Research
Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Firm Performance
Creating a highly performing Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector is the central focus of many developing countries, but contrary to the expectations, most of SMEs in South Asia face many constraints such as policy inertia, misplaced government priorities, lack of infrastructure facilities, inappropriate technology, and lack of information and lags clearly behind their western counterparts. This situation in volatile environmental conditions has mounted much pressure on the key human agency of the entities and bottlenecked the flow of contribution to the economies. In the face of such constraints, efficacious and resilient entrepreneurs are more likely to ensure their survival amid tremendous rate of failures communal to these countries. It is therefore crucial to understand how more efficacious SME entrepreneurs perform in their operations. This paper investigates the effect of the dimensions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the performance of SME entrepreneurs. The study in a sample of 350 small scale hotel and restaurants in Sri Lankan SME sector proved good fit of the proposed structural equation model to the observed data confirming that more efficacious entrepreneurs are highly performing and bouncing back in constrained environments.
Combined Effect of Competitive and Manufacturing Strategies on Export Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia
It is generally accepted that business strategy has a significant influence on the success of many organizations. However, it has been rarely tested in the context of export operation and performance on SMEs. Thus, the objective of this research is to determine the combined effect of competitive strategy and manufacturing strategy on export performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. Quantitative survey method was employed and data were collected from 201 exporting SMEs through structured questionnaires. The results from regression analysis found both competitive strategy and manufacturing strategy have significant and positive relationships to export performance. Manufacturing strategy was also found to be a more significant contributor to export performance of SMEs. These findings emphasize the importance of adopting both the competitive strategy and manufacturing strategy among the owner/managers of SMEs to enhance their performance and be successful in the international markets.
