The Influence of Strategic Entrepreneurship on the Competitiveness of Small-Scale Businesses in South-South Nigeria

The undulating performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria in view of global market innovation and strategies has called for the need to deploy methods that work to enable them stay relevant and competitive. In the light of the above, the study examined the effect of strategic entrepreneurship on small and medium scale businesses competitiveness in the South-South of Nigeria. Three research hypotheses were formulated from the specific objectives of the study. Resource based view theory was adopted for the study. The study utilized the quantitative method that made use of survey approach. A sample of 399 SMEs was adopted with the aid of Taro Yamane sample size formula. Multi-stage sampling method was employed to select the SMEs that participated in the survey. The study made use of the structured questionnaire for data collection. Four point likert scale was used to measure the level of acceptance of the respondents ranging from strongly agree to disagree. The study made use of the Simple linear regression to test the hypotheses. The study found that entrepreneurial education, knowledge and innovation has positive significant effect on competitive advantage of SMEs’ in South-South of Nigeria. It was recommended that education through training and workshops, be provided to entrepreneurs in the South-South to afford them the opportunity to be knowledgeable about how to identify opportunities and innovative through orientation, on how to convert opportunities to new products. This will make them compete favourably with other firms and remain relevant.