Marketing culture, values of owner managers, moral reasoning and survival of SMEs in Southern Highlands of Tanzania: a case study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Marketing culture, Values of SME managers, Moral reasoning and Survival of SMEs in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. A cross sectional survey design was adopted using a sample of 86 SMEs. These SMEs were randomly selected from a population of 110 SMEs. The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires to managers/employees. The data was analyzed using a Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) software. Factor analysis was used to identify items that measure the variables. Correlations were run to establish the relationship between the study variables and regression analysis to establish the predictability power of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The results revealed that marketing culture and values of owner managers were significant predictors of survival of SMEs explaining 28.7% of the variance. This means if managers set their efforts in improving the attributes of marketing culture and values of owner managers will have high rate survival. The researcher recommends that managers of SMEs should make sure that they place much emphasis on the components such as Service Quality, Organization and Internal Communication commitment, creativity, honesty and integrity need more attention for the survival of the business.