Planning In Small Enterprises Research Articles

Strategic business planning and success in small firms

This paper attempts to identify the degree and the methods of strategic business planning in small enterprises. A broad literature review on strategic planning in small enterprises in entrepreneurship and strategy journals within the last 25 years reveals that strategic planning in small enterprises is still in its infancy, and the reports of its relationship regarding success are not consistent. This literature review serves as a starting point for the development of hypotheses. Using a sample of 248 small Austrian enterprises from various industries, we test if the time horizon of strategic plans, the degree of formalisation, the use of strategic planning instruments and the frequency of control relate to firm performance. We discover that the degree of formalisation has a positive, and highly significant, impact on firm performance. As a result, this paper seeks to provide a new conceptual definition of strategic planning in small enterprises.

Strategic Planning Practices in Small Enterprises in Queensland

Strategic planning in small enterprises differs from strategic planning in larger organizations. Small enterprise research literature in general suggests that the characteristics of the planning environment of a small enterprise differ from those of a large organization and these differences create growth opportunities and threats which are unique to small enterprises.

Marketing planning in small enterprises: A model and some empirical evidence∗

This paper discusses some of the features of small firms and emphasises that business proprietors have quite a different approach to marketing compared to that displayed by professional marketing managers in large concerns. In particular, the authors argue that the predominating influence of the owner/manager and the managerial and structural features of small enterprises leads to a marketing planning approach that is unique to them and suited to their needs and capacities. This approach, while it encapsulates the fundamental elements of marketing planning and investigates internal and external planning dimensions, allows owner/managers to approach marketing planning with varying degrees of rigour and sophistication. The authors develop a model to make this approach operational. To investigate the utility of the model, semi‐structured interviews were carried out with the owners of 68 four‐year‐old firms and results show that around two thirds of owners adopted a “non‐marketing” approach to marketing plann...