Failure Rate of Small and Medium Enterprises: Can Trade Fair reverse the trend?

Abstract

The study assessed trade fair as a panacea for reversing failure rate of SMES. The study was guided by four research questions and a null hypothesis tested. A sample of 235 respondents was used for the study from a population of 1117 registered business owners. A proportionate sampling technique was employed to arrive at the sample. A descriptive survey was used. The reliability of the instrument was 0.77 using Cronbach alpha formula. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test for the hypothesis. From the result, it was discovered that trade fair influenced profit, employment, creativity and advertisement of business owners positively to high extent. The two groups of SME owners used for the study did not show any significant difference in their opinion on influence of trade fair in reversing failure rate of SMEs. Consequently, it was recommended that business owners should form cooperative society that will reduce their cost in participating in trade fair and also increase their profits. Business owners should embrace trade fair in order to expand their businesses and able to establish other branches within the State. Since trade fair generates more employment opportunities, government and non-governmental organizations should encourage trade fair as a means of generating more job opportunities. The organizers of trade fair should ensure a high level of creativity in order to become a point of reference for SMEs’ owners.

Keywords: Trade fair; Profit margin, Employment Generation; Creativity; Advertisement.