Abstract
The demise rate of small firms every year is high worldwide and mostly these businesses struggle for many years without significant growth. Therefore, this study focused on identifying factors that contribute to the sustainability of growth for small firms in a developing country. Small firms are vital in the development and growth of bottom billion economies and are part of solutions to social problems that Namibia experience, inter alia, high unemployment rate. In developing countries, it is estimated that 45% of formal sector workers belong to SMEs and about 24% of GDP is contributed by small firms. SMEs are known for the common characteristics such as responsiveness, strategic agility, and leanness in operations management that are often aimed to meet and exceed variations of market demands. Thus far, it is crucial to study such behavior of small firms responsible for their growth or demise in the contemporary markets where small firms are crippled by raspy competition from MNCs.
Highlights
Small businesses are seen as a significant source of employment in developing countries
They view the number of employees as an overhead, which means the quantity of employees in SMEs in not much a strategic contributor to their growth but the quality of employees carrying out day by day business operations is what matters
The study makes a contemporary contribution in the sense that it quantifies some of the important factors in a developing economy responsible for sustainable growth in small firms
Summary
Small businesses are seen as a significant source of employment in developing countries. The point of departure of this study is based on evidence that initiatives to promote small business need to be focused (Glancey, 1998). Policy makers are becoming aware of the economic and social limitations of policy initiatives that rely too intemperately on the small business sector as a whole. We posit that these initiatives should rather be aimed at firms and sectors with growth potential, otherwise is waste of supportive resources given to SMEs. It is maintained that most of the additional jobs created comes from a relatively small number of small businesses in Namibia.
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