"Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria "

The study investigated the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The specific objectives of this study were to: investigate the impact of risk-taking on the innovative performance, examine the influence of autonomy on the innovative performance and assess the moderating role of competitive environment on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovative performance of selected manufacturing firms in Nigeria. A purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the sample size of 373. Primary data were collected through the use of questionnaire and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics, simple linear regression and hierarchical regression. Hypothesis One indicated that there is a significant positive association between risk-taking and innovative performance (R2 = 0.728, p=0.000 < 0.05). Similarly, hypothesis Two revealed a significant positive association between autonomy and innovative performance (R2 = 0.604, p=0.000 < 0.05). Hypothesis Three showed that competitive environment moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovative performance (Adjusted R2 = 0.673, p=0.000 < 0.05). The study recommends that consumer goods manufacturing firms should make continuous and intense efforts to increase their competitive aggressive stance by out-performing their industry rivals in all business activities. Secondly, they should be continually proactive, which implies that they should have the foresight to seize business opportunities at all times.