Influence of Business Orientations and National Culture Characteristics on Small Business Success through Effective Marketing Management in Tanzania

Abstract

Despite numerous policy interventions, the performance of Small, Micro and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) in Tanzania remains stagnant, contributing to persistent high poverty levels. This study posits that internal strategic dispositions (business orientations) and deep-seated contextual values (national culture) are critical, yet underexplored, determinants of SMME success. We investigate their influence through the mediating lens of effective marketing management. Using a positivist philosophy and a quantitative approach, data were collected from 410 SMME owners and managers across eight Tanzanian regions and analyzed via multiple regression. The empirical results reveal that all three business orientations are significantly and positively related to effective marketing management: technology orientation (β = 0.26, p < 0.05), entrepreneurial orientation (β = 0.44, p < 0.05), and market orientation (β = 0.17, p < 0.05)—collectively explaining 58.6% of its variance (R² = 0.586). Similarly, all six Schwartz national culture characteristics show significant positive relationships: egalitarianism (β = 0.12), harmony (β = 0.17), embeddedness (β = 0.11), mastery (β = 0.19), affective autonomy (β = 0.14), and intellectual autonomy (β = 0.19)—accounting for 61.8% of the variance (R² = 0.618). These findings indicate that both strategic posture and cultural values are potent, complementary determinants of marketing effectiveness and, consequently, small business success in Tanzania. The study contributes to theory by validating and extending Schwartz’s cultural values framework within a sub-Saharan African entrepreneurial context and by integrating it with strategic orientation theory. Practically, we recommend that SMME owners consciously cultivate technology adoption, entrepreneurial initiative, and market-focused behaviors, while policymakers and support agencies should design interventions that align with and reinforce cultural strengths such as equality, harmony, and collective mastery.