Business Orientation and Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises : Evidence from Ghana

Although prior researchers have identified business orientation as an element impacting positively on SMEs' performance, only a few focus on Ghana. In respect of the preceding, this study examines the influence of business orientation on SMEs' performance in the Ghanaian economy. A random number generation tool in Excel was utilised to generate 366 SMEs. Out of 366 questionnaires distributed, 347 were found appropriate and used in this study. SPSS version 22 and PLS-SEM were employed to examine the relationship between the variables of interest. The findings indicated that all the elements of business orientation had a significant positive association with SMEs' performance except for learning orientation which had a non-significant positive relationship with SMEs' performance. Also, the result showed that the three elements synergistically contribute 39% of the variations in SMEs' performance with market orientation being the highest predictor. The key contribution of this study to the existing literature is that market orientation has been ascertained as the highest contributor to SMEs' performance among the elements of business orientation. Thus, much attention must be paid to market orientation by owners of SMEs because of its unique contribution to SMEs' performance.