Most texts on strategy appear to be aimed at the larger company environment. They outline relatively sophisticated and formal planning processes of the kind which are likely to prove cumbersome in an SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) environment. SMEs are even more likely to be characterized as having ‘emergent’ as opposed to ‘deliberate’ strategies (‘emergent’ being strategies which can be inferred – usually looking backwards, out of a pattern on a series of actions or divisions). They also tend to be even more incremental in the way one strategy leads to another – so that there is relatively little grand design and even less thinking about the longer-term or medium-term future.

Therefore, SMEs’ growth and profitability are often of uneven quality, with companies doing well for a while, and this often moving into a disruptive cycle which we can characterize (Figure 1) as ‘submergent’, ‘emergency’ and even ‘detergent’ phases (sorting the mess out).

SME strategic planning is often different because it is even more determined by the personal agendas and strategic biases of its top team/leader/owners. Where an SME is owner managed, the aspiration are completely different especially as the normal mechanisms for top-down/bottom-up and horizontal development of strategy that we see in some larger organizations either don’t happen or are very partial.

So, there are many gaps in how SMEs approach strategy. Once filled, these can add considerable value to the management team. Let us now examine some of the commonalities with mainstream strategic management. These include: