Strategic management for small and medium companies

The present work has been carried out with the purpose of giving information and finding referring to the Strategic Management in the small and medium industry, directed to the very conceptual development of the subject and content in general.

The content will focus first with the conceptualization of Strategic Management, then the key terminology in the study of Strategic Management, stages in its process, model of Strategic Management, Strategic Management applied to companies.

This topic is of great importance since it refers to the Strategic Management in the small and medium industry because it allows an organization to be able to formulate its own future, through formulation, execution and evaluation of actions that a given industry allows the achieving your goals.

What is Strategic Management?

It is an exciting process that enables an organization to be proactive rather than reactive in formulating its future.

It is the formulation, execution and evaluation of actions that allow an organization to achieve its objectives. Strategy formulation includes identifying an organization's internal weaknesses and strengths, determining a firm's external threats and opportunities, establishing industry missions, setting goals, developing alternative strategies, analyzing these alternatives and deciding which ones to choose. Strategy execution requires the firm to set goals, design policies, motivate its employees, and allocate resources so that the strategies formulated can be carried out successfully. The strategy evaluation checks the results of the execution and formulation.

Key terminologies for the study of Strategic Management.

Strategists :

They are key individuals responsible for the success or failure of a company or industry. They have different titles such as: executives, bosses, presidents, owner, dean, entrepreneurs, etc.

Because strategists are human beings they differ in their attitudes, values, sense of ethics, concern for profitability, concern for the short term versus concern for the long term, and managerial style.

Formulation of the mission:

It is the one that identifies the scope of the operations of a company of other similar ones, in the aspects of the product and the market. It incorporates the philosophy of the strategists of an organization. It reveals the concept of an organization, its main product or service and the main customer needs that the firm intends to satisfy.

Internal strengths:

They are internal activities of an organization that performs particularly well. The functions of management, marketing, finance, production, research and development of a business should be audited or examined in order to identify and evaluate internal strengths of particular importance.

Internal Weaknesses:

Refers to internal management, marketing, finance, production, research and development activities that limit or inhibit the overall success of an organization. An industry should try to follow strategies that effectively improve areas with internal weaknesses.

External opportunities:

They are economic, social, political, technological and competitive trends, as well as events that could significantly benefit an organization in the future. The resolution of computers, biotechnology, changes in population, changing values and attitudes regarding work, space technology, as well as the increasing competition from foreign companies are some of the most important changes.

For example: An external opportunity facing the Singer company is the fact that the aerospace market is expected to expand four times between 1984 and 1990. As a consequence, sewing machines are being relegated to the background in the Singer, is now focused on the company's largest resources in the aerospace area.

External Threats:

They consist of economic, social, political, technological, and competitive trends, as well as events that are potentially damaging to an organization's present or future competitive position.

For example: Specific areas where competitors are especially strong, riots in the Middle East, rising interest rates, etc.

Goals:

Long-term results that an organization aspires to achieve through its core mission. The goals should be: measurable, reasonable, clear, consistent and stimulating.

For example: A sewing industry announced that since 1999 2000 it has the plan to reduce its military businesses by 50%, and they intend to increase revenues to 38% of the company's total sales; taking them from a level of 18% where they were in 1998.

Strategies:

They are the means by which the objectives will be achieved. They include geographic expansion, diversification, acquisition of competitors, obtaining control of suppliers, market penetration.

For example: A fabric sewing industry followed a strategy of change and reduction. Its strategic plan was to eliminate spending operations, generate slow-growing production cash, and accelerate faster-growing production expansion.

This industry has been hampered by declining employee morale, miscalculations regarding the market, and outdated management practices. As internal weaknesses of the company; There is a desire to give more power and freedom to line managers, and operational managers have recently gained more control over their budget, operating plans, capital spending plans, and salary administration. Strategies for training and administration of capital and personnel were taken into account.

