| dc.subject | Many studies have established that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are becoming increasingly important in terms of development and innovations. However, many firms perform dismally and fail to grow. It has also been established that there is high mortality rate of SMEs within two years of their operations. Given this high failure rate, it has become necessary to conduct a study on the factors that affect SMEs performance and thus progress to the growth phase of organizational life cycle. This study sought to establish factors affecting performance of SMEs in Kenya. Its specific objectives were to investigate effect of access to business information on performance of SMEs in Kenya, to find out how access to finance affect performance of SMEs in Kenya and to establish the effect of managerial skills on performance of SMEs in Kenya. The study employed a descriptive research design based on desk research to achieve the objectives. Among variables that were found to positively affect business performance were access to business information and managerial skills. However, access to finance was found to negatively affect business performance. The study concluded that access to business information and managerial skills are key socio-economic factors affecting business performance of SMEs. A major recommendations of the study is that the government should start providing crucial business information and improve policies on SME's access to business finance as this will enable enterprises to make informed investment decisions as well as enhance their entrepreneurial skills to enable them recognize and exploit the available business opportunities. Keywords: Small and Micro Enterprises, performance, Investment decisions | en_US |
