For correspondence:-
Received: 23 Nov. 2017 Accepted: 12 Feb. 2018 Published: 31 March 2018
Citation: Entrepreneurship Studies and Effective Business Management Practices among Graduates of Tertiary Institutions in Edo State. Account Tax Rev 2003; 2(1):174-185 doi:
© 2003 The authors.
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Abstract
This study investigated the role of entrepreneurship studies in promoting effective business management of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) among graduates of tertiary institutions in Edo State. It determined the graduates’ effectiveness in diversity management in their business venture applying the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills they acquired from school training experiences. The population of the study comprised all the 40,333 graduates between the period of 2009/2010-2012/2013 Academic Sessions from the target public institutions (universities, polytechnics and colleges of education). 450 respondents were selected using purposive sampling technique. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the tracer study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A 20-item structured questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated by four experts who are from Entrepreneurship, Business Administration, Measurement and Evaluation. It was tested for reliability using the Cronbach Alpha, and a reliability value of 0.89 was realised. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research question and determine the homogeneity of respondents’ opinions while the formulated hypothesis was tested with ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed among others that the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills the respondents acquired from their school training experiences promote their business start up and effective management irrespective of customers’ cultural background, buying habits, brand loyalty, socio-economic status among others. Against this backdrop, it was recommended among others that government should provide incentives for entrepreneurship undergraduates and place entrepreneurship studies on the top priority list in the fiscal budget. This would promote the production of competent graduate entrepreneurs who can assume their effective role in the world of work to boost the drive for private sector driven economy in Nigeria and Edo State in particular.
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