A Dissertation Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of
Master of Business Administration in Corporate Management (MBA-CM) of
Mzumbe University
Current business environments have been significantly affected by Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) and therefore ICT adoption by businesses has
been potential for their performance. The main objective of this research is to assess
the impact of Information and Communication Technologies towards Performance of
Small and Medium Enterprises in Kariakoo market, Ilala municipal. This research used
a descriptive survey design and targets the population of registered Small and Medium
Enterprises located at Kariakoo market. A total sample of 100 SMEs has been selected
using convenience sampling method, the same consist of general merchandise, money
transfer, boutique, restaurants and consultation with 20 SMEs each. The study uses
both primary and secondary data whereby primary data has been collected using
questionnaires; analysis was done by using descriptive statistics and cross tabulation.
Mean, standard deviation, frequency tables and cross tabulation has been adopted to
find out how data tend to agree or disagree with research questions. Data was presented
using frequency tables and cross tabs.
The study shows that before ICT adoption cost of ICT did not impact performance of
SMEs at Kariakoo market as evidenced by majority respondents of 77%. On the other
hand results revealed that after ICT adoption, cost of ICT impacted performance of
SMEs at Kariakoo market as agreed by 81% respondents. Furthermore before ICT
adoption, ICT awareness did not impact performance of SMEs as disagreed by 59% of
respondents but after ICT adoption SMEs performance has been impacted by ICT
awareness as agreed by 63% respondents. Nevertheless ICT usage before its adoption
did not impact SMEs performance as disagreed by 74% but ICT usage after adoption
impacted SMEs performance as agreed by 80% respondents.
It is recommended that some ICT costs should be rationalized and shared among SMEs
while Small Industries and Development Organization should create the platform for
SMEs practitioners to share experience, learn and become aware of ICT benefits so that
they adopt it. Also SMEs should upgrade themselves and adopt more advanced ICT in
addition to cellular phones to perform better than currently.