AN APPRAISAL OF SOCIAL NETWORK AND BUSINESS GROWTH IN MANUFACTURING SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN NIGERIA

Abstract

With the weakness of the business conditions nowadays, the social network is considered as a weapon vital to anchorage resources for small and medium enterprises businesses. The point of this examination was to vastly explore social network and business growth in manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. This was attained by examining the impact of the Facebook social network on manufacturing SMEs growth in Nigeria. In this study, manufacturing industry include agro-based, designed and manufacturing related services sectors. The questionnaire was designed based on Likert Scale of 1 – 5 with 1 as strongly disagreed and 5 as strongly agreed. An aggregate of 240 questionnaires were sent out to fully registered entrepreneurs’ with Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja and firms with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Kaduna, Yola, Minna, Enugu, Port-Harcourt and Lagos towns where manufacturing is visible. A total 210 questionnaires representing 87.5% of the distributed copies of questionnaires were returned and deemed useable. The data were examined utilizing percentage and linear regression for descriptive and inferential statistics respectively. The study established that 50.48% of the respondents made use of facebook social network on a daily basis and the same percentage of respondents visit the facebook sites for business purposes. Facebook social network was statistically significant in explaining the growth of manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria: The study concluded that entrepreneurs/firms in Nigeria took advantage of facebook social network for their business growth. The study recommended that entrepreneurs/firms should join facebook social network so as to help them in getting present and applicable data from great distances abroad to maintain their organizations. Also, the Nigerian government should create enabling environment for businesses by providing adequate infrastructural facilities that would enhance the growth of manufacturing firms through the use of social networks in the country. Keywords: Business, ,, and