Perceived role of marketing as a determinant of growth among micro, small and medium enterprises in Kenya: A study of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in Mavoko, Machakos, County, Kenya

Abstract

The growth of the micro sector enterprise is influenced by many factors, which include marketing and personal characteristics of the entrepreneur, as well as the organizational characteristics of the enterprise. Previous studies have laid emphasis on entrepreneurial behavour, trying to explain the entrepreneurial characteristics that make one venture into entrepreneurship. Emphasis has been on such characteristics as age, gender and education of an entrepreneur. Little attention has been made on organizational characteristics and how they could influence growth of an enterprise. There is also very little that has been done to establish how marketing practices influence growth of an enterprise. This study therefore sought to establish the determinants of growth among the micro, small and medium sector enterprises in Mavoko municipality, Machakos county, Kenya. The study had three objectives, namely; To determine the influence of marketing practices on the growth of MSMEs in Mavoko municipality’ To establish the influence of personal characteristics of the entrepreneur on the growth of MSMEs in Mavoko municipality and To determine the influence of organizational characteristics on the growth of MSMEs in Mavoko municipality, Machakos county, Kenya. Descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used with a semi structured questionnaire being the main data collection instrument. A convenient sample of 100 MSMes in the two townships was be used, in which 79 firms responded, diving a response rate of 79 %. Descriptive analysis, ANOVA, regression and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. The study found that marketing practices do influence the growth of micro medium and small sector enterprises. It was found that packaging, branding, penetration pricing, and always making products available hand significant influence on growth of the enterprises. Personal characteristics such as age and educational level of the entrepreneur were found to significantly influence the growth of an enterprise. Marital status, however, was not found to have a significant influence on growth. Organizational characteristics such as financial ability, Quality of employees and location of business were found to have positive influence on growth of enterprise, while cost of doing business had negative influence. Key words: micro sector enterprise, growth, marketing practices, Personal characteristics, Organizational characteristics