Abstract/Description
Although there is a large body of research on small firms, there is dearth of studies on small firms in developing countries. Developing countries present new sets of challenges which need new approach. Small firm founders in developing countries often lack marketing and general management knowledge, have low levels of literacy, lack training facilities for various types of skills, and have weak government support and infra-structure. Literature suggests founder characteristics have profound effect on the performance of small firms. This study seeks to investigate role of founder characteristics in performance of small firms in Pakistan. Small firms are defined as firms with 6 to 50 employees. A total of 440 firms from the manufacturing and services sector are selected from metropolitan Karachi and data is collected through a questionnaire. Survey instrument was a questionnaire with two parts. The first part included 17 questions related to information about founders and part two consisted of 5 questions related to performance. The questionnaire was personally administered through personal visits. Questionnaire is based on eighteen questions relating the variables of the study. Stratified random sampling is used. Innovation, proactive-ness and motivation are found to be significantly related to performance.
Keywords
Session Theme
Parallel Session-Track: Marketing Strategy
Session Type
Event
Session Chair
Dr. Yusniza Kamarul Zaman
Start Date
19-12-2016 3:30 PM
End Date
19-12-2016 4:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Mian, E., & Mohamad, O. (2016). Parallel Session: Founder characteristics and small firm performance in Pakistan. International Conference on Marketing. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/icm/2016/day1/18
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, Marketing Commons
Parallel Session: Founder characteristics and small firm performance in Pakistan
Although there is a large body of research on small firms, there is dearth of studies on small firms in developing countries. Developing countries present new sets of challenges which need new approach. Small firm founders in developing countries often lack marketing and general management knowledge, have low levels of literacy, lack training facilities for various types of skills, and have weak government support and infra-structure. Literature suggests founder characteristics have profound effect on the performance of small firms. This study seeks to investigate role of founder characteristics in performance of small firms in Pakistan. Small firms are defined as firms with 6 to 50 employees. A total of 440 firms from the manufacturing and services sector are selected from metropolitan Karachi and data is collected through a questionnaire. Survey instrument was a questionnaire with two parts. The first part included 17 questions related to information about founders and part two consisted of 5 questions related to performance. The questionnaire was personally administered through personal visits. Questionnaire is based on eighteen questions relating the variables of the study. Stratified random sampling is used. Innovation, proactive-ness and motivation are found to be significantly related to performance.
