An Investigation of the Impact of Business Incubation in Promoting the Competitiveness of SMEs. A Case of Business Incubator in Tanzania

Mmasi, Sigisbert Mathias (2020) An Investigation of the Impact of Business Incubation in Promoting the Competitiveness of SMEs. A Case of Business Incubator in Tanzania. ["eprint_fieldopt_thesis_type_phd" not defined] thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

SMEs are considered as key drivers of socio-economic development due to their multifaceted contributions to the economy. However the start-up failure rates are still very high and the desired growth levels are yet to be achieved and consequently some researchers and policy makers have turned to business incubators as a possible boost to enterprise competitiveness through nurturing start-ups. The purpose of this study sought to investigate the impact of business incubator in promoting the competitiveness of SMEs in Tanzania. The study was guided by managerial skills as independent variables, business incubation as the moderator and competitiveness of SMEs as the dependent variable. Quantitative methods like mean, percentages, frequencies and standard deviation were used to describe the findings while inferential statistics like correlation analysis, regression, ANOVA, factor analysis, regression analysis and SEM were used to establish relationships between the independent and dependent variables and the suitability of the model. The hierarchical moderated regression model was used to measure the strength of the relationship between variables; the joint effect model results indicated that the interaction term between business incubation and human skills (β= 1.384, t = 3.142, p < .05), technical skills (β= 1.461, t = 3.084, p < .05), structural capital (β= 1.394, t=2.975, p < .05) both exhibit a positive significant influence on competitiveness of SMEs. Based on the results from the quantitative and qualitative findings, it was recommended that the Government should be involved in business incubation by sponsoring business incubation centres and facilitating participation of other organizations in the incubation programs.

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