Change Management and Capacity Utilisation: A Critical Requirement for Business Sustainability among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria

Abstract

This study focuses on the practice of change management and operational resilience among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The research adopts an empirical approach, relying on secondary data sourced from the 2014 enterprise survey of the World Bank and applied the logit regression analysis. Results showed that product development and experience are statistically significant and positively related to capacity utilisation. While political instability, spoilage (loss of product in transit, due to theft, breakage or spoilage) and financial constraint are negatively related to capacity utilisation. This implies that the increased level of product development is capable of increasing capacity utilisation by approximately 0.4, 0.5 and 0.7 units, respectively. In the same way, the manager's experience increase capacity utilisation by 0.44units, which conforms to the ‘a priori’ expectation, for managers to be resilient, the experience is highly required. Similarly, the results show that political instability is statistically significant and has negative (0.61, 0.69, 0.50, 0.80 and 0.65) impacts on capacity utilisation. Based on findings, the study recommends the need for further research to consider other approaches such as longitudinal research, comparative research to unearth learning about the factors that affect change management practice. It is also suggested for further research to consider critical change management effects such as resistance and ethical balance in practice, especially in developing economy like Nigeria