The Effect of Marketing Challenges on the Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: (A Case of Loka Abaya Woreda, Sidama Zone, SNNPRS, Ethiopia)

Small and medium enterprises played a great role for economic development and employment creation. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of marketing challenges on the performance of SMEs a case of Loka Abaya woreda. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires from 220 respondents. SMEs Operators and managers’ were selected by stratified random sampling techniques. Interviews were also conducted with stake holders of woreda government bodies and managers. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were employed. In this study Descriptive research were used to analyze the research data. Descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, and standard deviation is used, while inferential statistics were used such as Pearson correlation, and multiple regressions analysis.It was found out that (R2 =0.805) implied that independent factors: production & selling place, marketing factor, promotion, distribution channels and pricing, predicted (80.5%). The dependent variable performance of SMEs predicted by the rest 19.5 % accounted by other factors. The findings of the study also revealed that marketing factors has a higher effect on the performance of SMEs followed by pricing challenges. Therefore, SMEs in the woreda, Sidama zone responsible bodies, Loka Abaya woreda responsible bodies and the government can take appropriate measures to solve the problems related to independent factors in this study to improve SMEs performance. Keywords: SMEs, marketing challenges, SME performance, Loka Abaya woreda. DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/55-05 Publication date: April 30th 201