To what extent are SME decision-makers familiar with the most common strategy methods? Results of a survey among presidents, owners, CEOs and managing directors of industrial SMEs

The objective of this article is to examine whether decision makers of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are familiar with the most common strategy methods. To this end, a survey was conducted among decision-makers (presidents, owners, managing directors & CEOs) of SMEs to determine their knowledge of standard strategy methods which were identified for this investigation as SWOT-Match, Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM), Strategic Position & Action Evolution Matrix (SPACE-Matrix), Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG-Matrix), Internal & External Matrix (IE-Matrix), and the Grand Strategy Matrix (GSM). The results showed that approx. 50% do not know any strategy method at all and approx. 60% have never used strategy methods in their professional life. This confirms the assumption that SME decision-makers have limited knowledge of strategy methods, strategy development and planning. In addition, the standard methods were evaluated by 2 participants for their suitability, and they gave an assessment of whether formalized strategic planning is helpful for the long-term success of SMEs.