Impact of Non-Financial Factors on Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises of Furniture Industry in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises in any nation are blessed with the ability to become the backbone of the domestic economy and the sustainability. Therefore, they must concern about the factors which are affecting their performance. Many studies have been conducted by highlighting the financial factors that affect the performance of small and medium enterprises. Furniture industry is also embodied with number of small and medium enterprises around Sri Lanka. But still it is held the reputation in Moratuwa city. As an industry, small and medium enterprises are not sufficiently aware of non-financial factors which affect their performance and struggle to identify the impact of non-financial factors and how they could avoid the barriers from non-financial factors. Though the recent governments and regulatory bodies have designed policies and strategies to encourage small and medium enterprises by providing financial facilities, the information and the knowledge regarding non-financial factors are not sufficient. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of non-financial factors on performance of Furniture industry in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. After a comprehensive literature review, Input constraints, Regulatory Constraints, Technology constraints, Infrastructure constraints and Threats of Substitute products are identified as the independent variables of the study. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire with 30 questions of Likert scales from the selected sample of 100 Furniture small and medium enterprises located in Moratuwa area. The analysis was carried out performing tests on descriptive statistics, validity, reliability, correlation, and regression analyses, and it is empirically supported that there is a significant impact of input constraints and infrastructure constraints on performance of Furniture industry in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Thereby, the findings would help the authorities and policy makers to take necessary actions to accomplish fu