achieve this objective a cross sectional survey was conducted.A sample size of 552 SMEs operating in Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states of Nigeria were selected using stratified simple random sampling technique. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyze the data.This study finds that EO, LO and TO are important strategic orientations for the performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The findings reveal that SMEs' access to finance depends on the degree of MO, LO and TO of the enterprise.It is expected EO would improve a firm's accessibility to finance, but the finding of this study does not support this expectation as EO negatively influences firm performance. Interestingly, the results further show that with better access to finance, MO, LO and TO influence firm performance.The results of path analysis indicate that access to finance mediates the positive relationship between MO, LO, TO and the performance of SMEs in Nigeria. This is important additional explanation for the existence of the relationship between these strategic orientations and firm performance. The results further suggest that SMEs need to use their strategic activities to improve their ability to obtain finances in order to perform well.Finally, recommendations for further research are also discussed

Radiological and Toxicity Impact of Uranium (U-238) in Ground Water to Different Age Groups at Wurno, Sokoto State, Nigeria

One of the primary goals of the World Health Organization (WHO) is for every society to have an adequate supply of safe drinking water. This work aimed to assess the radiological and toxicity impact of ground water of Wurno Local Government Area. Uranium activity concentration from 45 water samples collected from different locations in the study area were determined using HpGe   detector, the result from the analysis was used to evaluate the annual effective dose due to ingestion of groundwater from the study area by the inhabitants.  Radiological and chemical toxicity risks were also calculated. High level activity was reported in Diggim while low activity level was reported in Nassarawa-Daje. The annual effective doses for adult, children and infants were estimated to be from 0.008 mSvy-1 to 0.32 mSvy-1. The highest risk cancer mortality value was found at Diggim with a value of 4.34 × 10-4 while the lowest value was observed at Nassarawa Daje with a value of 1.17 × 10-5. Chemical toxicity value ranged from 0.59 – 21. 79 µg.kg-1.day-1 with an average dose value of 5.12 µg.kg-1.day-1. The lifetime average daily dose (LADD) values were reported to be higher at Diggim and lower at Nassarawa-Daje with the values 21.79 µg.kg-1.day-1 and 0.59 µg.kg-1.day-1 respectively compared with 0.6 µg.kg-1.day-1 WHO limit standard. Significantly, the high activity level, and chemical toxicity risk reported from this study is an indication that the area may have developed some fractures of granitic strata in the subsurface geology that contributed to the wide distribution of radiation dose