I have to thank the almighty God for working miracles in my life and continuing to show me his favor. I must thank Almighty God, the creator of the universe, whose mercy and grace are limitless.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STYDY
- SMEs and economic contribution
- Background to SMEs status in Zimbabwe
- Background to the SMEs challenges
- Background to economic empowerment for SMEs
Globally, SMEs make up nine out of ten of the world's businesses (Daniel Peterhoff, et, al, 2014). They have created sixty percent (60%) of employment worldwide and eighty percent (80%) of employment in the developed world (ACCA), SMEs, a global agenda, 2010). SMEs account for fifty percent of global value added (GVA) and an even greater percentage in developed countries (Daniel Peterhoff, et, al, 2014). In the United States, they contribute sixty-seven percent (67%) of employment and sixty-one percent (61%) of manufacturing output (Global entrepreneurship monitor, 2009). In Korea, SMEs are about thirty (30) million, which is about ninety-nine (99.9%) percent of businesses and make up about 88 percent (88.1%) of the workforce (Orunma Oteh, 2010). In Africa, SMEs account for ninety percent (90%) of African businesses and provide fifty percent (50%) of African jobs and GDP (African Competitiveness Report, 2009). In Nigeria, SMEs account for ninety percent (90%). of formal manufacturing activity and seventy percent (70%) of industrial jobs and provide fifty percent (50%) of the working workforce (Orunma Oteh, 2010). In Morocco, SMEs constitute ninety-three percent (93%) of all industrial enterprises and provide thirty-eight percent (38%) of production, 33% of investments, 30% of exports and 46% of all jobs (Orunma Oteh, 2010).
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The government can come up with various ways to improve the operating environment of SMEs as capacity building, facilitating access to technology, regulations that are not hostile (Ruzivo Trust, 2012). The use of ASM can bring SMEs together to realize broader economic benefits (Daniel Peterhoff, et al, 2014). It is against this gap that the study seeks to find out the factors that determine the listing of SMEs on the ASM.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
- Specific objectives
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- General question
HYPOTHESIS
SCOPE/ DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
DISSERTATION OUTLINE
CHAPTER SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
- INTRODUCTION
- UNDERPINING THEORIES
- Capital structure Theory
- Trade off theory
- The Perking Order theory
- DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS
- Alternative Securities Market (ASM)
- SMES
- LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE VARIABLES UNDER STUDY
- Access to information
- Regulatory requirements
- Corporate governance
- SMEs support platforms
- SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster (SMEVABC)
- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES
- Information accessibility and its impact on SMEs ability to register on alternative securities market
- Regulatory Requirement and the impact on SMEs registration on Alternative Securities Market
- Corporate Governance and the impact on SMEs registration on Alternative Securities Market
- SMEs Support Platforms and the impact of SME registering with the ASM
- SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster (SMEABC) versus Alternative Securities Market
- CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT
- CHAPTER SUMMARY
These factors, if executed well, can lead to an SME listing on the alternative securities market. The Nigerian Stock Exchange has the strictest rules for SMEs to register on the Alternative Securities Market. The researcher tries to determine the factors that determine the listing of SMEs on the alternative securities market. Dependent variables are information.
Most countries have established SME support platforms to help SMEs get listed on the Alternative Securities Market.
HAPTER SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
- INTRODUCTION
- RESEARCH DESIGN
- Research Philosophy/Paradigm
- Interpretivisim/Phenomenology
- Positivism
- Research Strategy
- Survey
- Research Methodology
- Research Method
- POPULATION SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
- Population
- Sample Size Determination
- Sampling Methods
- Non- Probability Sampling
- Probability Sampling
- Procedure
- Pilot Study
- SOURCES OF DATA
- RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
- DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE
- RESEACH LIMITATIONS
- RESEARCH ETHICS AND DATA CREDIBILTY
- Research Ethics
- Validity and Reliability
- CHAPTER SUMMARY
The quantitative method research design was used to determine the role of information accessibility, corporate governance, SMEs support platforms, regulatory requirements as well as the SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation cluster on the listing of SMEs on the Alternative Securities Market. This study adopted positivism paradigm. because it is consistent with quantitative methodology (Christensen,2008). The adoption of positivism enabled the researcher to systematically and scientifically collect and measure data on the importance of information accessibility, regulatory requirements, corporate governance, SMEs support platforms as well as SMEs and to quantify. Value addition and enrichment clustering on the listing of SMEs on the alternative bond market. The study followed a positivist approach so that the researcher can determine the importance of factors that determine the listing of SMEs on the ASM, namely information accessibility, regulatory requirements, corporate governance, SMEs support platforms as well as SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation Grouping that determine the listing. of SMEs on the alternative bond market. The researcher used survey research strategy because survey made it easy to generalize the findings from the sample of SMEs to the whole of SMEs in Zimbabwe that need to list on the Alternative Securities Market.
The quantitative methodology allowed the researcher to objectively measure and quantify data on the factors that determine the listing of small and medium-sized companies in the alternative securities market. Population refers to the number of units or elements under investigation (Burns and Groove, 2003:43). The study population consists of all SMEs registered with the SME Association of Zimbabwe in Harare. The most important thing in determining sample size is determining the margin of error (Sathian, Sharan, Abhilash, and Rajesh, 2010). The researcher has determined the margin of error to be plus or minus five (5%) percent.
