The Impact of Business Development Skills on Business Growth
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the impact of business intelligence skill on the growth of business
- To ascertain the impact of sale skill on the growth of business
- To find out the impact of management skill on the growth on business
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Business Growth in Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Ever since Penrose (1959) pioneering work firm growth has been one of the central themes in the strategic management research. Prior research has extensively explored different growth strategies companies can pursue as well as their relative advantages. Companies can diversify their business to redeploy their valuable resources or stick to their main market to leverage their core competence (Prahalad and Hamel 1990). Firms can either enter new markets organically through internal development or acquire a firm that is already established depending on the firm’s set of resources and capabilities (Lieberman and Lee 2009). Most of these theories have studied firm growth through an organization-level perspective with a focus on large multi-divisional companies. In the context of entrepreneurial and small businesses, however, the growth strategy is an individual-level decision made by the founder in which personal preferences play a significant role. Related to this, founders could show quite different attitudes when considering growing their business (Wiklund , Davidsson and Delmar 2003). Some entrepreneurs may not be willing to grow their business because they expect less control and more problems with a bigger company, while others may keep expanding the same company Despite the different way small businesses are organized in comparison to large corporations, extant studies have paid little attention to growth strategies available for entrepreneurs, and instead, treated business growth as a unitary concept that only takes place at the company level (Sarasvathy et al. 2013). A lack of theoretical and empirical knowledge on when and how entrepreneurs form business groups (Iacobucci and Rosa 2010) is quite surprising considering that owning more than one business is quite common in the small business sector. To address this 6 gap in the literature, this paper provides a theoretical framework at the founder-level to elaborate on different organizational growth modes for young ventures. This framework can be used to explain under which conditions an entrepreneur might prefer to grow its business as a group of separate companies rather than a single organizational entity. The focus of this study is mostly on business groups that are not diversified to isolate the effect of organizational structure (business group) on growth. In principle, however, our suggested framework can be extended to companies engaged in related diversification. Indeed, entrepreneurs that diversify their activities face the same strategic decision explained here –i.e., business group growth vs. company growth.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried to examine the impact of business development skills on business growth. Selected businesses in Ibadan forms the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
TEST OF HYPOTHESIS
H0: there is no impact of business intelligence skill on the growth of business
H1: there is impact of business intelligence skill on the growth of business
H0: there is no impact of management skill on the growth on business
H2: there is impact of management skill on the growth on business
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the impact of business development skills on business growth. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the the impact of business development skills on business growth
Summary
This study was on the impact of business development skills on business growth. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the impact of business intelligence skill on the growth of business, to ascertain the impact of sale skill on the growth of business and to find out the impact of management skill on the growth on business. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected businesses in Ibadan. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
According to popular literature there is a need for the development of basic business skills in Nigeria, particularly in business. Although no previous study has been conducted on the individual basic business skills which need development in Nigeria, this study was conducted with the main intent to explore the latter phenomena. From the research conducted it was found that certain basic business skills are more important to possess than others in sampled Nigeria Business, in order to perform relevant tasks. For example, legal skills and research skills were regarded as unnecessary for employees to have while only legal skills (to some extent) were regarded as unnecessary for management to possess. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, both management and employees were perceived, by respondents, to have properly developed basic business skills. When focus was shifted to the basic business skills which should be developed in sampled Nigeria business, to assist in the attainment of key objectives, the results showed that an improvement in management’s mathematical skills, and research skills and writing skills, and employees’ literacy skills and time management skills had a statistically significant positive influence thereon
Recommendation
The desire to grow a business is not a goal for all entrepreneurs and therefore those who do view their future in this way must be afforded tailored support to ensure that they have the best prospects of succeeding.
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