RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM 2023

Carlos Hilado Memorial State University - Fortune Towne

ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES OF
OWNERS AND BUSINESS
INNOVATIVENESS AMONG MICRO,
SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
(MSMEs)

by: Christine Locsin Cometa

Background of the Study
It is believed that an entrepreneur plays a crucial role in the success
of any business (Grimmer et al., 2017).

MSMEs have given their vital contributions to the economy of every country
where it assists economic growth, and improving income distribution,
productivity, efficiency, and economic structure (Tehseen et al., 2015).

In Malaysia, the “human factor” in

entrepreneurship was proven as it revealed that
entrepreneurial competencies positively affect
business performance (Al Mamun et al., 2019).
Background of 43% of establishments in the
Philippines are innovation active

the Study
according to the Philippine Institute
for Development Studies (Quimba,
et. al. 2017)
In the Philippines, the entrepreneurial
INNOVATION ACTIVE INDUSTRIES:
competencies of business owners
have high results in most studies Food Manufacturing
Other Manufacturing
(Betonio, 2014).
ICT
BPO Industries
 Entrepreneurship became challenging, uncertain, and unpredictable in
today’s global market wherein innovation has been a key factor.

Entrepreneurial Competencies Business Innovativeness

This study takes the opportunity to research the interesting role of the relationship between
entrepreneurial competencies and business innovativeness in the business arena.
Statement of the Problem
The study aimed to determine the level of
entrepreneurial competencies and the extent of
business innovativeness of entrepreneurs from
the micro, small, and medium enterprises in
Negros Occidental, Philippines.
Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the personal profile of the participants?

2. What is the business profile of the participants?
3. What is the level of entrepreneurial competencies of the participants?
4. What is the extent of business innovativeness among MSMEs?
5. Is there a significant difference in the level of entrepreneurial competencies
of the participants when grouped according to their personal profiles?
6. Is there a significant difference in the extent of business innovativeness
among MSMEs when grouped according to their business profile?
7. Is there a significant relationship between the level of entrepreneurial
competencies and the extent of business innovativeness?
8. What appropriate action plan can be proposed?
Methodology
RESEARCH DESIGN:
SAMPLE SIZE:
•Descriptive Research Design
•Descriptive Correlational Research Design
•290 participants out of 1,042 members
•Online Survey through Google Form
•Computed using Yamane’s formula
PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY:
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE:
•Business Owners from the Micro, Small,
•Simple Random Sampling
and Medium Enterprises
•Randomly Selected from the DTI Listing
of Members who were Classified as part
of the Priority Industries in Negros
Occidental, Philippines
 •Part I - Personal and Business Profiles of the Participants

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT: Adapted Questionnaires:

•Part II - Personal - Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs)

•Part III - Organizational Innovativeness Construct

PART I PART II PART III

•Contained fifty-five sentences or phrases. •Contained twenty-nine sentences or phrases

•Used a five-point Likert Scale, identifying the •Used a seven-point Likert Scale identifying an
respondent's entrepreneurial competencies. organization or business’s extent of
innovativeness.
Methodology
DATA - GATHERING PROCEDURES

IDENTIFIED THE OBTAINED INFORMED

PARTICIPANTS CONSENT DATA BANKING
• The researcher formally
• Sought DTI's permission
GOOGLE communicated to the • The accomplished
to use their current DATA GATHERING
FORM possible participants of
listing of businesses questionnaires
the study to secure and
that were part of the obtain informed • Used online tools and social were collected in a
• The research instrument
priority industries. was uploaded online consent. media while adhering to the database and
• Used a random using Google Forms with community standards set tabulated for
sampling technique enhanced security by the online platforms
further analysis.
• Employed also a field
before reaching out to measures to protect the
enumerator given proper
participants. gathered data
orientation to conduct the
survey using available
mobile devices

The survey was conducted from

April 2022 to June 2022.
Methodology
DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

PROBLEM 1 PROBLEM 2 PROBLEM 3 PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6 PROBLEM 7

