Strategic Determinants of Organizational Performance of Small Business – a Preliminary Study Outcomes and Research Perspectives on the Sample on Brazil and Poland

Abstract

Contemporary enterprises are forced to act in a dynamic and competitive local and global market. Particularly for small business, this great challenge becomes a barrier for organizational development and results rather in a survival strategy with low organizational performance. In the same time it is essential to create friendly conditions for small business development and small business growth because these kinds of companies are the employers for local communities and hence they contribute to a reduction of the national unemployment rate for global economy. However these conditions are possible to shape when knowing the determinants of organizational performance. Taking this into account, the aim of the article is to describe the preliminary study on defining organizational management patterns of small business in Brazil and Poland that are starting point to learn a typology of strategies and asses the strategies under such criteria as ability to prevent market risks and stabilization of competitive positions. The method used in the study was a survey based on multi-item scale for strategic types containing 11 adaptive cycle dimensions in the Miles and Snow typology. These dimensions will be linked to data on management particularities, work organization and performance in small business.