Organisational Factors and Competitive Advantageof Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Ogun State, Nigeria.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are globally viewed as an important force driving economic development and employment creation in both developing and developed countries, which is well acknowledged. However, the performance of SMEs in developed and developing economies has been slow and in some cases even collapsed due to a number of challenges confronting this important sub-sector of the world economy. Extant studies on the competitive advantage of small and medium-sized enterprises have attempted to elucidate on the challenges of SMEs and the attendant supposed solutions, conversely, most of the extant research focus more on developed countries than developing countries such as Nigeria. Hence, this study examined the effect of organisational factors on competitive advantage of SMEs in Ogun State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The population was 2,465 registered small and medium scale enterprises in Ogun State, Nigeria. A sample size of 432 was determined using Cochran formula. Multistage sampling was adopted. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranged from 0.79 to 0.92. The response rate was 87.9%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that organizational factors had significant effect on the competitive advantage of SMEs in Ogun state, Nigeria (Adj. R2= 0.042; F (4,375) = 5.186, p <0.05). It was concluded that organizational factors had significant effect on competitive advantage of SMEs in Ogun State, Nigeria, and recommended that in order to choose appropriate competitive strategies, small and medium-sized enterprises should target a niche market and be intentional in adequately adopting organizational factors to enhance their competitive advantage.