Abstract
Orientation: Supporting agencies and small and micro enterprises in South Africa could be endowed with an integrated model that outlines the characterisation and patterns of strategic decision-making in the small and micro service sector that will assist in understanding and improving decision-making to enhance business sustainability and competitiveness.Research purpose: To assess the strategic decision-making process in small and micro service enterprises in South Africa.Motivation for the study: This study was motivated by the factors affecting small and micro enterprise sustainability which included deficiencies in the strategic decision-making process.Research design, approach and method: This study adopted a qualitative approach that captured the social realities of the decision-making process. The data collection techniques include semi-structured interviews of ten (10) respondents, four focus groups with five (5) respondents per group and five (5) businesses chosen for observation. Content analysis was used to analyse the data with the aid of NVIVO data analysis software. The data analysis software was used to organise data and identify themes.Main findings: The process of strategic decision-making is pivoted on the intuitive decision-making tendencies of the business owners which reveal iterative and concurrent characteristics.Practical/managerial implications: The effect of strategic decision-making is identified as a major challenge among small and micro enterprises leading to business failure. The implications of this research relate to identifying the most practical ways in which such decisions are formulated and devising mechanisms to enhance the decision-making process.Contribution/value-add: The pattern of strategic decision-making exhibited a greater tendency towards intuitive decision formulation as opposed to procedural rationality and that those businesses that attempted some form of methodological environmental scan as an influencing factor in the decision-making process adopted more of an assimilated approach in the intuitive-rational decision-making continuum rather than a completely procedural rational mode.
Highlights
Small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are the backbone of the South African economy with a goal that at least 90% of new jobs will be created from small and expanding enterprises by 2030 (Groepe 2015)
Given the importance of SMMEs to the economy of South Africa, strategic decision-making in small and micro enterprises is relevant to the efficacious advancement of these businesses
These studies have resulted in multiple interventionist determinations aimed at prescribing a formal programmed approach to strategic decision-making through systematic strategic planning mechanisms in order to enhance the performance of South African SMMEs (Sandada et al 2014)
Summary
Medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are the backbone of the South African economy with a goal that at least 90% of new jobs will be created from small and expanding enterprises by 2030 (Groepe 2015). Given the importance of SMMEs to the economy of South Africa, strategic decision-making in small and micro enterprises is relevant to the efficacious advancement of these businesses. Notwithstanding such significance, the definition of strategic decision-making fluctuates in practice and theory. This study contributed to the stock of knowledge on the process of decision-making pertaining to SMMEs in South Africa from the perspective of an intuitive-rational continuum
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