PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF MARKETING STRATEGIES ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN ILORIN METROPOLIS,KWARA STATE

Abstract

Organizations including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have understood the necessity to establish
strategies that will support them in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the market. The study examined
the influence of marketing strategies on organizational performance of small and medium scale enterprises in
Ilorin Metropolis. The study was also guided by two specific purposes, two research questions and two null
hypotheses. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of the study comprised 826
registered SMEs in Ilorin Metropolis. A sample size of 263 respondents were selected form the entire population
using Taro Yamane sample size determination formula. The instrument used for data collection was a
questionnaire titled “IMSOPSME” and was validated by three experts. A reliability coefficient of 0.79 was
obtained using Cronbach Alpha method. The data collected for the research questions were analyzed using
mean and standard deviation. The null hypotheses were tested using independent samples t-test at 0.05
significance level. The findings revealed that all the five marketing strategies (product and price) examined in
the study influenced the organizational performance of SMEs to a high extent (Mean = 3.48 and 3.35) and SD =
0.55 and 0.53 respectively. The study equally revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean
rating of male and female managers of SMEs on the extent to which product and price marketing strategies
influences the organizational performance of SMEs (t123 = 1.238, P<0.05). It was therefore concluded that
product and price marketing strategies have proven to be a veritable strategy through which small and medium
scale enterprises can maintain high performances in their business activities. Based on the findings, the study
recommended that small and medium scale enterprise should always ensure that their product meet the
specifications and the satisfaction of their consumers, development of varieties of products with new design, and
features are right strategies for organization best performance.