ABSTRACT

This study focused on attrition determinants of textile (SMES) in Nigeria. The study became necessary because the textile industry in Nigeria which was the second largest employer of labour after government declined in productivity rapidly and between 1995 and 2003, 83 textiles closed shop. The main objective of this study therefore is to investigate the determinants of attrition of textile SMEs in Nigeria. Past studies have focused on firm success, with only few on firm attrition. Again most studies of firm longevity have focused on large firms. The problem is more acute from Nigerian sources. This study reviewed both the theoretical framework and conceptual framework employing independent variables such as government policy, managerial skills, marketing, technology and finance, while the dependent variable is the “attrition of textile SMEs” to examine the past empirical studies. The study identified a gap, since the past studies were not firm specific and did not compare failed and standing firms. This present study focuses on the SME textile sub-sector. The study will be conducted in six textile zones of Kaduna, Kano, Lagos Aba, Onitsha and Asaba. These geographical areas have the largest concentration of textile firms in Nigeria. The study will compare the failed textile SMEs with those standing. The findings of this study can therefore be grossed up to national level. The collapsed SME firms and those standing whose list is with the textile manufacturers association located at No. 4 Kachia Road Kaduna forms the sampling frame. Purposive sampling will be used to enlist 3 entrepreneurs each for both failed and standing firms and 10 senior managers of failed and 3 senior managers of standing firms for a pilot study. A snow-balling method will be employed to enlist the 273 top/senior executives of the sampled failed firms while a simple random sampling will be employed to enlist 100 executives of standing firms for the administration of a four point likert questionnaire. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be generated through depth-interviews and questionnaire administration. The interview will be analyzed through content analysis while principal component analysis will be applied on the survey data to arrive at the findings. Also, independent sample t-test will be conducted to address hypothesis 1 to 4, by making comparison between the failed and functional textile firms in Nigeria.