The misconception on small business survival during economic downturn

Although, SMEs have been seen as an indispensable tool for economic recovery, however many still belief that small businesses do not survive during economic downturn.“This is a common misconception that is not generally true.Solidly run small businesses actually hold their own during downturns”. As a result of this, the paper explores the small businesses survival during economic downturn.Finally, the paper highlights some measures that could assist the small businesses in surviving economic downturn

The Teaching Qualitification, Characteristics, Competence and Lecturer Performance : A Case Study at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria

Generally, teachers are considered the most important element in the education system. Even though the issue of teachers' performance in relation to the teaching qualification, characteristics and competence has remained a contested issue in Nigeria, there is still a wide gap between the demand and supply of qualified teachers in Nigeria. This has however created opportunity for the increase in the influx of unqualified lecturers in Nigeria tertiary institutions particularly in the universities. This suggests that many lecturers have no required teaching qualifications, characteristics and competence that would assist them to perform their tasks effectively. Due to this, a cross-sectional study of questionnaire survey research design was conducted in this respect. Questionnaire data on teaching qualification, characteristics and competence were generated from 131 lecturers comprising of those with teaching qualification and those without teaching qualification in University of Illorin located Kwara State of Nigeria. The questionnaires were distributed through email and, drop-off and pick procedures. Overall, the findings from the testing of the hypotheses indicate that there is a significant relationship between teaching qualifications, lecturers' characteristics and lecturers' competence with lecturers' performance. From the t-test result, the study failed to find a significant difference between those teaching qualification and those with teaching qualification. The result further shows that lecturers' characteristic is the most important factor in predicting lecturers' performance. Based on this fact, it was concluded that both lecturers' characteristics and competence are the most important factors that predict lecturers' performance. Thus, the study recommends that lecturers and policy makers, which includes university authority, to give more consideration to lecturers competence and characteristics to enhance their performance. Finally, both the theoretical and practical implications are duly presented as well as that of the limitations of the study and suggestions for future study are included in this regard

Re-investigating the effect of individual determinant, external factor and firm characteristics on small firm performance during economic downturn

There have been inconsistencies with regard to the different entrepreneurial factors that influenced firm performance, particularly in normal time. However,during economic downturn or turbulence, it is believed and expected that the three major characters (entrepreneur, environment and firm) in the economy that are actively involved in entrepreneurial activities would be badly and negatively affected. Despite this, an empirical study substantiating these arguments seems to be lacking, particularly in the small business and entrepreneurship domain.This therefore suggests that some of the major influential factors of individual determinant, external factor and firm characteristics in entrepreneurial development and small businesses should be re-investigated in line with the current situation in order to see if they remain significant during economic downturn.Based on this, a cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire survey research design, and data were generated from 182 entrepreneurs or owner-managers of small firms in both manufacturing and service industries.The questionnaires were distributed through drop-off and pick procedure of data collection.The findings indicated that the relationship between individual determinants, external factor and firm characteristics, and firm performance remain significant during economic turbulence

Project management challenges and difficulties: A case study of information system development

The successful development of Information System (IS) is not high even with enormous interest and fund committed by organizations on this new technology.It has been revealed that a combination of insufficient and unsuitable project management issues are responsible for this low rate of IS development.This paper presents the findings of the fieldwork and interview conducted on the challenges and difficulties of system development project.The study employed both personal interview and observation methods. The findings revealed that fund, infrastructures (hardware and software), manpower, management commitment, monitoring and inspection were the critical challenges and difficulties faced by organizations during their system development. Therefore, the study concludes that fund, infrastructures (hardware and software), manpower, management commitment, monitoring and inspection play crucial role for an effective system development.Our study recommends that there should be sufficient budget to procure the right system hardware and software for right requirements.Secondly, training of staff for both IS development and management should be given urgent attention

Managerial factors and management conflict in venture capital financing in Malaysia

The warm venture cooperation built between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs may still be interrupted by the management's conflicts occurred due to various managerial factors.As a result, this study investigates the management conflict in venture capital investments.A cross-sectional study of questionnaire survey research design was conducted in this respect.Questionnaire data was generated from 35 Malaysian venture capital companies located in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.The questionnaires were distributed through the mailing procedure.Overall, the findings indicate that the managerial factors significantly influence the management conflict.Further results show that managerial factors which consist of Deal Origination and Screening (DOS), Evaluating Venture Proposal (EVP), Contracting and Deal Structuring (CDS), Monitoring and Post Investment Activities (MPI) and Risk Management (RM) significantly influence the formation of management conflict in venture cooperation. Based on the findings, it is inferred that managerial factors does influence the occurrence of management conflict in venture cooperation.Thus, the study recommends that Malaysian venture capitalists give consideration to the managerial factors in reducing or curbing the possibility of conflict to occur

