Owner Occupier Drivers of Success in Small Business: Comparing Soft Drivers with Hard Work

Abstract

Despite small and medium sized enterprises accounting for the majority of business activity in most economies and its appeal as a driver of economic growth, there is a lingering uncertainty around the motivation for engaging in SME activities as most SME owners have no growth aspirations. The notion of understanding success and its drivers is prominent in that small business closure rates can reach 9 per cent of the total business stock of a country. To date little empirical evidence provides insight in person-oriented drivers of survival and success of small businesses. This paper addresses these shortcomings somewhat and reports on unstructured feedback collected from small business owners in respect of their perception and experience of driver of success.