The use of strategic tools by small and medium‐sized enterprises: an Australasian study

• Published date: 01 January 2003
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.607
• Date: 01 January 2003
• Author: Frederick A. Frost

Strat. Change 12: 49– 62 (2003)

Published online 13 January 2003 in Wiley InterScience

(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jsc.607

The use of strategic tools by small and

medium-sized enterprises: an

Australasian study

Frederick A. Frost∗

School of Marketing, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia

•This paper reviews the range of strategic tools and techniques available to

strategic planners.

•The study focuses on strategic planning tool usage by small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) in Western Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

•A six-stage strategic framework was used to provide for 36 core strategic tasks.

•Results are contrasted with a previous study published in this journal that considered

the use of strategic tools by organizations in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

•SMEs were found to use a restricted range of strategic tools. There is a need for a wider

understanding of the tools available and their application to strategy development.

Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction

Given major changes implicit in the decon-

structing world, the question as to the

understanding of strategy and strategic pro-

cesses is essential. Clark (1997) highlights

the many streams of research which are

focused internally on the knowledge, learn-

ing and decision-making capabilities of man-

agers acting as individuals or teams. The

emergent knowledge-based view of the firm

is one approach which attempts to fuse

together several streams including epistemol-

ogy, organizational learning, the resource-

based view, organizational capabilities and

competitiveness and innovation and new

product development (Grant and Baden-

Fuller, 1995). Other streams focus on the

* Correspondence to: Frederick A. Frost, Associate Pro-

fessor School of Marketing, Curtin University of Tech-

nology, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth Western Australia.

E-mail: ValentiS@cbs.curtin.edu.au

nature and processes involved in strate-

gic decision making including research on

cognition, strategic choice and top manage-

ment teams. Included in this internal focus

is research on the impact of strategic man-

agement concepts and frameworks which

managers use to develop competitive strate-

gies (Clark, 1997).

There are certainly numerous techniques,

tools, methods, models, frameworks, app-

roaches and methodologies, which are avail-

able to support decision making within

strategic management. The set is continually

expanding as strategic management devel-

ops its own approaches and uses the tools

that have been developed in other disciplines

(Day et al., 1990). A number of authors

have presented useful listings of strategic

techniques, (Argenti, 1969; Hussey, 1992;

Karlof, 1989; Kempner, 1987; Rowe, et al.,

1994). A more recent update of techniques

for strategic analysis has been provided by

Hussey (1997).

Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Strategic Change, Jan– Feb 2003