ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

The study examines the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the performance of business enterprises. Five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation which include Innovativeness, Risk Taking, Proactiveness, Autonomy, and Competitive Aggressiveness were used in the study and their effect on business enterprises in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study used a descriptive research survey and the population of the study consists of 200 business enterprises registered in the Ijebu Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria, and a sample size of 132 from that population was determined using the Raosoft sample size estimator at a 5% error tolerance and 95% level of confidence. Out of the 132 questionnaires distributed, 113 were returned, giving the study a response rate of 86%. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using SPSS. The findings indicated that Innovativeness, Proactiveness, Risk Taking, Autonomy and Competitive Aggressiveness had a significant effect on business enterprise performance with coefficient and p-value of β1 =0.283 (p-value <0.05), β2 =0.251 (p-value <0.05) β3 =0.281 (p-value <0.05), β4 =0.180 (p-value <0.05) and β5 =0.153 (p-value <0.05) respectively. It is concluded that entrepreneurial orientation is a strong factor in the achievement of the strategic aims and objectives of a business enterprise. It is recommended that businesses should continuously forecast into the future in order to identify likely market demands, pursue additional proactive measures to address those needs, and continuously be innovative and creative in order to further improve product quality and be able to introduce new products to the market that will stand the test of time.