Goals:

They are benchmarks or aspirations that organizations must achieve, in order to achieve a longer term in the future. They must be measurable, quantitative, realistic, stimulating, consistent and priority. They must be set at business, divisional, and functional levels in an organization. They must be formulated in terms of management achievement, marketing, finance, production, and research and development.

For example: One of the most important goals that the textile industry undertakes is to increase production by 75% before 2000 to obtain even more sales during the year.

With sales opening a new branch in the middle of the year 2000.

Policies:

The way in which the goals set are to be achieved, or the guidelines established to support efforts to achieve the goals already defined. They are guides for decision-making and are established for repetitive or recurring situations in the life of a strategy. Policies can be set at the enterprise level and applied to the entire organization, or they can be established at the division level and apply only to certain departments or operational activities.

For example: The textile industry "TOCOME", its merchandise delivery policy consists of dispatching within the five hours following the receipt of an order.

Stages in the strategic management process.

a) Formulation of strategies:

It is the process leading to the establishment of the firm's mission, carrying out an investigation in order to establish external weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats, conducting analyzes that compare internal and external factors, and setting objectives and strategies for industry.

The selected strategies must effectively leverage the strengths of an industry, trying to overcome its weaknesses, taking advantage of its clear external opportunities and avoiding external threats. Three major activities are required; research, analysis and decision making.

The investigation must be internal as well as external. Surveys can be developed and administered to examine internal factors such as: employee mood, production efficiency, etc.

Analysis requires in formulating a strategy. Analytical techniques such as the position matrix, strategy and action evaluation, etc.

In decision making it is the formulation of strategies, making decisions regarding the objectives to be set and the strategies to be followed.

b) Execution of strategies:

It means the mobilization of both employees and managers, to carry out the strategies already formulated, consists of: goal setting, policy and resource allocation. It is the most difficult step in the process of strategic management, due to the fact that it requires personal discipline, sacrifice and concentration.

Execution of strategies may revolve around managerial ability to motivate employees, and motivation is often considered more of an art than a science.

c) Evaluation of strategies:

You must analyze the internal and external factors that represent the bases of your current strategies. The questions asked: Are strengths still internal strengths?; Are internal weaknesses still weaknesses?; Are external opportunities still opportunities?

An industry must measure the performance of the organization. Strategists should compare actual progress with the industry's previously planned progress, with respect to achieving previously established goals and objectives. In this evaluation, internal and external factors undergo changes.

Strategic management model:

Establish current objectives, strategies, and mission. Conduct external investigations to identify threats and opportunities. Conduct internal investigation to identify company strengths and weaknesses. Set industry mission. Conduct formulation analysis. of strategies in order to generate and evaluate feasible alternatives. Set objectives. Set strategies. Set goals. Set policies. Assign resources. Analyze internal and external bases for current strategies. Measure results and take corrective measures.

Strategic Management enables an organization to effectively use its strengths in order to take advantage of external opportunities and minimize the impact of external threats. Strategy formulation, execution, and evaluation activities enable an organization to develop both offensive and defensive strategies.

Strategic Management applied to small companies.

Strategic management is of vital importance in large companies, but what is its importance in small companies? The strategic management process applies equally to both large and small companies. From the moment of its conception, every organization has a strategy, even if it has its origins only in daily operations.

Other problems that often arise when applying strategic management concepts to small industries are: lack of sufficient capital to exploit environmental opportunities and a “daily” cognitive frame of reference. Recent research concludes that:

The strategic management process in small companies is more informal than in large companies. Small companies that perform strategic planning perform better than those that do not.

