Examining factors that influence the success and failure of SMEs in Nigeria (A case study of the Lagos metropolis)

This study used the regression equation model in succinctly analyzing several factors that affect the performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises performance in Nigeria. To understand the salient activities of SMEs, several factors were highlighted, including Bank Credit, Trade Openness, and interest rate. Results from the study show that bank credit and interest rates improve and advance the overall performance of these SMEs ' output, while trade openness plays no significant role in the overall performance of these SMEs in Nigeria. The general effect as indicated by the F-statistics reveals that of all three variables measured during this study, Bank Credit and Interest are statistically significant in deciphering the improvement of the performance of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises in Nigeria. Hence, we reject the null hypotheses which stated that bank credit has no significant or one would say, visible effect on the performance of SMEs in Nigeria, as well as that which says that interest rate has no bearing on SMEs performance, but accepts the third hypothesis which states that trade openness has no bearing on the performance of SMEs in Nigeria.