A Critical Assessment of the Influence of Strategic Planning on the Success of SMES in Enugu State
A Critical Assessment of the Influence of Strategic Planning on the Success of SMES in Enugu State
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) play an important economic role in Nigeria, and Nigerian economic planners have acknowledged their relevance in economic growth (Berry 1998). Because micro and small size firms are accelerators for socioeconomic growth, the government has prioritized SMEs as a means of fostering larger engagement in the private sector. SMEs are a means for achieving national microeconomic goals such as job creation at a low investment cost and apprenticeship training expansion (Balasundaram 2009).
In Nigeria, SMEs employ 64 percent of the labor force and generate more than 18 percent of the country's GDP (GDP). This sector accounts for more than 85 percent of all...