Benefits of strategic management:

It enables an organization to be able to influence rather than react to its environment, thereby exercising some control over its destiny. Strategic management concepts provide an objective basis for resource allocation and internal conflict reduction. that may arise when subjectivity alone is the basis for important decisions. They allow an organization to take advantage of key opportunities in the environment, minimize the impact of external threats, use internal strengths and overcome internal threats. strategic management are more profitable and successful than those who do not use them. They prevent declines in income and profits and even bankruptcies. They prevent the death of a company, includes a greater awareness of environmental threats,Greater understanding of competitor strategies, greater staff productivity, less resistance to change, and a clearer view of performance / reward relationships. Strategic management includes a greater awareness of environmental threats, a greater understanding of a company's capabilities. In terms of problem prevention, because they emphasize interaction between industry managers at all levels, they bring order and discipline to the entire company. It is the beginning of an efficient and effective management system.Greater understanding of a company's capabilities in problem prevention, as they emphasize interaction between industry managers at all levels. They bring order and discipline to the entire company. It is the beginning of an efficient and effective management system.Greater understanding of a company's capabilities in problem prevention, as they emphasize interaction between industry managers at all levels. They bring order and discipline to the entire company. It is the beginning of an efficient and effective management system.

Examination of the strategic management model.

Identify current strategies, objectives and missions.

This process begins with identifying the strategies, objectives, and missions of an organization. This is the logical starting point, as existing missions, objectives, and techniques may hide certain optional strategists and still give rise to new courses of future action.

Carry out external audits.

This includes the identification and evaluation of key competitive, social, political, economic and technological trends and events. In strategic management, internal and external auditing can be carried out simultaneously, since each activity focuses and integrates with different variables.

External trends and events are generally factors that an organization cannot control, while internal factors are.

a) Carry out internal audits:

You must have a clear intention to take advantage of your internal strengths and overcome or minimize the effect of your weaknesses. Having an internal business policy, based on a prediction and the correction of its weaknesses and strengths, they must be evaluated with respect to their importance and relative size.

b) Establish the mission of the company:

He begins with basic dimensions of the formulation, is based on a series of beliefs that an organization can offer some product or service to some clients, in some geographic area, at a stable price. As a new company grows, it becomes necessary to reformulate its mission, but the elements of those original business ideas are generally reflected in the already revised mission.

c) Set the objectives:

Goals must be clearly formulated and communicated because they are vital to success, for many reasons. The objectives give employees, creditors, suppliers, distributors and shareholders a clearer vision of their role in the future of an organization. These provide coherence in the decision-making process between managers, whose values and attitudes are different. By achieving consensus on objectives during strategy-making activities, an organization can minimize post-implementation conflicts.

Set strategies:

They are the means by which an organization seeks to achieve its objectives.

Acquisition and merger are two commonly used methods to achieve various strategies, but internal reorganization may be a cheaper way to achieve the same business objective.

d) Implementation of the strategy:

Strategic ideas need to be translated into action. Changes are required in the allocation of resources to departments, setting performance standards, installing an information system, setting reward systems, changes in the structure of an organization, creating new sales territories, etc.

e) Evaluation of strategies:

It is an assessment of how a company performs. Demonstrate conclusively that a particular strategy is optimal or even guarantee that it will work and look for critical effects.

Framework for writing and evaluating the mission statement:

The importance of mission formulation is to produce well-supported effective strategic management.

A company must ensure that its mission formulation includes all the essential components. Communicate feelings you want and will motivate those interested in the action.

You may need to write a mission statement for the organization you are studying, providing the purpose of developing clear and meaningful mission statements, especially a framework for evaluating their effectiveness.

Its components are: customers, products or services, markets, technology, concern for survival, philosophy, etc.

You must have social responsibility, real formulations of missions, etc.

Key sources of environmental information.

Once strategists have selected the key environmental variables, conducting an external audit involves choosing key sources of environmental information. There is a large accumulation of strategic information available to organizations. Said information comes from published or unpublished sources. Environmental information can be obtained from unpublished information contained in market research, customer surveys, speeches at professional meetings, conversations with people related to the firm, interviews and aerial photographs.

Printed sources of strategic information include daily periodicals, reports, government documents, summaries, books, directories, and manuals. In order to effectively access print sources of information, there are several excellent indexes that show the location of strategic information by subject, source, author, company, and industry.

