BUSINESS PLANNING AND PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN ANAMBRA STATE

The growing significance of SMEs cannot be overemphasized in view of its contributions to the economic growth of the State through employment. The major objective of this study is to establish the relationship between Business Planning and the Performance of SMEs in Anambra State. The specific objectives are: to examine the relationship between benchmarking and earned income of the operators of SMEs in Anambra State; to ascertain the relationship between brand identity and deduction for goods returned to SMEs operators in Anambra State and to determine the relationship between accuracy of the action plan and discounts in SMEs in Anambra State. The study was anchored on McClland’s theory of needs, goal setting theory, social and recognition theories. Three research questions and Hypotheses which are in line with the objectives guided the study. The study adopted survey research design. Both primary and secondary data were used to carry out the study. A five point Likert scale structured questionnaire was used in collecting data. A sample size of 400 was obtained through the use of Taro Yamane and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to test the hypotheses. Findings from the test of hypotheses carried out indicates that there is a strong positive and significant relationship between benchmarking and earned income; that there is a significant relationship between brand identity and deductions for goods returned; finally, there is a significant positive relationship between accuracy of the action plan and discounts in SMEs. Since there is a positive strong relationship between decomposed variables of the independent and dependent variables then we concluded that business planning plays a crucial role in determining the performance of SMEs. The researcher recommends among others that every SMEs need to embrace business planning for effective performance.