Opportunity Recognition and Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Small and Medium Food Manufacturing Enterprises in Kenya

Abstract

Small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses (SMEs) are essential to any nation's economic development.   They generate revenue, create new employment possibilities, foster competitiveness, and introduce innovation.  Nevertheless, despite their substantial contribution, SMEs confront a number of obstacles and limitations that prevent or limit their ability to maintain an ongoing competitive advantage. Opportunity recognition has been found to be the missing component of successful entrepreneurship.  This study sought to ascertain the sustained competitive advantage of Kenyan food manufacturing SMEs impacted by entrepreneurial awareness, opportunity identification, opportunity recognition, and internal communication.  In order to examine the causal link between opportunity detection skills and the sustained competitive advantage of SMEs in Kenyan food manufacturing, the study used an explanatory research technique. 106 owners of 123 SMEs registered with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers under the food and beverage subsector provided quantitative primary data, yielding an 86% response rate.  According to the regression model, ORS strongly predicted the SCA of Kenyan SMEs involved in food production (β = 0.631 t = 6.355, p<.05).  This suggests that SCA rises by 0.631 for every unit increase in ORS. As a component of EC, ORS had a considerable impact on the SCA of SMEs in Kenyan food production, according to the OLS results, which demonstrate that the influence of ORS on SCA is statistically significant.  According to the report, opportunity identification training platforms should be made available to small and medium-sized enterprises. The primary goal should be to identify opportunities in a changing environment.