The applicability of supply chain management dimensions in small scale enterprises operation in Plateau State – Nigeria

Despite the increasing relevance of Supply Chain Management to small-scale enterprises for economic growth in Nigeria, they still lag behind in appreciating the integrated supply chain management dimensions that drive significant changes in business processes, yielding better-quality services. This study examined the applicability of supply chain management to small-scale enterprises in Plateau State. The population for this study was 100. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument for data collection. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) method of data analysis was employed, and multilevel regression/ANOVA was also used to test the hypotheses. The findings confirmed that there was a significant relationship between supply chain management dimensions and improvement in SSEs production processes in Plateau state, supply chain management has a significant contribution to SSEs operations in Plateau state, and there was a significant relationship between supply chain management dimensions and competitive advantage in SSEs production processes in Plateau state. The study recommended that SSEs leverage the interrelationships among SCM dimensions to continually improve their production processes in the plateau state, thereby enhancing economic development. It was also suggested that SSEs need to enhance their operations to develop efficient and resilient production processes that can create a sustainable competitive advantage, especially in the ongoing cutthroat business environment, and finally, it was further suggested that SSEs need to utilise their SCM capabilities and cooperative relationships to access the latest technology, materials, processes, and other methods of innovation which will make them functional in business societies.