Strategic Entrepreneurship Factors and the Financial Sustainability of Micro Enterprises: A Case of Don Bosco Cottage Industries in Kenya
Abstract
This study aimed to explore how entrepreneurship coupled with strategic management leads to growth and wealth creation and thus enhance firm’s financial sustainability; Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya have been taken as a case study in this work. As such strategic entrepreneurship factors as used in the study is the overall application of knowledge from the two distinct but closely related disciplines. The following research questions were answered in the study: How have the innovative interventions helped in upscaling the financial sustainability of Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya? How have the risky ventures in their business contributed to the financial sustainability of Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya? How have the proactive strategies contributed to enhancing the financial sustainability of Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya? And lastly how has the effective utilization of the acquired resources enhanced the financial sustainability of the Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya. The theories that informed this study included the economic theory of entrepreneurship, sociological theory of entrepreneurship, psychological theory of entrepreneurship and resource based theory, (RBV). To assess the degree the Don Bosco cottage industries have utilized these factors for financial sustainability, data from five Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya were collected by the use of a questionnaire. To analyze the data quantitatively in both descriptive and inferential statistics, SPSS was employed to analyze the collected data and presented by using tables, bars and pie charts for the ease of understating of the findings. The descriptive statistics entails percentages and frequencies and percentages, inferential statistics including correlation and regression. Results revealed that center innovation (β=.114, t=2.312 p=0.023), risk taking (β =.154, t=3.298 p=0.001), proactiveness (β =.119, t=2.422p=0.017) and use of resources and capabilities (β=.172, t=3.431, p=0.001) have a positive and significant effect on financial sustainability. The model fitness revealed that the four independent variables satisfactorily explain 61.5% of the variation in financial sustainability. The study recommends that SMEs and particularly Don Bosco cottage industries in Kenya should adopt and implement strategic entrepreneurial factors in their businesses for growth and wealth creation and their financial sustainability.
Keywords: Strategic Entrepreneurship, Financial Sustainability, Micro Enterprises, Don Bosco Cottage Industries
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