The moderating effect of a nominee director on management conflict in venture capital financing

The high level of investment risk combined with the absence of collateral have made many venture capitalists to perform thorough evaluation process, establishing full information disclosure and implementing strict monitoring activities during the post investment stage. However, the absence of representatives in the investee firms’ boards gives great impact on all the venture capitalists’ endeavours to protect their investment interests, exposing them to the possibility of having management conflict and agency problem with their investee firms. As a result, this study investigates the moderating effect of nominee director on the relationship between venture capitalists and their investee firms in venture cooperation. Due to this, a cross-sectional study of questionnaire survey research design was conducted. The questionnaires were distributed through mailing procedure and data was generated from 35 Malaysian venture capital companies. Overall, the findings indicate that the nominee director insignificantly influence the relationship between venture capitalists and their investees in venture cooperation. Further results show that controlling mechanism through the placement of a nominee director failed to moderate the influence of Deal Origination and Screening (DOS), Evaluating Venture Proposal (EVP), Contracting and Deal Structuring (CDS), Monitoring and Post Investment Activities (MPI) and Risk Management (RM) on the management conflict. Based on the findings, it is inferred that venture relationship between venture capitalists and their investee firms are not influenced by the nominee director placed in the investee firms’ board. Thus, the study recommends that Malaysian venture capitalists, which include policy makers, to give more consideration to the controlling factor in order to reduce the possibility of conflict to occur in venture cooperation

The indirect effects of location and culture on small firm performance: Location and cultural influence

The global interest on entrepreneurship and small business development as a means of economic sustainability, growth, transformation and wealth creation has been well received by researchers as well as by the government of many countries of the world.This is the more reason every successive government continues to emphasise on the need for self-employment via entrepreneurship and small business development.This book examines entrepreneurship and small firm performance from the theoretical, empirical and practical perspectives.It focuses on the influence of location and culture on the entrepreneurial development and small firm performance.The book demonstrates that achieving a fruitful result in entrepreneurial and business endeavours will depend on location and cultural factors.It stresses on the need to always give serious consideration to location and culture when searching for better and positive entrepreneurship development and small business performance.Finally, it is hoped that the book will meet the academic and practical needs of both the undergraduate and postgraduate students, entrepreneurs, owner-managers, professionals as well as the policy makers in government

Exploring the ineffectiveness of government policy on entrepreneurship in Nigeria

Entrepreneurship plays a major role in economic development, but some government policies have remained ineffective despite their attempt to encourage entrepreneurship.Calling for a shift in paradigm, this article examines the ineffectiveness of government policy on entrepreneurship with particular reference to Nigeria.It identifies policy implementation as a major causal variable explaining failure

The Moderating Effect of Location and Culture on the Relationship Between the Individual Determinants, External Factors and Firm Characteristics on Firm Performance

The inconsistent result between the entrepreneurial factors and firm performance has made the researcher to propose a contingency model in which the effects of individual determinants, external factors and firm characteristics on firm performance are moderated by location and culture. The study focuses on the effect of location and culture on the relationship between entrepreneurial factors such as individual determinant, external factor and firm characteristics with firm performance. A cross-sectional study of questionnaire survey research design is conducted in this respect. Questionnaire data is generated from 182 entrepreneurs and owner-managers of small firms of both manufacturing and service industries where questionnaire are distributed through drop-off and pick procedure. The findings from the testing of the hypotheses indicate that there is a positive significant relationship between individual determinant, external factors and firm characteristics with firm performance. Location strongly moderates the relationship between external factor and firm characteristics with firm performance but location does not moderate the relationship between individual determinant and firm performance. Culture including cultural values, cultural beliefs and cultural practices do not moderate the relationship between individual determinant, external factor and firm characteristics with firm performance. On this note, the study recommends for the urgent need to be considered by the entrepreneurs, owner-managers and government to give serious considerations to the factor of location if they want to achieve the better firm’s performance and economy goals of the country. For the case of Nigeria, the issue of culture should be treated with caution. Finally, both the theoretical and practical implications are dully presented as well as that of the limitations of the study and suggestions for future study are included in this regard

The joint moderating effect of location and culture on small firm performance

Due to the inconsistent findings on the influence of entrepreneurial factors on the firm performance, the author therefore proposed a contingency model in which the effect of individual determinants, external factor and firm characteristics are to be moderated by location and culture.As a result of this, a cross - sectional study of questionnaire survey approach was conducted and data was generated from 182 entrepreneurs/owner-managers of small firms in both manufacturing and service industries in Lagos through self-administered questionnaire procedure. The findings indicate that location and culture is insignificant in jointly moderating the relationship between individual determinants, external factors and firm characteristics, and firm performance