Does firm characteristics and entrepreneurial profile affect performance of micro and small enterprises in Cambodia? An empirical study

An attempt is made in this study to know whether firm characteristics and entrepreneurial profile affect the performance of the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Cambodia. To carry out the present study, from a randomly selected province of Cambodia, namely Svay Rieng province, all the registered MSEs with the Provincial Department of Industry and Handicraft were taken into account. While factors such as age of enterprise, number of current employees, forms of business enterprise, location of enterprise, sector of enterprise, level of technological advancement and availability of enterprise business plan were taken under the firm characteristics; factors like enterprise owner’s age, gender, marital status, educational level, past experience and family background were considered under the entrepreneurial profile. The empirical results of the study show that both the set of characteristics of enterprise and entrepreneurial profile were responsible for considerable variation in MSEs’ performance. Four firm characteristics such as location, sector, level of technological advancement and enterprise business plan and four factors of entrepreneurial profile, namely educational level, past experience, family background and age of enterprise owner had significantly affected the performance of selected MSEs. The implication of the study is that owners and managers of MSEs while developing suitable strategies should give importance to the factors affecting the performance of their enterprises.