INTRODUCTION

At the centre of every economy, a subtle concept that attracts the attention of all tiers of
government, desire of citizens and attention of scholars is Entrepreneurship, this is borne out
of the fact that evidence point to the positive influx of entrepreneurship in an economy which
manifest through reduction of unemployment via job creation and promotes output level
across sectors in an economy thus stimulating Growth and fostering national Development as
asserted by Zubair (2014) and Baig, (2007).

Small scale businesses which is the principal catalyst of entrepreneurship constitutes the real
fabric of any nation’s economy.

The small and medium enterprises (SME) division has a significant role in the economic
development of most countries of the world and notably vital for-profit generation to owners
(Ebiringa, 2011). It is, therefore, a known fact that SMEs contribute meaningfully to
achieving general economy development. This contribution can bring about a surge of GDP,
improvement in the way of living, and reduce the rate of unemployment (Perks and Smith,
2006). As a result of these facts, any economy should maximize the benefit provided by such
venture.

However, Nigeria has not been able to identify the full importance of this sector despite the
country position as the world leader in entrepreneurial spirit (Global Entrepreneurial Monitor,
2012). Entrepreneurship skill has significant influence on the capacity of firm performance
particularly in the third world countries like Nigeria. More so for small and medium
businesses operating under globalization and internationalization and locally. Globalization
results in expanded markets, characterized by increased number of competition from
producer or service providers, and reducing market size. This global competition, increasing
interdependence, rapid technology development, unstable environments, and many other
factors exerts greater pressure on small and medium enterprises accustomed to operating
under a domestic market set-up. To overcome the challenges associated with globalization,
literatures have recommended that enterprises must adopt entrepreneurship skills as a
solution to the challenges created by globalization. It is on this basis that this study sought to
determine the influence of entrepreneurship on the survival of small and medium enterprises
in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the extent to which entrepreneurial skills enhances
and helps SMEs growth. This study aims to examine the influence of entrepreneurial skills
for achieving a successful business and identified the most valuable skills that can contribute
to business growth.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTERPRENEURSHIP SKILLS AND SMALL SCALE

BUSINESS SUCCESS

Entrepreneurship is the organization, direction and control of business ventures, it is a

processs with all the factors of production and managing them productively to produce a
product or service. According to yetisen (2015) it is the art which involves recognizing a
business opportunity, mobilizing resources and persisting to exploit that opportunity.
Entrepreneurship is about the action, the effort, the skill, the expertise, the know –how of an
entrepreneur, it is the assumption of risk and responsibility in designing and implementing a
business strategy or starting a business.

According to Nwosu and Ohia (2014), entrepreneurship skills is that practical skill which
equips business individual and creates in the person the mindset to undertake the risk of
venturing into new business by applying the knowledge and skill acquired. This means the
entrepreneurship skills help to provide business owners with the knowledge and skills.

Entrepreneurship skills create the willingness and ability in a business person to seek out
investment opportunities in the society and be able to run an enterprise successfully based on
the identifiable opportunities (Fashua, 2016). There are various skills needed by
entrepreneurs to succeed in their businesses, but the focus of this study is on technical,
managerial and innovative skills.

Technicall skills are those skills necessary to produce the business products or services.

Managerial skills includes the planning, organizing, directing and controlling skills of an
entrepreneur.

Innovative skills refer to the talent of exploiting new ideas for the purpose of gaining social
or economic value.
Small scale business success is running a profitable small scale firm that conducts business
with honesty and integrity, makes meaningful contribution to the communities it serves and
nurtures high quality, balanced lives for its employees(Enwegbara 2017). Successful
businesses earn a substantial return on investment for the shareholders who risked their
capital in the venture. The founders of the business, who are generally also shareholders, are
able to create wealth for their families and security for their future as well as enjoy a more
affluent lifestyle. To succeed in business today , entrepreneurs need to be flexible and have
good technical, managerial and innovative skills in order to ensure the success of their
business.

Null Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis are formulated by the researcher to guide this study

1.there is no significant relationship between technical skill and product quality of small
scale business in Port Harcourt.

2. there is no significant relationship between managerial skill and proactiveness of small

scale business in Port Harcourt

3.there is no significant relationship between innovative skill and input optimization of small
scale business in Port Harcourt.

Conceptual Framework

This study develops a conceptual framework before analyzing the effect of entrepreneurial
skills on the growth of SMEs, the variables named represent enterpreneurship skills influence
on SMEs growth.

Source: entrepreneurship skills conceptualized by Wendell (1994) cited in ( Nwachukwu,

2002). While Small Scal Business measures was conceptualized by (French, 19918).
The above framework shows the variables of entrepreneurship skills and small scale business
success. The independent variables as shown in the framework is entrepreneurship skills, and
its dimensions are technical skills, managerial skill and innovative skill. While the dependent
variable is small scale business success and its measures include : product quality, pro-
activeness and input optimization. The researcher’s aim in this study is to ascertain the extent
of relationship between the dimension of the independent variable and the measure of the
dependent variable with focus on small scale business in Port Harcourt.

