Pro-activeness and its effect on the survival of family-owned manufacturing companies in Kigali City, Rwanda

The chance of survival of businesses in Rwanda is underprivileged and 82% of them close at an early stage, which negatively affects manufacturing companies, particularly Family-Owned Manufacturing Companies (FOMCs). Although there are other reasons why many FOMCs do not succeed in the next generation, a lack of pro-activeness has surfaced as a critical factor. Thus, the study aimed to assess the effect of pro-activeness on the survival of family-owned manufacturing companies in Kigali City, Rwanda. The study was conducted in Kigali City, from 2017 to 2023; Cochran’s formula was employed to determine a sample size of 384 senior employees picked at random from 77 FOMCs. This study employed Self-administered questionnaires and a quantitative approach. Multiple linear regression analysis was utilized to find out the relationship among variables. IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) SPSS (Software Package for Social Sciences) was employed to analyze data. The findings of this study indicated that pro-activeness had a substantial influence on the survival of family-owned manufacturing companies. The study offers a cogent explanation of the relationship between the longevity of family-owned manufacturing companies and pro-activeness. The study also offers important insights into the smooth and effective execution of pro-activeness for the survival and continuity of family-owned manufacturing enterprises. Moreover, the study findings indicated that combining pro-activeness and training the successors boost the productivity of family-owned companies and make them more competitive in the market, which leads to the long-term survival of FOMFs. The FOMFs that use pro-activeness in their operations survive longer than the ones without it. Key Words: Pro-Activeness; Family-Owned Companies, Survival, and Manufacturing