STRATEGIC ORIENTATION IN MICRO MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES: A QUALITATIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF OWNER-MANAGERS PERSPECTIVES

Micro manufacturing enterprises play a critical role in employment generation, regional industrial development and economic resilience in emerging economies. Despite their economic significance many micro manufacturing firms continue to struggle with limited resources, technological constraints, market uncertainty and increasing competitive pressures. Existing research has predominantly examined strategic orientation using quantitative approaches leaving limited understanding of how strategic orientations are enacted in resource-constrained manufacturing firms. Addressing this gap this study explores the strategic orientations adopted by micro manufacturing enterprises through an in-depth qualitative investigation. The study employed an interpretivist research philosophy and a multiple-case study design involving eighteen micro manufacturing enterprises operating in the manufacturing sector. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with owner-managers and analysed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis procedure. The findings reveal six interrelated strategic orientation dimensions namely market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, innovation orientation, technology orientation and cost orientation that collectively influence firms' adaptive capabilities and competitive performance. While market orientation emerged as the dominant strategic priority firms simultaneously relied on entrepreneurial judgement, continuous learning, cost discipline, incremental innovation and selective technology adoption to respond to dynamic market conditions.