Abstract

Austin O. Oparanma, Isaac Zep-obipi and Donald I. Hamilton

This study explores the causes of business failures especially manufacturing firms in Ikwerre Local Government Area (KELGA) of Nigeria. The study samples were drawn from five (5) randomly selected manufacturing firms such as Rizonpalm Limited, Unizon Limited, Johnson Nigeria Limited, Chinda Limited, and Chizi Limited. Data were collected through the use of questionnaire and personal interviews of the sample elements of the population. The hypotheses were tested using both the Chi-square (X) and test of proportion (Z-test) statistical tools. The findings of the research showed that the business failures are caused by the negative internal and external environmental factors namely: pressure from competitors or new entrants, poor improvement in modern technology and poor sales, the outbreak of pest and farm diseases, government policy and etc. The study recommends that there must be application of strategies in order to ensure that manufacturing firms with poor performances can have suggestions for achieving business survival, increase in profit and greater market share.