Abstract:
The growth and development of SMEs in Jaffna is vulnerable due to the three decades of
internal war. Even having finished the war, there is no remarkable progress in the
development of SMEs in Jaffna. Thus, main objective of study is to scrutinize the severity
and degree of issues of small and medium enterprises in post conflict Jaffna. The second
objective is to identify the growth status of SMEs in Jaffna. Self administered Likert scale
questionnaire has been employed for the analysis of study. The results bring to light the fact
that mean value of assets , value of turnover and mean value of number of employees as
well as growth stages of SMEs clearly show that there is very poor growth of small
enterprises in Jaffna. Another finding is that the mean values of all issues of SMEs are
closer to one or two indicating that small enterprises of Jaffna have been undergoing
several severe problems in the growth of business in post war. Government should give
more priority in policy making to the development of SMEs of North and East where as
political and economic climate should be conducive to flow foreign and local investment
into North and East region. This is a first empirical study in regard to SMEs after 30 years
civil War in the region. This study will be giving new insights to the policy makers and
government. In addition, those who are interested in developing their business in the same
region can acquire valuable information and knowledge about SMEs.
