Rural SME management economists, SME management studies students and researchers, and agricultural and rural business extension workers

This book is about managerial ability and how it might be assessed and improved, and it focuses on rural Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Traditionally, business studies have seldom covered the manager as a person and a decision maker in any great depth. Personnel management, production economics, financing, operations analysis techniques, etc. tend to be emphasized but the personal attributes of the decision makers have as much influence on success as the rules of good decision making. This book aims to correct this imbalance. The human characteristics of managers that define how a manager operates are explored, as are their impact on managerial ability. The details of the competencies a manager must possess are also presented and discussed as well as potential detracting biases. The book concludes with methods and techniques covering personal characteristic changes and associated managerial improvement. The concepts and conclusions of this book are all based on a body of research, excerpts of which are quoted in the text, drawn from the rich sources available in the international literature. Case studies describing successful managers and management advisors are used throughout. · First book which specifically focuses on human factors and decision making for SME managers. · Introduces new research specifically on the quantification of intuition, the primary decision making method used in SMEs. · Contains essential material required by researchers of decision making processes, business studies teachers, and extension workers from the world of SME business.