RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND MANAGEMENT INNOVATION AMONG ENTREPRENEURS IN SOUTH SUDAN: A CASE STUDY OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN JUBA CITY

Abstract

Management innovation among Small and Medium Enterprises in South Sudan has been termed as low despite the high failure rate of the enterprises. This is despite the argument that management innovation enhances survival rate of enterprises and creates competitive advantage. This therefore triggered an investigation to find out if allocation of resources influences management innovation. The study population consisted of all the 12,654 Small and Medium Enterprises operating in Juba City whereby 96 were sampled. Primary data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression were used in analysis. The tool used was Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24. The study established that resource allocation has a positive and significant effect on management innovation of Small and Medium Enterprises in Juba City. The recommendations of the study were that Small and Medium Enterprises in Juba City should enhance their resource allocation practices such as encouraging innovative behavior to promote management innovation, measuring performance against subjective strategic criteria such as progress on product innovations and investing in technological resources such as IT infrastructure. This would in return improve the rate of management innovation among them significantly.

Key Words: Resource Allocation, Management Innovation, Juba City, South Sudan