Leadership style, resource availability and performance of small and medium enterprises in Kenya: A case study of Varomatech Limited, Nairobi

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between leadership style, resource availability and performance of small and medium enterprises. Specifically, the study focused on determining how leadership style and resource availability affect the performance of the small and medium enterprises. The results of the study sought to benefit the small and medium enterprises, customers in the small and medium enterprises as well as other scholars and researchers. The study was triggered by high variation and high record of defective in the industry as evidence by Toyota recall of 8.8 million vehicles due to problems with the accelerator. The study employed descriptive research design. The target population for the study was 482 staff at Varomatech Limited which is one of the small and medium enterprise. During data collection, 145 staff working in the organization were sampled using stratified simple random sampling. Questionnaires were physically administered to the sample population. A pilot study was conducted to test the accuracy of the research instruments to ensure reliability and validity of research data. Descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation was used to analyse data. The relationship between independent and dependent variables was determined using regression model using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Research findings were presented using graphs, pie charts and frequency tables. The research findings indicate that resource availability explains 53.6 percent of organizational performance at Varomatech Limited. The research findings further indicated that leadership style did not have statistical significant impact on performance at Varomatech Limited. The study therefore concluded that resource availability had positive and significant impact on performance at Varomatech Limited. The researcher therefore recommends that top management should determine the optimal resources needed and provide those resources for effective performance