Motivation within strategic management.

It is the process that makes people act. She explains why some people work hard and others don't. Objectives, goals, strategies, and policies have little chance of success if employees and managers are not motivated to execute the strategies as soon as they are formulated. The motivated role of management includes at least four important components, leadership, group dynamics, communication flows, and organizational change.

A key final factor in motivating your subordinates is the need to manage change. Due to various internal and external factors, change is a reality in the life of organizations. The rate, speed, magnitude, and direction of changes vary over time, depending on the type of industry and organization. Managers should try to create a work environment in which change is recognized as necessary and beneficial, so that people can adapt to it more easily.

Marketing audit in strategic management.

Marketing is the process of defining, anticipating, creating, and fulfilling the needs of customers and their wants for products and services. The core functions are: customer analysis, buying, selling, service and product planning, market research, opportunity analysis, and social responsibility. These marketing functions are analyzed after identifying and evaluating market strengths and weaknesses in preparing business policy case analyzes.

Financial auditing in strategic management for small and medium industry.

Financial status is often viewed as the best and only measure of an industry's competitive position and global attractiveness to investors. Establishing the financial strengths and weaknesses of an organization is vital for effective strategy formulation. Liquidity, leverage, working capital, profitability, asset utilization, cash flow, and the capital structure of an industry can cause the elimination of some strategies as valid alternatives. Financial factors often lead to change in existing strategies and execution plans.

The production audit in strategic management.

The production or operations function of an industry consists of all civilities that transform inputs into goods or services. The types of inputs, transformations and final products that make up production management vary in different industries and environments. A manufacturing operation, for example; transforms or converts such inputs: raw materials, labor, capital, machines and facilities into finished products. A restaurant uses inputs such as meat, potatoes, vegetables, dairy products, and chefs to produce breakfast, lunch, and meals.

I. SMEs and their insertion in the global economy.

The globalization of national economies in a process that seems to become irreversible, since national trade is expanding more and more every day with a large number of countries joining the international exchange of goods and services, selling and / or buying according to its advantages and needs.

The global village of McLuchan is still an ideal, since the ideological and cultural borders of the Nation-States have not been knocked down, and more States appeared. Trade blocks such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), The Andean Pact (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), among others.

The formation of regional blocks rather than tending towards the global village, what it seeks to seek is to protect the economies of the different member countries, even if this were the purpose of forming regional blocks, which implies expanding the factors of the economy of the nations, thus making it a process of globalization.

One of the factors that stimulates the globalization of economies is the technological advance that has been developed in recent years, such as telecommunications, which allows you to physically connect, live and direct, to different parts of the globe, regardless of how far away you are. Each of the points, thanks to the telecommunication produced in any country in terms of technological innovation, can share with the other countries.

1. The Role of SMEs in developing countries.

The opportunities offered to SMEs by the globalization process do not imply the lack of negative consequences for the survival of many of them, who have been forced to gradually face macroeconomic adjustment programs, to open their markets to competition. international.

Sometimes developing countries have not deliberately and voluntarily deliberated their economies on international trade.

The opening processes have allowed to revitalize the debate on the role of the state in the economy of the countries, the subsidy to public services and the financing of the public cat, there is no social, cultural, political and economic activity of the countries that is not subjected to an ideological controversy in this regard.

The SME in its role could not escape this crusade of discussion, polarizing the approaches among which they argue the need to have state protection through preferential financing, technological assistance, etc. Those seeking this market strength will decide to survive as a company.

2. The application of Benchamarking in industrial policy for SMEs.

Benchamarking is one that encourages company managers to look outside their organizations, that is, their competitors equal to or better than them, in order to use the collective knowledge of these organizations to strengthen theirs, helping them to make leaps quantitative in their actions, instead of gradual improvements.

Likewise, the benchamarkig can be applied to industrial policies aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries that want and aspire to increase competitiveness in the economic sector.

