Basic Characteristics of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Terms of Their Strategic Management

Abstract

The strategic management represents current direction of management. It is applied in all types of enterprises, including small and medium sized ones. Using principles of process management within SMEs has its limitations caused mainly by the size of the enterprise and the related focus on operational management. Other specifics are function accumulation, informal leadership, preference of oral communication to written, etc. Nevertheless, implementation of strategic management can increase competitiveness, reduce costs, improve decision-making, facilitate implementation of the employee motivation system, shorten delivery times, raise quality of customer satisfaction, etc. The aim of this article is to find out how to what extent SMEs implement the principles of strategic management.