TY - JOUR
T1 - Strategic Decision making in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
T2 - Evidence from Australia
AU - Hang, Xueli
AU - Wang, Calvin
N1 - Imported on 12 Apr 2017 - DigiTool details were: month (773h) = December, 2012; Journal title (773t) = International Journal of Business Studies. ISSNs: 1320-7156;
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Strategic decision-making (SDM) is fundamental to shaping the success of firms;however, the DM processes described in traditional DM theories and models haveonly limited applicability for our understanding of strategic decisions in smallenterprises. This is because most DM models have been developed from studies ofdecision processes in large firms. This paper investigates the SDM process in smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data were gathered by conducting 13 casestudies of Australian SMEs. It was found that a two-staged SDM process was used bymany SME owners/managers and that rather than a problem-analysis-solutionprogression, SMEs engaged in a problem-solution-analysis process. SDM weaknessesidentified were that SME owners/managers had a narrow focus in developingpotential decision alternatives. Moreover, the quality in executing informationsearching and processing was quite moderate. Contributions of this study are that itprovides new insights into SDM practices in SMEs and extends previous research inthe area by providing a DM process model.
AB - Strategic decision-making (SDM) is fundamental to shaping the success of firms;however, the DM processes described in traditional DM theories and models haveonly limited applicability for our understanding of strategic decisions in smallenterprises. This is because most DM models have been developed from studies ofdecision processes in large firms. This paper investigates the SDM process in smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data were gathered by conducting 13 casestudies of Australian SMEs. It was found that a two-staged SDM process was used bymany SME owners/managers and that rather than a problem-analysis-solutionprogression, SMEs engaged in a problem-solution-analysis process. SDM weaknessesidentified were that SME owners/managers had a narrow focus in developingpotential decision alternatives. Moreover, the quality in executing informationsearching and processing was quite moderate. Contributions of this study are that itprovides new insights into SDM practices in SMEs and extends previous research inthe area by providing a DM process model.
KW - Decision-making
KW - Decision-making process
KW - Strategic decision-making
M3 - Article
SN - 1320-7156
VL - 20
SP - 91
EP - 110
JO - International Journal of Business Studies
JF - International Journal of Business Studies
IS - 1
ER -