Browsing by Author "Le Roux, I."

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Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Small and Medium Enterprise Performance in Emerging Economies
(Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2014) Le Roux, I.; Bengesi, K. M. K.
The removal of trade barriers has encouraged the entry of new competitors into formerly protected markets. This situation creates pressure on many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies such as Tenzania. Using a survey method and cross-sectional research design, the research examines three dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), namely: pro-activeness, risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness. (Jnderstanding their relationships and variance may help to improve our ability to explain SME performance. The findings contribute to how SME pedormance in emerging economies be enhanced to enable SMEs to face challenges posed by competitor influx in the context of an open market economy. The findings indicate a strong relationship between EO dimensions and performance, with risk- taking and competitive aggressiveness moderating the effect of pro-activeness. The proposed model could predict 72Vo of the variance explained in SME performance.
The influence of networking capability in small and medium enterprise performance
(Center for Promoting Ideas, 2014) Bengesi, K. M. K.; Le Roux, I.
This study examined the influence of four dimensions of networking capability (NWC) namely internal communication, partner knowledge, relational skills, and coordination in SMEs performance. To attain this objective a cross sectional research design was used in which 291 SME owners / managers in three sectors of economy namely manufacturing, service and retail in Tanzania were interviewed. The results confirm positive influence of three dimensions of NWC (i.e. internal communication, partner knowledge and relational skills) in SME performance and negative influence of coordination in SME performance. These findings suggest that firms’ emphasis on relational skills set a context to identify appropriate partner with relevant resources and capabilities to complement resource needs of firms that subsequently build competitive advantage. Following debate on whether networking is beneficial or not this study ascertain that the benefits of networking are inclined on the ability of a firm to acquire and apply dimensions of NWC.
Strategic entrepreneurial response of small and medium enterprises in developing economies
(Canadian Centre for Science and Education, 2014) Bengesi, K. M. K.; Le Roux, I.
This study examined the influence of three dimensions of strategic entrepreneurial response, namely market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and networking capability on SME performance necessary for firms to face challenges in competitive environments. The research confirmed positive influence of the three dimensions of strategic entrepreneurial response (SER), namely market orientation (MO), entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and network capabilities (NWC) on small and medium enterprise (SME) performance. The dimensions of SER explained a significant amount of variance (50.1%) in SME performance, with the largest amount (27.1%) of variance accounted for by MO. The findings suggest that emphasis on MO is a firm’s strategic choice to generate strategic information which forms a seedbed of opportunities from which entrepreneurial oriented firms identify and proactively seize to build competitive advantage. Contrary to previous studies, which emphasized that opportunity seeking behaviour is a domain of EO, this paper argues that MO is pivotal construct to the SER. This paper views EO as more driven by an advantage seeking behaviour rather than opportunity seeking behaviour as conceptualised before. With these findings, this paper suggest that sustained market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation cultures build opportunity seeking and advantage seeking behaviours, respectively crucial to create and sustain SME performance.