Strategic orientation and performance of small and medium enterprises in Bangladesh

Abstract

The performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is considered one of the driving forces for developing countries like Bangladesh, where the economy has benefitted greatly from the contribution of SMEs. Hence, the aim of this study is to identify whether there is any relationship between strategic orientation and the performance of SMEs operating in Bangladesh. From the existing literature, three variables of strategic orientation have been developed: market orientation, learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation. The result shows that six out of ten variables of strategic orientation, e.g., customer orientation, inter–functional coordination, proactiveness, autonomy, risk taking behaviour and innovativeness are statistically significant with SME performance. However, the study found that learning orientation has no notable relationship with performance. The findings of this study can be useful for researchers as well as SME owners to generate further ideas about their business strategy and enhance their financial performance.