Growth Challenges of SMEs in Emerging and Developed Economies (A Comparative Study on Nigeria and The United Kingdom)

This study examines and discusses the growth challenges of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in emerging and developed economies with particular emphasis on Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The study relied on semi-structured questionnaire to conduct detailed interviews with a total of 20 Nigerian SMEs and 14 SMEs in the United Kingdom. The findings revealed that SMEs in the United Kingdom demonstrated a much better performance in all three growth indicators compared to SMEs in Nigeria. The study also found that although SMEs in both countries had their peculiar growth challenges, these challenges were more pronounced for the Nigerian SMEs as compared to SMEs based in the United Kingdom. Following the impact of these challenges on business growth, Nigerian SMEs immediately find themselves at a disadvantaged position from inception when compared to SMEs in the United Kingdom. The study thus explains why despite the surge in the establishment of SMEs in many emerging economies particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, not many of these SMEs have been able to achieve large scale growth as compared to their counterparts located in other developed economies.