The strategy has taken on a new meaning, and in order to be successful in their market, SMEs must re-examine how they are carrying out their businesses. The rationality of these businesses is driven by added value and knowledge-based solutions. Today, it is demonstrated that the challenge for small and medium business boards is to redefine and implement the strategy quickly and effectively.
Some factors or barriers that impede the successful implementation of the strategy are:
1- Barrier of shared vision: it is common to see in SMEs that their members are not integrated, nor cohesive with a weak culture.
2- Management barrier: SMEs are based on short-term performance and not on the long term, their systems are designed for operational control and not to understand and implement the strategy.
3- Operational barrier: the key processes are not designed to leverage the drivers of the business strategy.
4- Staff barrier: the objectives of the staff, their compensations, training, construction of knowledge, skills and competences are not linked to the implementation of the strategy.
Defining the strategy means implementing clear and direct communication channels that allow the organization to be aligned and oriented from the top down and from the bottom up (feedback) so that there is a clear understanding of the defined objectives and goals. The strategic plan must first be understood and internalized by the board, and then be downloaded to the entire organization. The Balanced Scorecard plays a vital role in this process by restructuring the organization based on how the strategy is described and then tying all the elements of the management system of objectives measured in performance measurements.
The rapid and effective implementation of strategies requires a system that aligns the entire organization in a clear idea of thought and the guide in a management model based on leveraging of resources, connectivity and learning.
Build a strong culture that allows people to communicate highly, share information and promote teamwork, create feedback processes at all levels that allow testing and reviewing all the hypotheses related to the implementation of the strategy.
A company begins to create its command board from establishing strategic objectives from four perspectives:
How customers see us (customer perspective)
What we should improve (internal perspective)
Can we continue to improve and create value? (perspective of innovation and learning).
How we see ourselves economically and financially (economic-financial perspective).
The balanced scorecard minimizes the overabundance of information, focuses exclusively on measurements that are critical to the business, and helps implement and make the strategy emanating from the board understood by the entire organization.
