The Effect of Entrepreneurial Marketing on the Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Abstract

Entrepreneurial marketing is a non-conventional marketing technique that provides business owners a method to successfully operate their business with limited resources. The main objective of this study is to therefore investigate whether entrepreneurial marketing can affect the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Ethiopia, specifically in the city of Jimma. A purposive sampling technique was employed to gather data from 100 business owners that have been on market for more than 7 years. The data were analysed using Minitab and SPSS statistical software packages. The study showed that some elements of entrepreneurial marketing indeed affect the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. Innovation orientation and customer intensity have a positive relationship with the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises and are statistically significant, while risk-taking orientation has a negative relationship and is statistically significant. It is therefore recommended that business owners apply the concept of entrepreneurial marketing to leverage their limited resources to cope with competitors and maintain the sustainability of their business.