Business Managers' Rating of Operational Financial Strategies for Success of Small and Medium Enterprises in Enugu State

Abstract

This research study sets out to determine business managers' ratings of operational financial strategies for success of SMEs in Enugu State. One research question guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. Population of the study was all the managers of the 911 registered SMEs in Enugu State. 220 business managers were sampled using proportionate stratified random sampling technique. This comprised 196 managers of small enterprises and 24 managers of medium enterprises. Instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled ‘Managers' Ratings of Operational Financial Strategies for Success of Enterprises Questionnaire (MROFSSEQ)' validated by three experts. A reliability coefficient of 0.89 was established using test-retest method and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to obtain the value. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze data relating to research questions while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings revealed that operational financial strategies were highly relevant to the success of SMEs in Enugu State. Also gender and years of experience did not influence the opinions of the SME managers regarding the relevance of operational financial strategies for success of their enterprises.