Date of Conferral
2018
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
School
Management
Advisor
Brenda Jack
Abstract
Jamaica's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a high failure rate. In 2016, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) recorded Jamaica's SME start-up rate at 4.06% and the discontinuance rate at 9%. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive multiple case study was to explore the strategies some Jamaican SME owners used to achieve business sustainability in the manufacturing sector for longer than 5 years of operation. The conceptual framework used was the entrepreneurship theory, which provided insights into business sustainability. A purposive sample of 5 owners of SMEs who had achieved business sustainability in the manufacturing sector for longer than 5 years of operation were the participants in this study. Semistructured interviews of participants and review of company documents produced in-depth insights into the strategies they used to achieve business sustainability. Coding keywords, sentences, and ideas from the interviews and company documents and categorizing them was the approach taken for data analysis, using methodological triangulation. The themes from the study were entrepreneurial characteristics, competitive advantages, resource management, customer relationship management, quality management, and marketing. Implications for social change include the potential to provide strategies that support SMEs' business sustainability and lead to greater job creation and ultimately the Jamaican government's ability to fund social projects.
Recommended Citation
Blake, Hugh Anthony, "Strategies to Sustain Small and Medium-size Manufacturing Enterprises in Jamaica" (2018). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 6172.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6172