• Personal profile • Business profile • To determine the • To determine • To find the significant • To determine the • To ascertain the

of the of the level of the extent of difference in the level significant difference significant

participants participants entrepreneurial business of entrepreneurial in the extent of relationship

competencies of the business between
competencies of innovativeness
participants when innovativeness of entrepreneurial
the participants among MSMEs
Ascertained using grouped according to the participants competencies and

frequency distribution their personal when grouped business

Used the measures of profiles according to their innovativeness
business profiles
central tendency
The statistical tool
Treated using the t-test for that was utilized
normal distribution and the was the Pearson
F-test Correlation
 PROBLEM 3
3
• To determine
the level of
entrepreneurial
competencies of
the participants

PROBLEM 4 4
• To determine
the extent of
business
innovativeness
among MSMEs

These are the interpretative scales and

the mean ratings used for interpreting
Problems 3 and 4.
Major Findings of
the Study
1. What is the personal profile of the participants in terms of:

•age,
•sex;
•civil status;
•educational attainment;
•academic degree,
•training attended; and,
•years of entrepreneurial experience?

FINDINGS
MAJOR FINDINGS: Personal Profile of the Participants The personal profile of business owners of the MSMEs

are mostly young, female, and single entrepreneurs,

AGE CIVIL STATUS SEX college graduates with academic degrees in the fields of

Widowed
business, administration, and law, categorically short
63-82 yrs. old

5.5% 1.7% entrepreneurial experience, and have not attended

Married Male
Female DTI-sponsored seminars and training.
43-62 yrs. old 22-42 yrs. old 26.2% 42.1%
46.2% 48.3% Single 57.9%
TRAINING ATTENDED
71%
(DTI-SPONSORED TRAINING)

Education DTI -

ACADEMIC 4.8% Agriculture, Forestry, Sponsored

EDUCATIONAL High School and Veterinary YEARS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL
ATTAINMENT 6.9%
DEGREE 7.6%
Not DTI - 41%
EXPERIENCE
Vocational Sponsored
Engineering,
7.2%
Manufacturing, and 59% 25-43 years
Business, Construction 8.3%
Administration, 9%

and Law Health and

College
Welfare
49.3%
85.2% 11.4% 5-24 years
Others 91.7%
14.8%
2. What is the business profile of the participants in terms of:

•years in operation;
•industry cluster;
•estimated assets;
•number of employees;
•business classification; and,

FINDINGS
MAJOR FINDINGS: Business Profile of the Participants ESTIMATED CURRENT
ASSETS

More than P3,000,000

NUMBER OF YEARS IN OPERATION INDUSTRY TYPE CLUSTER
9.3%
Years in Industry Type
100% 60%
Operation

75%
40%

50% P3,000,000
91.38% 7.60% 1.00% 1.40% 7.60% 33.10% 57.93% 90.7%
NO. OF EMPLOYEES
20%

25%
CLASSIFICATION OF
604-1201 BUSINESS
0% 0% 25.6%
5 to 22 23 to 39 40 to 36 Bamboo WHIC Processed Others Medium
Food 6.2%

In terms of the business profile of the MSMEs, firms are dominated by

5-603
new entrepreneurs in the industries such as manufacturing,
74.4%
agriculture, urban farming, and real estate development while the
Micro
MSMEs' assets are generally minimum and considerably employ few
66.6%
workers.
3. What is the level of entrepreneurial competencies of
the participants in terms of:

•achievement competencies;
•planning competencies; and,
•power competencies?

FINDINGS
Achievement
Competencies
The item relating to achievement-seeking and

opportunity recognition garnered a mean of 4.59

(SD=0.559), interpreted as very high.

These results may mean that most entrepreneurs

are highly achievement-oriented and do not easily

give up on their objectives when faced with

difficulties.
Planning
Competencies
The item relating to future planning garnered a

mean of 4.54 (SD=0.644), interpreted as very

high.

These results may mean that most

entrepreneurs are highly goal-oriented and can

manage time to achieve business goals.

Power
Competencies
Most business owners tend to think about beneficial

solutions when it comes to reaching their goals.

This resulted in a mean of 4.41 (SD=0.666).

The results may mean that most entrepreneurs are

effective solution finders and problem solvers and

that may be competent to signal that they know

what is required for a successful business.

