Effect of Bootstrapping Dimensions on Sales Growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in South West Nigeria

Abstract

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) have been recognized to be the economic drivers in both developed and developing nation. Despite their economic importance, SMEs have been experiencing poor performance and do not survive beyond five years of inception. SMEs in Nigeria encounter challenges in developing creative ways of acquiring resources in non-traditional ways through owner’s financing, subsidy financing, delayed payment, joint utilisation, and social capital result into persistent decline in sales growth, market share growth, productivity growth, profitability and increase in employee turnover. This study investigated the effect of Bootstrapping dimension on sales growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in South-West, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study comprised 14, 527 owner/managers of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) enterprises in Lagos and Oyo States. The study utilized stratified simple random sampling technique. A sample size of 750 owner/managers of SMEs were enumerated using Cochran’s (1977) formula. Adapted questionnaire was used and 86.4% response rate was achieved. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential (regression) analyses. The findings revealed that bootstrapping dimensions had significant effect on sales growth (Adj. R2 = 0.055; F(5, 642) = 8.542, p < 0.05). The study concluded that bootstrapping improved sales growth of SMEs in South-West, Nigeria. It was recommended that management of small and medium scale enterprises in South-West, Nigeria should pay more attention on subsidy financing, delayed payment, social capital with less attention on joint utilization in order to improve their sales growth. Keywords: Bootstrapping, Delayed Payment, Sales Growth, Small & Medium Scale Enterprises, Social Capital, Subsidy Financing