Literature Review

Entrepreneurial Skill: There is sufficient evidence in the literature which indicates that
entrepreneurial skill may impact on survival. Countries, particularly developing countries of
the world, have accepted the importance of entrepreneurship in fostering the development
and management of industry. However, Lumkin and Dess (2014); Covin and Lumpkin
(2011); Sandra (2011) defined entrepreneurship as a visualizer and actualize. Entrepreneurial
orientation (EQ) is define as a key utilized by top executives management in the course of
making plans with the hopes of doing something new and taking advantage of opportunities
to edged competitors (Lechner& Christian, 2014). The researcher define entrepreneurial
orientation as the coordination and evaluation of business opportunities that abound in a
given business environment through the application of EQ dimensions. Clarifying the
entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it to performance Casillas and Moreno
(2010) argued that the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation comprises of autonomy,
competitive aggressiveness, innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking. However, the
study will utilized the EQ construct such as proactiveness, innovativeness and risk taking to
drive performance.

Proactiveness: Relatively, a stable tendency of an individual to take action in order to

influence the environment for a change is known as proactivity. Proactiveness is the
propensity to get ahead and act on future prospect and needs rather than responding later
when the incident must have been unfolded (Aigboje, 2018). A proactive organization is that
organization that adopts an opportunity seeking vision (Miller &Frensen, 2014).
Proactiveness remains an integral ingredient of entrepreneurship which highlights the
anticipation by seeking new opportunities in support of present and future demand which
allows an organization to stay ahead of competition (Mahmood, 2014). Securing and
protecting employee effectiveness demands a forward looking perspective and actions that
reflect proactive behaviour in the organization (Covin&Slevin, 2013). In the effort to
steadfast the competition in the global market organization may also be strategically
proactive by introduce new products and services to tap market opportunities and such
behaviors also constitute to enhance employee effectiveness (Abdul, 2018).

Innovativeness: Innovativeness is the propensity to pursue sported opportunities associated

with creativity and testing (Aigboje, 2018). Moerover, Nick and Skillicorn (2014) define
innovation as turning an idea into a solution that adds value from a customer’s perspective.
Also, David (2014) defines innovation as the application of ideas that are novel and useful.
The author further stressed that creativity is the ability to generate novel and useful ideas as it
is the seed of innovation unless it’s applied and scaled it’s still just an idea (David, 2014).
Some innovations are built on current talents to tract incremental developments; while more
drastic innovative ideas need brand-new skills which will render the old talents obsolete
(Kraus, 2013). The Kraus argued that innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking positively
relate to survival. Brigham and Zachary (2014) argued that a firm or organization is
entrepreneurially inclined if it is an organization that involve its business activities on product
market innovation, as well undertakes somewhat ventures that have the likelihood of future
uncertainty. Those firms that are fruitful in pursuing innovative ideas tend to enjoy high level
of business stability and performance than those that do not (Busatlic, 2015). Additionally,
Busatlic (2015) posited that innovation referred to the propensity to initiate and pursue new
ideas, novelty, carrying out tests and creating procedures that might produce new products,
services, or technological processes or practices that explore beyond the current borders.
Kraus (2013) argued that innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking are dimensions of
entrepreneurial orientation that encourage employee effectiveness. In line with this claim,
entrepreneurship literature provides adequate evidence that innovation is the widely-
examined dimension of entrepreneurial orientation.

Risk-Taking: Risk-taking involves the readiness to go after opportunities that have a

considerable probability of creating losses or significant performance (Aigboje, 2018). Stiff
competition in the market indicates that every organization is required to engage in risky
endeavour to capitalize the available opportunities in the environment. In order to fast-tract
this, organization required to implement an organizational culture that favour employee
effectiveness driven by entrepreneurial orientation (Prabin, 2016). Entrepreneurial research
highlights that entrepreneurs are generally risk seekers or at least less risk averse than others.
According to Lumpkin and Dess (2014), the degree to which each individual differs in their
willingness to take risk constitute the entrepreneurial orientation element of risk taking. This
is associated with the risk of revenue or risk of other monetary involvement of the company
(Nsubili, 2017). The scholar further reiterated that the concept is a connotation of everything
that incorporate enormous act of, for instance borrowing money that might face future
uncertainty. However, Cohen (2013) stressed that risk taking refers to the propensity to carry
out brave business activities rather than carefully planned actions. The risk here concerned
the executive who has the authority to direct the flow of business activities with the assistant
of committed employees.

