Supply chain management practice among small and medium manufacturing enterprises in Nigeria: Current state and implications

The study evaluated supply chain management practices of SMMEs in selected locations in Nigeria. It also assessed the performance of SMMEs and determined the level of government assistance to SMMEs in Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. A sample size of 295 respondents was selected using a simple random sampling technique out of a total population of 2,600 at the time of this study. A questionnaire was used to gather data for this research. The data collected was analyzed using frequencies and percentages, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation. Results from the study showed that SMMEs had fairly good supplier integration (50.05%) and information sharing (55.3%) supply chain practices. Results further revealed that operational performance (59.30%) was high and quite satisfactory, while financial performance (51.50%) was a little over average. In addition, the government’s contribution and assistance to SMMEs were low. While suppliers’ integration (r = 0.051, p 0.05), information sharing (r = 0.052, p 0.05) and postponement (r = 0.98, p 0.05) had no significant effect on performance, the extent of outsourcing (r = 0.121, p 0.05) did. Results finally showed that government assistance (r = 0.61, p 0.05) has a positive and significant effect on supply chain management practices. The study concluded that suppliers’ integration and information sharing capabilities were fairly good among the entrepreneurs, the operational performance level among the entrepreneurs was high and satisfactory, and the government’s contribution to the growth of SMMEs was found to be significant, but generally low.