The implementation of small and medium-sized enterprise development in the rice sector of Myanmar: Empirical research findings

This study has three objectives in assessing the implementation of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development in the rice sector of Myanmar. This study attempted to (a) assess the current status of SME development in the rice sector; (b) identify the level of perceptions of the factors affecting the implementation of SME development in Myanmar; and (c) study the impact of policy implementation on different types of businesses in the rice sector of Myanmar. The factors include policy implementation, market access, financing accessibility, technology acceptance, entrepreneurial capability and internationalization. The conceptual framework was prepared and a questionnaire was designed based on these factors. Thirteen hypotheses were proposed in order to ascertain the factors. The study used active agents of SMEs in three top rice-growing regions of Myanmar as the target population for the primary data. In addition, the representatives of government agencies and business associations as well as relevant experts were alternative sources of data. All of the hypotheses were successfully tested and only 3 out of 13 were accepted. The findings revealed that the capability of implementers and local market access had a highly significant relationship with the income generation aspect of SME development, while financing accessibility and entrepreneurial capability exhibited strong significant influences on the employment generation aspect of SME development. The findings are applicable for policymakers, practitioners, implementers of SME development, and entrepreneurs in Myanmar and other developing countries.