SMEs - where do you fit in?

SMEs fit into one of the three (3) categories of SME I defined in the previous three blog articles.

So where do you fit. Are you a survivalist? Are a lifestyle entrepreneur? Whatever you are, it is important to know!! The lifestyle entrepreneur is the most difficult to motivate to change his or her ways.

Are they worth changing? I think that there are undoubtedly many worth changing, but the question is how to do so. It is a very difficult process, and I have yet to succeed on a significant scale. I believe that only they can change themselves. As I have stated previously, it is all about the ego. Unless they can manage their ego to the point where they can acknowledge they are wrong, they will never change. The ego will ensure that they do not change.

The survivalist, that is the one who was previously employed, may be able to break out of the mould he is in. but it is almost as difficult. These people seldom have egos. They have very low self esteem, and this has to be changed, by themselves. they need to build their own self-esteem, to the point where they believe they have the skills to do more. I do not know if they are able to grow into high growth ventures, but they can most definitely grow beyond their current position.

Which brings me to another option. An option that most entrepreneurs avoid like the plague. The partner/fellow director.

Research points to the fact that those businesses with multiple owners are generally more successful than those with single entrepreneurs. There is no doubt that 1+1=3 when it comes to multiple directors. One secret is to avoid partners with competing skills, rather seek someone with complementary skills. Accountants often make good partners, especially if you are technically or sales oriented. Give it some thought and remember that the main purpose of starting a business is to create wealth. Nothing else is important, and everything else eventually links back to this wealth creation.

SMEs - are governments helping or hindering?

Government interventions are fact of life in every economy. These can be general in nature (functional interventions) or very specific (selective interventions). So what is the problem. It appears that governments the world over are seeking economic, and sometimes political, solutions through SMEs. SMEs have been around for a long time, and I have personally owned my own businesses since 1982. But the governments and the media act as though they have personally found/invented the SME. Everybody is making wild claims about the importance of SMEs in their economy, often without any research data to support their claims. Interventions are based on hearsay and urban legend, not good solid research. They then bombard the SMEs with a range of interventions that are often ill planned. ill designed and poorly implemented by inexperienced government functionaries. They try to put square pegs in round holes! They push SMEs into sectors that are not suited to SMEs, and they ignore advice. They try to force big business to do business with SMEs, ignoring the risk to big business, and this is particularly applicable to banks. Perhaps it is time for governments to step back and take a long hard look at the SME sector, their current interventions, and then assess what they should really be doing. Perhaps then greater success will be achieved.

SMEs - tips for the strategy process

SMEs are generally terrible at planning. I use an example with my students. Would you leave work, go home, pack whatever clothes are in the cupboard, take whatever cash is in your pocket, get in your car, drive until you run out of petrol, and then have a holiday wherever you run out of petrol. The answer is always no. And yet most SME owners run their businesses in this way.

They simply arrive each day in the hope of sales arriving. There is no plan. No strategy. No direction. There is simply ever-fading hope.

You need to read as widely as possible in order to ensure your strategy is informed by your environment. A PESTEL analysis is not a once-off annual event, but rather a way of life. It is about knowing and understanding what is happening at all times. How often do you hear businesses who are in trouble state "I just did not see it coming. Suddenly ....". Remember nothing is "suddenly". It is always announced in advance. Even the current global financial crisis was being talked about in advance.

So read a book or two on strategy. Gary Hamel is a strategy author who can give you some good tips and insights.

Read, read, read!

SMEs - Step 9 in the business planning process

SMEs are renowned for missing the detail, but this is a detail step that makes it all worthwhile.

Once you have completed the business plan, especially Step 8 which is the Operational Strategy, you must assess the projected financial position, and then decide if the business will achieve your harvest plan. If not you have to decide whether to accept less or whether you will look elsewhere.

This important step cannot be avoided or ignored, because to do so, is to do so at your own peril. Doing this with a client once, he realised it was impossible to achieve his harvest plan with this business. His decision was to "learn to live with less". This is not an entrepreneur speaking, and frankly it is quite likely he will get exactly what he asked for, or less. Remember, it is seldom that targets are achieved or exceeded, so aiming low is a recipe for disaster.

SMEs - Step 3 in the business planning process

So far you should have decided on a harvest strategy (Step 1) and on your business model (Step 2). In Step 3 we move to the next item that has to be addressed. Setting the Vision and Mission.

The setting of the Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives must be seen as having a funnel effect, where the Vision is at the broadest part of the funnel, in other words the biggest picture on where the business is intended to get to in the far future, and the Objectives as the narrowest part of the funnel, the smallest picture on where the business is intended to get to in the short term future, normally considered the current financial year.

The Corporate Strategy would normally end at the completion of the PESTEL analysis (Step 5)and the Business Strategy would include Steps 6 through 11.

So to return to Step 3, the setting of the Vision and Mission. The Vision should look at where and what the enterprise wants to be in the far future. This will vary in time. Some enterprises think a 10 year horison is fine, while some, like the Japanese think a 50 year horison is fine.

The Mission statement is normally considered as a nearer term concept of where the business will want to be in say 5 years, bearing in mind that the strategy may involve enormous change in the enterprise which will evoke an evolving strategy.

Look at the following examples:

Toyota Vision
"To become the most successful and respected lift truck company in the U.S."
Toyota Mission
"To sustain profitable growth by providing the best customer experience and dealer support."

McDonalds Vision
"McDonald's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile."

McDonalds Mission
"To be our customers' favorite place and way to eat."

Hopefully this gives an insight into what a Vision and Mission statement should look like.

Hi everyone.

I have to apologise for my lack of effort, but I had a PhD to complete, which I have now done.

I will now resurrect my SME related articles here, and my African related articles on http://www.evancarmichael.com/

Please feel free to e-mail me article suggestions, requests or questions at rob@smorfitt.co.za

Regards
Rob Smorfitt