MAJOR FINDINGS: Level of Entrepreneurial Competencies of Business Owners

Mean
5

Achievement Competency Planning Competency Power Competency

(M=4.22, SD=0.31567) (M=4.22, SD=0.36478 (M=3.90, SD=0.55292)

Results show that entrepreneurs from
4

Negros Occidental are

achievement-oriented, highly
3

goal-oriented, effective
(M=4.22, (M=4.22, (M=3.90,
SD=0.31567) SD=0.36478 SD=0.55292) solution-finders, and problem-solvers.
2
The study supports the studies of

Alusen, (2016) which observed that

1
the importance of entrepreneurial

competency has constantly increased.

0
Achievement Planning Power
Level of Entrepreneurial Competencies
4. What is the extent of business innovativeness among
MSMEs in terms of:

•behavior innovativeness;
•product innovativeness;
•process innovativeness;
•market innovativeness; and,
•strategic innovativeness?

FINDINGS
Behavior Results were very high with a mean of 5.82

Innovativeness (SD=1.358) in the item where businesses

got a lot of support from managers if they

wanted to try new ways of doing things.

This may mean that most businesses are

taking decisions and innovative ways

through calculating their risk to adopt and

execute new ways, novel solutions, and

unusual ways of doing things for the

business.
Product The items which were interpreted with very

Innovativeness high mean scores were related to the

introduction of new products and services of

the business (M=5.88, SD=1.179).

High results may mean that an innovative

product has the potential to compete in a

global digital setup which is seen to have a

significant relationship to entrepreneurship

in the studies of Mukhoryanova et al., (2021)

and de Lucas Ancillo et al., (2021).

Process
Innovativeness The highest mean result with a mean of

5.59 (SD=1.307) was seen in the item

where most businesses constantly

improve their business processes.

These results may mean that most

businesses are open to improving and

developing new approaches to business

processes.
Market
Innovativeness The item interpreted as very high was related to

the business way of entering the market with

cutting-edge products and services (M=6.11,

SD=0.966).

The results may mean that most businesses

are very likely to take up against new

competitors in a new market or existing market

segment. This may also mean that businesses

are susceptible to entering and exploiting the

target market.
Strategic
Innovativeness Most businesses scored very high in the item

where it states that they are the last to adopt

new ways of doing things with a mean of 5.67

(SD=1.256).

These results may also mean that most

entrepreneurs are highly value-oriented in

managing ambitious organizational objectives

when businesses identify gaps in industry

positioning and in growing to become the

new mass market.

MAJOR FINDINGS: Extent of Business Innovativeness among MSMEs

Mean
Behavior Innovativeness Strategic Innovativeness
6 Product Innovativeness Process Innovativeness
(M=5.70, SD=1.38766) Market Innovativeness
(M=5.64, SD=1.04212)
(M=5.48, SD=1.04541) (M=5.48, SD=1.18132) (M=5.38, SD=1.08406)

Results show that most businesses

are highly innovative in launching new

4
products, finding novel solutions,

developing processes, tapping new

(M=5.70, (M=5.48, (M=5.38, (M=5.64, market segments, and are highly
(M=5.48,
SD=1.38766) SD=1.18132) SD=1.08406) SD=1.04212)
SD=1.04541) value-oriented in managing business

2 objectives when identifying gaps in

industry positioning and in growing to

become the new mass market. Thus,

businesses are competitively

0 innovative and creative.

Behavior Product Process Market Strategy

Extent of Business Innovativeness

5. Is there a significant difference in the level of
entrepreneurial competencies of the participants when
grouped according to their personal profile?

FINDINGS
Results revealed no significant
differences when entrepreneurs
were grouped according to sex, years
of entrepreneurial experience, and
seminar attended. The null
hypothesis on this is therefore
accepted.

This may mean that businesses were

locally situated and their exposure to
the development of competencies
does not largely differ from one
another whether they were male or
female, new or lengthily experienced,
or have attended DTI-sponsored
training or not.
Results showed no significant
differences in the level of
competencies of the participants when
grouped according to age, civil status,
educational attainment, and academic
degree.

This may mean that the competencies

of the entrepreneurs and the
knowledge passed on from one
generation to another could mean
having the usual and adequate training
and knowledge shared among those
living in the same geographic area,
which can also be possibly observed
regardless of the entrepreneur’s
profile, and the opportunities in the
local setup may be equal and
non-competitive.
6. Is there a significant difference in the extent of business
innovativeness among MSMEs when grouped according to
their business profile?

