ABSTRACT
Evidence presented in Chapter 6 confirms that small enterprises examined in Makassar did not, in general, enjoy the business success hoped for by their owners, but were instead trading on the margins. That success was denied due to a range of constraints, some internal to the enterprises, others external to them. Of importance in the first category were factors such as a lack of innovation within many enterprises, inferior product quality and poor accounting records. The negative impact of these was compounded by numerous influences outside the control of the small-scale entrepreneurs upon which their shifting fortunes depended. Among such external factors were high levels of competition faced by many entrepreneurs, corruption within relevant Government agencies in the city, the complex structure and operations of the bureaucracy, difficulties in gaining access to credit, and ever present ethnic divisions and tensions within the city. This chapter, then, explores the constellation of internal and external constraints which diminished the ability of small enterprises in Makassar to achieve their full potential.
