Growth Strategies Adopted by Small and Medium Business Enterprises in Oyugis Town, Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

This research project was a study on the various growth strategies adopted by Small and Medium enterprises with specific focus to Oyugis town. Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) make important contributions to economic and social development of any country. Consequently, the growth of the SME sector directly affects the performance of the nation. In all economies they constitute the vast majority of business establishments and they are usually responsible for the majority of employment opportunities created which account for one third to two thirds of the turnover of the private sector. The ability of SMEs to create, access and commercialize new knowledge on global markets is fundamental to their sustained competitiveness.The study used a descriptive research design. The study targeted SMEs operating in Oyugis Town, Homa bay County. The study selected a sample of 40 through simple random sampling technique. The study collected both primary data and secondary data where a questionnaire was used as source of data. The researcher administered the questionnaires individually to all respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data. This included percentages, frequencies, bar graphs, pie charts and tabulations while qualitative analysis was done in prose. The study concluded that most of the business had embraced growth strategies such as marketing, pricing, market penetration among other strategies and such businesses have additional advantages such as increase in the total sales volume annum, increase in assets and remain competitive in the market. Likewise, the study concluded that that market penetration strategy is one of the growth strategies mostly adopted with most of organizations focusing on various aspects of market penetration. However, SMEs in the area under study are faced with various challenges such as stiff competition from large companies, changes in information technology and lack appropriate structures for dealing with SMEs in financial support, poor infrastructure, insecurity and the general perception that they offer lower quality than bigger companies‟ hence dwindling SMEs potential even after the adoption of the growth strategies.