FINDINGS
Results revealed no
significant differences when
businesses were grouped
according to the number of
employees (p=0.151) and
estimated assets (p=0.554).

In the local setup, this could

mean that business
improvements and
sustainability would require
more innovation activities to
support the business’s
financial aspects.
A significant difference was shown in the
extent of business innovativeness among
MSMEs when grouped according to
industry cluster while results show no
difference in other variable groupings.
Therefore, the null hypothesis on this
objective is rejected.

The results can possibly mean that most

belonging to small and medium
enterprises can become complacent in
terms of innovation while
micro-enterprises thrive to sustain the
business to operate for at least five (5)
years. It can be possibly explained also
that the industries which were few in
number such as the WHIC, bamboo, and
processed food industries need more
priority.
Post-hoc Test Result
A post-hoc test was conducted using

Scheffé's method to analyze the extent of

business innovativeness in terms of the

industry cluster to examine the variable Processed Food Industry

where the significant difference occurred.

Results showed significant differences

WHIC Industry
between industries such as the WHIC and

processed food industries with p-value =

0.002, WHIC industry, and other industries

with p-value = 0.026.

Other Industries
7. Is there a significant relationship between the level of
entrepreneurial competencies and the extent of business
innovativeness?

FINDINGS
Results showed notable results where a
significant relationship between the
two concepts was realized. The p-value
of the relationship between
entrepreneurial competencies and
business innovativeness was 0.000.
Thus, rejecting the hypothesis which
states that there is no significant
relationship between entrepreneurial
competencies and business
innovativeness.

The result may mean significantly in the

success of MSMEs specifically in the
context of business performance and
economic growth where
entrepreneurial competencies are
essential (Solesvik, 2012).
Conclusion
Personal profile of business owners
of the MSMEs:
• Young
• Female
• Single Entrepreneurs
• College Graduates
• With academic degrees in the fields
of business, administration, and law,
• With short entrepreneurial
experience,
• Have not attended DTI-sponsored
seminars and training.
Business profile of the MSMEs:
• Firms are dominated by new
entrepreneurs
• Mostly are from manufacturing,
agriculture, urban farming, and
real estate development
industries
• MSMEs' assets are generally
minimum
• Considerably employ few
workers.
Conclusion
It is concluded that as to the level of entrepreneurial

competencies of business owners, most entrepreneurs

are entrepreneurially skilled while in the extent of

business innovativeness among MSMEs, most

businesses are competitively innovative and

creative.
Conclusion AGE

In terms of the differences in the level of entrepreneurial CIVIL STATUS

competencies when grouped according to their personal

profiles, these are the factors in the entrepreneur’s

SEX
competencies.

YEARS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE

TRAINING ATTENDED

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Entrepreneurial Competencies
ACADEMIC DEGREE
Conclusion
In terms of the differences in the extent of business

innovativeness of the participants when grouped INDUSTRY TYPE

according to their business profiles, these are the factors

of business innovativeness.
CLASSIFICATION OF BUSINESS

YEARS OF OPERATION

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

ESTIMATED ASSETS
Business Innovativeness
Conclusion
Lastly, it is concluded that entrepreneurial
competencies relate to business
innovativeness.

Entrepreneurial Competencies Business Innovativeness

This may mean that the more competent the entrepreneurs become, the more innovative ways they can introduce to

attribute the success of businesses that can positively impact business performances and the development of

economic growth.
Recommendations
FUTURE RESEARCHERS

DTI ADMINISTRATORS ● Have a quantitative study on the

● Implement a program for their beneficiaries to effects of the research concepts in

enhance entrepreneurial competencies and Negros Occidental to verify the effect

improve business innovativeness on business performance and

● Improve their current and existing programs in economic growth
provinces by providing more training and

workshops to priority industries.

ACADEME
● Provide certification programs such as skills training

and leadership and management certification
programs
● Have exchange student programs
● Have training and development programs in partner
communities
ANP AND DTI MEMBERS AND
OFFICERS IN NEGROS OCCIDENTAL
● Equip the group and organizations in Negros Occidental
with more exposure and more in-depth business training to
its members or beneficiaries.
8. What appropriate action plan can be proposed?

FINDINGS
Thank you.