Relationship between Entrepreneurial Factors and Small Agro-enterprises’ Success: Evidence from Bhutan

Abstract

Successful small agro-enterprises (SAEs) play a vital role in the economy of an agrarian country like Bhutan. Although entrepreneurial factors, amongst others, affect the success of SAEs, there is a dearth of empirical studies on this topic in Bhutan. Such studies will help entrepreneurs and agribusiness promoters understand entrepreneurial factors affecting the success of SAEs. Therefore, we studied the relationship between entrepreneurial factors and the success of SAEs in Bhutan. Using multistage quota sampling, we selected four districts (1), eight sub-districts (2), 32 chiwogs (3), and 320 entrepreneurs of SAEs (4) for the study. We interviewed 320 entrepreneurs using structured questionnaire and analyzed data using IBM SPSS version 23. We found a significant and positive relationship between the success of SAEs and entrepreneurs' motivation (r = .44, P = .000) and personal entrepreneurial competencies (PECs) (r = .39, P = .000). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between entrepreneurs' age and success of SAEs (r = .02, P = .707). Overall, entrepreneurs' motivation and PECs contributed 20.7% to the success of SAEs in Bhutan. We recommend relevant authorities to continue supporting entrepreneurship education and training programs to motivate and build entrepreneurial competencies.

The impact of managerial characteristics on business strategies under the environmental change: an investigation of the Israeli diamond industry

“…Our findings in relation to the insignificant effect of age on managers' strategic decisions may be explained by the rationale put forward by Dendup et al (2018). Their research discovered that the age of the managers had no significant relationship on the organizational outcomes.…”

“…FOFs, most of them are SMEs, have made significant contribution to their national economy (Dendup et al, 2018;Islam et al, 2011). The findings of this research have important implications on both practice and policies (in terms of trade, finance, environmental and education and training policies) which can support and develop the current and future generations of managers in the diamond industry.…”

“…Adhering to the past strategies in the face of changing market environments inevitably erodes strategic fit, competitive advantage and eventually the firms' performance. An area of growing significance in strategic management research is the top managers' characteristics and their impact on strategic decisions and firms' performance (Goll et al, 2007;Handika & Wibowo, 2018;Nielsen, 2010;Nielsen & Nielsen, 2013;Shen & Cho, 2005), especially in small firms (Blackburn et al, 2013;Dendup et al, 2018;Islam et al, 2011). Firms act in the way they do because of the strategic choices the senior managers make on their behalf (Hambrick & Mason, 1984).…”

“…Previous upper echelons research have theorized that top management team's (TMT) characteristics have significant influence over the strategies of which a firm adopts (Goll et al, 2007;Hambrick & Mason, 1984;Handika & Wibowo, 2018;Nielsen & Nielsen, 2013). This is especially true in family businesses within which the senior managers are often the owners (Blackburn et al, 2013 ;Dendup et al, 2018;Escriba-Esteve et al, 2009;Islam et al, 2011;Roxas & Coetzer, 2012).…”