European Journal of Business and Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2839 (Online) Vol.13, No.22, 2021 20 Entrepreneurial Orientation, Economic Factors and Performance of Selected Quoted Consumer Goods Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria: A Combined Effect Babalola, Edward, A. PhD 1 Alase, Peter O. PhD 2*. Okusanya, A. O. PhD. 3 1. Reader, Dept.of Management and Entrepreneurial Studies, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti 2. Lecturer, Dept. of Management and Entrepreneurial Studies, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti 3.Lecturer, Dept. of Business Education, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode Abstract Performance does take central position in terms of business considering its role in assisting organisations to accomplishing goals and achieving successes. Consumer goods manufacturing industry in Nigeria are experiencing decline in performance these days due to poor entrepreneurial orientation and poor management of economic policies. This study examined entrepreneurial orientation, economic factors and performance of selected quoted consumer goods companies in Nigeria. Cross sectional survey design was employed and the population of the study was 1,551 of twelve (12) quoted consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The Cronbach’s alpha ranges between 0.721 and 0.892. The response rate was 90.5%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that entrepreneurial orientation (β = 0.420, t = 7.288, p = 0.000) and economic factors (β = 0.671, t = 11.098, p = 0.000) have positive and significant effects on performance of the selected quoted consumer goods companies in Nigeria. This implies that entrepreneurial orientation and economic factor are significant predictors of performance of selected quoted consumer goods companies in the study area. The study concluded that entrepreneurial orientation and economic factors had significant effects on performance of selected consumer goods companies in Nigeria and recommended that managers of selected consumer goods companies should be strategic and proactive enough to improve on performance of consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Keywords: Entrepreneurial orientation, Economic factors, Consumer goods companies, Nigeria. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-22-03 Publication date: November 30 th 2021 1.0 Introduction Manufacturing companies, most especially, consumer goods manufacturing industry around the globe are experiencing continuous challenges of maintaining stable performance indicators across different years of operations due to their inability to stem difficulties arising from the consequences of their inability to incorporate entrepreneurial orientation techniques and manage unstable economic policies indicators and ultimately resulting in decline in performance. This trend has captured the interests of scholars and professionals in strategic and entrepreneurship management to investigate the causes of unfavourable volatility and deterioration in consumer goods industry performance indicators. Deloitte Report (2020) showed that the deterioration in overall performance of consumer goods firms is so common all over the world including developed economies. In emerging economies like China, Singapore, and Malaysia, Deloitte Report (2020) reported that consumer goods companies like food and beverages companies account for decline in profitability, low market share due to global competition and open market policies in China and Singapore. Like other developing regions, Nigeria consumer goods manufacturing industry has long been associated with substantial gaps in port, road, power infrastructure, poor supply network, high cost of manufacturing processes, input and output; not to mention its notoriously high levels of corruption and bureaucratic restrictions, which increase the cost of distribution and investment, thus cause the rundown of performance indicators such as profitability, market share, sales growth, competitive advantage and productivity in the Nigeria consumer goods manufacturing industry (Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), 2019). Ojeleye, Opusunju, and Abdullahi (2020) emphasized that part of the factor hindering growth and continuous performance in Nigeria consumer goods manufacturing industry relates to poor quality and non-availability of inputs in the local market, such as raw materials and equipment as well as limited size of the domestic market for manufactured products. The consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria are yet to fully apply corporate entrepreneurial orientation techniques in managing unstable economic policies like importation policy, exchange and inflation rate, infrastructural facility and interest rate so as to achieve profitability, market share, sales growth, competitive advantage and productivity- firm performance (Egbunike & Okerekeoti, 2018). However, Adegbuyi, Oladele, Iyiola, Adegbuyi, Ogunnaike, Ibidunni and Fadeyi (2018) and Olubiyi et al. (2019) pointed that most of manufacturing companies in Nigeria do not strategically employ entrepreneurial orientation measure in managing challenges of unstable economic policies, thus reduce profitability, market share,