Theoretical Framework

This study adopts Schumpeter’s Theory of Innovation The term “entrepreneur” is derived
from a French root entreprendre, meaning, “to undertake”. The term “entrepreneur” seems to
have been introduced into economic theory by Cantilon (1755) but Say (1803) first accorded
the entrepreneur prominence. It was Schumpeter however, who really launched the field of
entrepreneurship as associating it clearly with innovation (Filion, 2007). According to
Mourdoukoutas (2009) Schumpeter treat entrepreneurship as a distinct and separate function
of a firm in revolutionizing the pattern of production through development of product,
discovery and exploitation of new market and discovery and exploitation of new source of
supply of raw materials. In Bull et al (1995) perception, Schumpeterian model of the theory
of entrepreneurship makes no attempt to deduce what the innovating entrepreneur does or
how he or she can do better, neither does it make any pretence of constituting a piece of
theoretical reasoning. Theoretical analysis only enters the discussion when Schumpeter turns
the enhancement of profits made possible by innovation, which in turn, stimulates imitation
that finally brings the flow of innovator’s profits to an end. The model shows why innovators
must search constantly for yet further novelties in flow of profits. The innovator therefore
introduces new products, introduce new production methods, open up new markets, discover
new source of supply of raw materials and come up with new organizations. Much of the
academic debate on entrepreneurship over the last quarter of a century or more has concerned
itself with entrepreneurial, behavioral and personal traits (McClelland (2001), McClelland
and Winter (2009) Fraboni and Saltstone (2010) and Gibb (2011).
Operational Conceptual Framework

Source: entrepreneurship skills conceptualized by Wendell (1994) cited in ( Nwachukwu,

2002). While Small Scale Business measures was conceptualized by (French, 19918).

The above framework shows the variables of entrepreneurship skills and small scale business
success. The independent variables as shown in the framework is entrepreneurship skills, and
its dimensions are technical skills, managerial skill and innovative skill. While the dependent
variable is small scale business success and its measures include : product quality, pro-
activeness and input optimization. The researcher’s aim in this study is to ascertain the extent
of relationship between the dimension of the independent variable and the measure of the
dependent variable with focus on small scale business in Port Harcourt.

Methodology

Research Design The study adopted descriptive survey design. A descriptive survey design
was used for this study because the study was aimed at ascertaining and establishing the
status quo, facts or pieces of information concerning the population. According to Nworgu
(2015), a survey research design is one which aims at collecting data on, and describing in a
systematic manner the characteristics, features or facts about a given population. The
researcher considered this design appropriate for this study since data were collected from
entrepreneurs with successful running registered businesses within Port Harcourt regarding
the extent the entrepreneurial skills they acquired has helped in the survival of their
businesses.

This study was carried out in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State.
This area is selected for the study because it has high concentration of small scale business
entrepreneurs.

The population for this study consisted of 455 registered small scale businesses that operate
in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.
Since the population of the study was not too large but small and manageable, the researcher
decided to use all the identified registered small scale businesses operating in Port Harcourt.

The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher
based on the review of related literature and the research which guided the study.

To ascertain the validity of the instrument, the researcher submitted the research topic,
purpose of the study, research questions, hypotheses and a draft copy of the instrument to
some experts and professionals in business management for face validation. These experts
were asked to validate the instrument in reference to the relevance, clarity of the instructions,
appropriateness of the language, item construct and freely modify as they deem fit to ensure
the validity of the instrument. These experts were selected based on the fact that they have
knowledge and experience in test construction. Based on their recommendations,
modification were made and approved by the researcher’s supervisor before producing the
final copies of the instrument.

The reliability of the instrument was established using a trial test involving 20

selected businesses sampled in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of RiversState, which

was outside the study area. The area was chosen because it has similar features to the studied
area. Data collected were analysis using Cronbach alpha to determine the reliability of each
of the five clusters of the instrument.

The researcher personally distributed copies of the questionnaire to the respondents with the
help of four research assistants who were briefed on how to administer the instrument. On
the spot completion and retrieval method was adopted to avoid loss or misplacement by some
respondents. Where on-the-spot completion and retrieval was not possible, the researcher
and research assistants re-visited the respondents at an agreed date and collected the
completed copies of the questionnaire. A period of three week was used for distribution and
collection of the questionnaire. Out of 455 copies of the questionnaire distributed to the
respondents, 451 (representing 98 percent) were filled, retrieved and used for data analysis.
Four copies of the questionnaire were misplaced by respondents which represent two percent.

Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) to
answer the research questions and standard deviation was used to determine the closeness of
the respondents’ mean ratings with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Decisions
on the questionnaire items and research questions were based on the item and clusters mean
relative to the real limits of numbers.

Responses Rating Scale Real Limits of Number

Very Highly Required (VHR) 5 4.50 - 5.00

Highly Required (HR) 4 3.50 - 4.49

Moderately Required (MR) 3 2.50 - 3.49

Lowly Required (LR) 2 1.50 - 2.49

Very Lowly Required (VLR) 1 0.50 - 1.49

The null hypotheses were tested with t-test statistics. A hypothesis was rejected where the
calculated t-value was greater than the table t-value. On the other hand, where the calculated
t-value was less than the table t-value, the null hypothesis was not rejected.