The researcher collected data on whether corporate governance, regulatory requirements, SME support platforms, the SME Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster, and information accessibility influence SME listings in the alternative securities market using a self-configurable fill out questionnaire. The researcher used a factor analysis method to identify the factors that determine the listing of SMEs on the ASM. The researcher used a cross-sectional research strategy, which did not allow enough time to determine whether information accessibility, regulatory requirements, corporate governance and SME support platforms are important for the SME listing in the alternative securities market due to the research date on the market. February 27, 2015. The study relied heavily on access to an organization over which the researcher had no control. Therefore, the researcher was refused entry and in some cases some questionnaires were not completed in full.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
- Response rate
Response rate from questionnaire distribution
Gender
Responses on the Age of Respondents
Responses on the current position of Respondents The positions of respondents are depicted in Table 4 below
Responses on the qualifications of Respondents
Responses on the number of employees
Majority of the respondent indicated that their companies employed between 50-200 employees, thirty-three percent employed 1-49 employees.
Different types of industries in which SMEs operate
The results correspond to the definitions of different countries. For example, the Central Bank of Nigeria defines SME as an SME with 20 to 300 employees.
Responses on years in business
NORMALITY TEST
RELIABILITY OF INSTRUMENT
- Item by Item Reliability statistics
- Reliability of Transformed data
All the questions were important to the questionnaire, including demographics which achieved satisfactory Cronbach's alpha with the minimum yield of 0.873. The Cronbach values of item by item were all above 0.6 and therefore show that the scales were all reliable. Information accessibility has eight items yielding Cronbach alpha of 0.807, regulatory requirements (0.763), corporate governance (0.824), SMEs support platforms (0.793) as well as SMEs value addition and favorability cluster (0.850). This means that respondents considered these factors to be important, therefore they should be taken into account when determining factors to find SMEs to list on the alternative bond market.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE THE LISTING OF SMEs ON THE ALTERNATIVE SECURITIES MARKET
- Checking the suitability of data for factor analysis
- Selecting a method of factor extraction
- Determining the number of useful factors
- Kaiser’s Eigenvalue Greater Than One Rule to extract factors
- Extracting factors using percentage variance
- The Scree Plot of eigenvalues of seven factors
- Data transformation
- The Naming and Interpretation of Factors
- Factor 1: Information accessibility
- Factor 2: Regulatory requirements
- Factor 3: Corporate Governance
- Factor 4: SMEs Support Platforms
- Factor 5: SME Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster (SMEVABC)
This indicates that the availability of information is critical if SMEs want to get a listing on the ASM. Mwarari (2013) in a study conducted in Kenya to find out whether accessibility of information influences the listing of SMEs on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the study found that seventy percent (70%) of respondents believed that access to information is key to listing. Studies from London, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya have proven that accessibility of information is critical if SMEs are to get listed on the ASM. Mwarari (2013) found that seventy-five percent (75%) of respondents believed that rules and regulations affect the listing of SMEs on the ASM. That study therefore showed that the general terms and conditions influence the listing of SMEs on the ASM.
H1: Activation of regulatory requirements is very essential to determine the acceptance of SMEs listing on the ASM. It can be concluded that corporate governance is an essential factor in decisions to register on the ASM. H1: Good corporate governance is essential in determining whether SMEs listing on the ASM can be accepted.
H1: Adequate SME support platforms are essential in determining the acceptance of SME listing on the ASM. This illustrates that the Value Added and Profitability set of SMEs is an important factor in the decision to enroll in ASM. H1: Value Addition and Benefit Clustering of SMEs is of great importance in determining the acceptance of SME listing in ASM.
INDEPENDENT SAMPLE TESTING
- Independence test to identify the respondents’ opinions on five factors across gender categories
- Independence test to determine the respondent’s opinions on five factors across age
- Independence test to establish the respondents’ opinion on five factors across current positions
A non-parametric Mann-Whitney test U-test was performed to test for statistically significant differences on the five factors across respondents' ages. The results show that there were no statistically significant differences in respondents' opinions on the five factors, regardless of age. Randomly selecting the participants based on their age leads to the same answer regarding the factors determining the listing of SMEs on the ASM.
A non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to test whether there was any statistically significant difference between the five factors that determine SME listing in ASM, namely information accessibility, regulatory requirements, corporate governance, SME support platforms- ve, Added value for SMEs. and the Benefit Group. Mann-Whitney results showed that there were no statistically significant differences among the five factors in the current position held by the respondents. If one picks a person at random from the current position, one will get the same opinions.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- INTRODUCTION
- EVALUATING OBJECTIVES
- EVALUATING HYPOTHESIS
- THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
- Information accessibility
- Regulatory requirements
- Corporate governance
- SMEs Support Platforms
- SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster
- Revised conceptual framework
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- Recommendations based on Factor analysis
- Recommendations based on information accessibility
- Recommendations based on regulatory requirements
- Recommendations based on corporate governance
- Recommendations based on SMEs support platforms
- Recommendations based on SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster
- LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
- AVENUES FOR FURTHER STUDY
- CONCLUDING REMARKS
Assessing whether good corporate governance is an important factor in connection with SMEs' listing on ASM. To identify how important it is, SMEs support platforms on SMEs listed on ASM. Survey respondents observed that SME support platforms are essential if SMEs are to be attracted to listing on the ASM.
The results of the survey showed that SMEs Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster encourages SMEs to behave on ASM. H5: SMEs' value added and benefit cluster are of great importance in determining SMEs' listing on ASM. The five factors are key to SMEs' decision to behave at ASM.
It was argued that information accessibility, regulatory requirements, corporate governance, SME support platforms and the cluster of added value and benefits for SMEs should be used as deciding factors in selecting SMEs for ASM listing. The findings of the study showed a clear picture of the importance of the factors that determine the ranking of SMEs on the ASM. The general objective of the research study was to find the factors that determine the ranking of SMEs on the ASM.
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