Strategic Management for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Smes)

The applicability of large-organization strategicmanagement concepts to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) isconsidered.First, the two general approaches that researchers have takenin developing a framework for the strategic management of SMEs arereviewed.Adopting a "bottom-up" approach, specialists insmall-firm research contend that the small business is unique and thatstrategic planning concepts developed for the large enterprise cannot beusefully applied to the small firm. Researchers in the field of strategicmanagement, on the other hand, adopt a "top-down" approach and arguethat strategy-making processes in large and small firms are similar and mayoperate on similar concepts.In accordance with the "top-downapproach," it is argued that the constraints facing smaller firms do notrender useless the generic strategies employed by larger firms. Theresource-based approach to strategic management is then discussed.Whileno resource-based model has been usefully applied to small-firm management, theapproach offers a general idea of what factors give a firm of any size acompetitive advantage.The identification of these factors requiresanalysis of the firm’s competitive situation. (SAA)