CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN FCT-ABUJA

The manufacturing industry has been a pillar of economic development for most developed economies. The Nigeria experience is rather a phenomenon of concern for stakeholders, as the manufacturing industry is merely struggling and currently at its lowest ebb. The alarming weak demand and appetite for locally produced goods and low export market coupled with an antecedent decline in their contribution to the gross domestic product may have accounted to the poor performance of the manufacturing sector, despite government supportive efforts. Thus, the motivation for this study. The objective was thus to assess corporate entrepreneurship on the performance of selected manufacturing firms using FCT, as the capital of Nigeria. The study relied on extant literature that provided conceptual understanding and theoretical underpinning of the study constructs, as the review of literature showed gaps, thus, further justifying the need for the empirical evaluation of the study problem. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Questionnaire was used to generate the study data from a sample of 218 employees of the selected manufacturing firms. Taro Yamane sample size formula was used to determine the sample size from a population of 480 employees. Exploratory factor analysis and Convergent validity were assessed for validity of the instrument, while Cronbach and composite reliability measures were assessed for reliability of the instrument before it was administered. Simple percentage was used for the analysis of items of the questionnaires. Structural Equation Model (SEM-PLS) was the analytical tool used for data analysis with the aid of SmartPLSv3. The study found that innovativeness, risk-taking and management entrepreneurial support are influential significant strategies that can drive improved profit in manufacturing firms, thereby allowing them contribute favourably to the nation’s economy. The study found that proactiveness may not be effective to drive increased performance. Based on the findings, the study concludes that improving performance of manufacturing firms in FCT can be with corporate entrepreneurship components of innovativeness, risk-taking, and management support. The study thus, recommends that manufacturing firms should instead focus on developing their immediate overall capability, by being innovative, take risk and ensure requisite management entrepreneurial support, as it will be most effective towards improving their performance and strengthen them towards facing imminent challenges inherent in their internal and external environment.