Anatomy of the Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in Zimbabwe : Introducing the 3E Model

While most entrepreneurs around the globe acknowledge that they began their businesses either as a hobby or a secondary source of income, the mushrooming of SMEs in Zimbabwe has been prompted by unprecedented company closures which saw many workers losing their jobs. SMEs occupy a central position in solving socio – economic problems such as unemployment and poverty, especially in developing countries. For most Zimbabweans, SMEs have become the major source of livelihood. SMEs sector – led growth has been touted the world over as the stepping-stone for industrialization. Developed economies such as the United States of American, Japan, Switzerland, China, Australia and the United Kingdom trace their development from growth and development of their SMEs. Owing to the importance and place of SMEs in any economy, it is imperative that the SMEs sector in Zimbabwe should get the attention it deserves. Understanding of why some SMEs succeed while others fail is essential for the stability and health of the economy of Zimbabwe. Developing a deeper understanding of SMEs in Zimbabwe can never be complete without recognition of CSFs. Despite this fact, CSFs for SMEs in Zimbabwe have not been studied. The paper is motivated by an urgent need to develop a common framework of the CSFs for SMEs in Zimbabwe. The purpose of this paper is to unbundle the SMEs CSFs through Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and a special reference to Zimbabwe is made. The proposed 3E conceptual model depicts that the success of SMEs in Zimbabwe largely depends on enterprise factors (e.g technology, marketing and management skills), environmental factors (e.g social networks and government & financial support) and entrepreneurial factors (e.g gender, age of owner, education level and availability of capital). The model guides entrepreneurs in shifting their attention from numerous & unnecessary factors and helps them focus on SMEs CSFs