The impact of entrepreneurs' environmental analysis strategy on organizational performance

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of entrepreneurial innovation strategies in environmental analysis and its impact on the performance of rural SMEs in developing countries, particularly in Kenya. The paper argues that improvements in rural SMEs through sustainable environmental analysis strategies can boost the performance of small firms in rural areas. A sample of 272 rural enterprises in Kenya was used as a framework. Partial least squares regression and correlation models are used for content analysis. The results show a nonsignificant influence of environmental instability on the performance of small firms in rural areas. However, by incorporating entrepreneurial invention strategies into environmental scanning, the results indicate a positive impact on the performance of rural SMEs. Entrepreneurs need to be aware of the importance of environmental innovation strategies to cope with disturbances and dynamism of the environment underpinning the performance of rural SMEs. The study suggests that policymakers need to create a conducive business environment through entrepreneurship training and business incubation programs for rural SMEs. The results provide information on the environmental analysis strategy and innovation management theory in defining the future of small business reengineering in rural areas.