EFFECT OF COLLABORATION STRATEGY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL BUSINESS IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract
The study evaluated the effect of collaboration strategy on the performance of Small Business in Enugu State. The specific objectives are to; examine the effect of workforce diversity on the profitability of Small Business in Enugu State and evaluate the effect of communication on the quality of service of Small Business in Enugu State. The population of the study consists of three hundred and eleven (311) small business owners. The whole population was used due to small number. Two hundred and sixty-two (262) returned their questionnaire and accurately filled representing 84 percent response rate. The instrument for data collection used in the study was structured questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was ascertained with a proper structuring of the questionnaire and a conduct of a pre-test of every question contained in the questionnaire to ensure that they are valid. The reliability was tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). It gave reliability co-efficient of 73.0. Data were presented and analyzed by mean score (3.0 and above agreed while below 3.0 disagreed) and standard deviation using Sprint Likert Scale. Z - test was used to test the hypotheses. The findings indicated that Workforce diversity had positive effect on the profitability of Small Business in Enugu State Z (95, n = 262) = 7.445 < 8.958, p > 0.05. Communication had positive effect on the quality of service of Small Business in Enugu State Z
(95, n = 262) = 6.147 < 7.753, p > 0.05. The study concluded that Workforce diversity, and Communication had positive effect on the profitability and quality of service of Small Business in
Enugu State. The study recommended among others that organization should adopt some level
of workforce diversity strategies in order to enhance their competitiveness. Recruitment process
should be open and clear and most qualified based.