Browsing by Author "Ajer, B."

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    Entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, cost focus and innovation in agri-food SME of Uganda
    (African Journal of Rural Development, 2022-04) Ajer, B.; Ngare, L.; Macharia, I.
    Agri-food Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in the economies of most developing countries. With increasing challenges and competitiveness, innovation has been shown to play a critical role in sustaining growth of the numerous agri-food SMEs in developing countries. This innovation is influenced by several factors including entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of the firm. This study introduces learning orientation and cost focus into the EO-Innovation paradigm with the aim of understanding the relationship among EO, learning orientation, cost focus and innovation. The study was conducted in the districts of Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso and Jinja in Uganda. These districts collectively have the highest concentration of agri-food firms in the country. Primary cross-sectional data were collected using semi structured questionnaires from a cross-section of 521 SMEs spread across the study area. Data were analyzed using multivariate structural equation modeling in AMOS v.23. Results suggest the importance of proactiveness in enhancing learning orientation, cost focus and innovation. On the other hand, entrepreneurial proclivity was seen to have significant influence on learning orientation and cost focus but not on innovation. The findings of this study have implications in agri-food SME learning orientation and cost focus. In essence, helping SMEs to become proactive or have high levels of proclivity would also increase their cost focus and learning orientation which are all important for the sustainability of agri-food SMEs. Keywords: Agri-food, entrepreneurial proclivity, learning orientation, proactiveness, small and medium enterprise, Uganda