THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL FACTORS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE: SELECTED PRIVATE FIRMS

THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL FACTORS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE: SELECTED PRIVATE FIRMS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the Study

Entrepreneurship practices exist in most countries of the world, including Nigeria. In Nigeria the development of entrepreneurship has gone a long way to achieve industrialization and economic development. Management scholars agree that although management theory and practices have universal applications, the individual and groups with which it must interact, and the external environment differs in some way. It is acknowledged by management scholars also that there are many deviations in management theory all over the world.

The attempt to discover the determinants of managerial success of entrepreneurs has always been a heart-throb among researchers of various fields of studies. Biographies of successful entrepreneurs and business men for instance reflected the tendency of the subject of such studies to explain their success in terms of virtue of hand work, thrift and clean living (Baridam 1995:15). As an alternative to biographical models are these studies that, turn the man who manipulates the omnipotent touch (Gases 1983: 20). Culture is dynamic in nature but cannot be change mechanically rather could be modified to suit a given environment. Almost every perception and behavior is guided by the human invention we call culture. Each culture shapes perception and behaviors by paving relative attention to some details of reality and ignoring others or by permitting some actions and forbidding others.

Culture which forms parts of the complex education-sociological-cultural-political-legal-economic that interact and affect that performance of productive entrepreneurs is often the less treated and less emphasized amongst these foregoing factors by business people (terpstra et al 1991: 40); this notwithstanding the fact that it forms the bedrock on which the other factors operate. Speculations dealing with the supposed effects of cultural factors of an environment on the performance of productive enterprises in that environment are on the rife. However, empirical studies and a careful analysis of this situation in the context of entrepreneurship operating in developing countries remains to be exhaustively and satisfactorily treated. Though it can clearly be said that cultural factors have a substantial impact on managerial or entrepreneurial effectiveness and productivity measured in a given instance owing to the fact that sociological and cultural constraints are difficult to measure in quality. This is always a problem when one wishes to deal with human attitudes and values, it is often hard to distinguish popular misconceptions and myths from the realities of the situation (farmer et al 1965: 60) so, it therefore becomes patient to test a number of significant and operational hypotheses in order to explain and predict production efficiency with a high degree of accuracy and confidence in any given case.

THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL FACTORS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE: SELECTED PRIVATE FIRMS