Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges of small businesses in Tamil Nadu face when adopting strategic entrepreneurship. It seeks to understand how the demographic profiles like Age, gender and educational qualification are influence the challenges for adopting strategic entrepreneurship. This study used a qualitative approach was employed, utilizing a Stratified Random Sampling Technique to select the 380 Small businesses across various sectors in the southern region of Tamil Nadu. Structured Questionnaires were used to gather data on the challenges for adopting strategic entrepreneurship. The percentage analysis for demographic profile, weighted average for the rank of the challenges and Kruskal-Wallis test was utilized for the testing of hypotheses. The study revealed the 20 challenges faced by the small business for adopting the strategic entrepreneurship including limited financial resources, lack of skilled personnel, etc. The demographic profile of the respondents highlighted a predominance of middle aged and male entrepreneurs with more business experience. The weighted average shows that mindset of the employee and limited financial resources are the high mean score and rank. The Kruskal – Wallis test shows the result of the hypotheses. This study adds to the body of knowledge by highlighting specific challenges that small businesses confront. By considering demographic profiles, it offers valuable insights for policy makers and business stakeholders to develop targeted strategies. The utilization of the Kruskal-Wallis test provides a rigorous statistical analysis of the association between demographic profiles and challenges enhancing the originality and validity of the findings.
Keywords: Adoption, Challenges, Innovation, Small Business, Strategic Entrepreneurship.