Strategic Management Practices and the Growth of E-commerce Businesses in Nigeria
Abstract:
This study examined the effect of strategic management practices on the growth of e-commerce businesses in Nigeria. This study stemmed from the phenomenon of digital commerce in Nigeria and the desire of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to adopt strategic management approaches intentionally to keep them in good standing and enhance their e-commerce performance. The five dimensions of strategic management practices were studied, namely the strategic planning, digital innovation strategy, customer relationship management strategy, strategic alliance strategy, and market expansion strategy. The design of the study was quantitative research while the research method employed was primary data collection which involved 200 SME owners, managers, supervisors and staff who were actively involved in e-commerce activities in Nigeria who were administered structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that strategic planning, digital innovation strategy, customer relationship management, strategic alliances and market expansion strategy were all significant positive influences on the e-commerce performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The study has found that strategic management practices are essential to the growth of e-commerce businesses and thus recommended that SMEs invest in structured strategic planning, engage in digital innovation, invest in customer relationship management, explore strategic partnership, and diversify their market reach to better compete in the Nigerian digital economy.References:
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