Strengthening entrepreneur business performance for South African SMEs by integrating behavioural courses into business skills training

Skills and knowledge of business and management are essential for enterprise growth and business survival, to a point where entrepreneurs regard them as indispensable qualities desired in business management. These qualities are not the only ones necessary in business and management, as there are many determinants of business growth. However, there are numerous instances where a business enterprise fails despite its human resources having received high quality training in business skills, and sometimes even having adequate resources. The purpose of this study was to design an innovative way to incorporate attitudes and behaviour in the training of entrepreneurs to stimulate high performance. Evidence was produced to show that some small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which were on the verge of collapsing/failing can be revived by training on aspects of ‘attitude’ and ‘behaviour’. This paper demonstrated how an existing training on skills development can be improved by adding content that focuses on attitudes and behaviour to reduce their failure. The findings of this study have potential to enable business schools and colleges offering entrepreneurship courses to incorporate ‘attitude’ and ‘behaviour’ which could aid in the survival of the SMEs that are so critical for the economy of the country. Key Words:Attitudes, behaviour, curriculum, business performance