Strategic Planning in the Small Business

Unit 3

Content

Process

ness in response to

external opportunities

and threats.

It is based on external aware­

ness, assessment

of internal strengths and

weaknesses,

and the set of distinctive

competencies the business has

developed.

Often, small businesses

fail to give specific

planning

attention to strategic postures,

and instead, emphasize

short-run objecti­

ves and

operational decisions. As such,

the

firm's strategic posture evolves

as a

reflection

of past actions. If that happens,

the strategic posture

describes what the

firm has done rather than prescribe

what

the business will

do. Thus, the strategic

posture fails to

reinforce the sense of Put

up TP 3-7: General Strategic

Postures

direction generated by

the mission Commonly

Used by Small Businesses.

statement.

Some

of the more comnmon strategic

pos­

tures include

the following:

* The

Single Product/Market Posture

The

most prevalent strategic posture

uti­

lized by small businesses

is that of con­

centrating

on a single product or a single

market. The

appeal of this posture is in

the competitive advantage that

this type of

small business may possess.

This posture

allows the small business

to emphasize

what it knows

and does best.

Small business

success-at least initially-is

greaty enhanced by limiting
involvement

to those

areas where owners and mana­

gers possess business experience
and a

clear understanding of the
dynamics of the

competitive market
situation.

This is
especially true in the small

business where managerial
staff islimited.

Focusing on
the single product/market

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