The processes of industrial modernization and restoration in Latin America have happened since the 1980s, but have been more a consequence than a cause of opening processes.

Economical. In Venezuela, it is necessary to add to the oil effect that this is considerable in the economy, and that it also presses for an overvaluation of the currency, thus challenging the export force in local production, only removable, instead the Yen the currency of Japan already overvalued, it has extraordinary productivity and quality in its manufacturing.

Public policies aimed at SMEs.

We have different types of public policy aimed at SMEs, it can be grouped into three categories:

a) Those that emphasize state intervention.

b) Those that encourage the role of the market tutored by the state.

c) Those that reduce state intervention.

The first case corresponds to government measures to force large companies to acquire goods and services offered by SMEs, this being a very common practice in the automotive industry, where it was experimented with in a wide range of countries and then abandoned it. We have that there is another form of state intervention, which is that of direct financing with certain preferences in interest rates and in the periods for repayment of credits.

In the following modality, state intervention is less and is aimed at facilitating and incentivizing the development of support mechanisms for small companies by large companies, in terms of technological improvement, adequate technical assistance, etc.

And finally we have that the third modality is aimed at SMEs by minimizing the role of the state and where it proposes to achieve aid to this sector in market forces.

II. Business associativity.

The origins and motivations of support are diverse, depending on the stage of development of nations.

In developed countries, state intervention, although in past times was in some countries relatively intense, developing countries, the state has an active participation in the creation and operation of the SME sector, due to its repercussions and influences. in the economic performance of the countries, be it employment, exports, the democratization of capital and the revitalization of socially and economically depressed regions.

In 1973, the World Bank granted its first loan for SMEs in Bangladesh and in 1975 of the five loans in the sector, one corresponded to Colombia, which became the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to receive a loan of this nature.

In recent years, the impacts of the macroeconomic adjustments to which most of the Latin American and Caribbean countries were subjected, have motivated concern for the SME sector in regional organizations such as SELA. The discussion of the SME issue has coincided with a change in the perspectives of the form of intervention, both by governments and by international cooperation bodies, in the economic events of the countries, seeking to stimulate a very active interference from the private sector and a role to stimulate the state.

The fundamental objectives of this change are oriented to concentrate the action of the state in those activities that are intrinsic to its nature, for example, provider of public goods such as security, health and education.

Progress has been made in the privatizations and deregulations carried out in many economic sectors in various countries, fundamentally those located in the south of the region, which have allowed the opening of national economies and their insertion into the globalization process that characterizes the world economy.

The SELA is incorporated in a systematic way the issue of SMEs in their meetings and working groups, sometimes associating with discussions on industrialization and sometimes considering it as a focal point of the meetings.

III. Business associativity: a conceptual reference.

Associativity is understood as a cooperation mechanism between small and medium-sized companies, where each of the participants, maintaining their legal independence and managerial autonomy, voluntarily decides to participate in a joint effort with the other participating companies to seek a goal. in common.

We have that the most common objectives are the acquisition of volumes of raw materials, research and development of new technologies for the common benefit or access to financing that requires guarantees that are covered by the participants.

This joint effort allows you to contract a jointly paid purchasing agent or seller, up to the formation of a company with legal personality and own equity that allows you to access financing with guarantee requirements, or to market your product.

The impacts of globalization on SMEs.

Economic globalization is redefining manufacturing processes by locating factories in different parts of the world, opening opportunities but also posing a threat to SMEs.

One of the most outstanding impacts of economic globalization on companies is the loss of management's discretion to set the prices of the goods and services produced, based on their respective cost structures and profit expectations.

Individual strategies are at the absolute discretion of management, while collective strategies require the participation of numerous participants, at least more than two.

IV. Associativity: voluntary alliance for competitiveness.

This allows the collective effort of several companies that come together to solve common problems and is carried out through the voluntary action of the participants, and cooperation is not forced by any particular company, and the participants in the moment to make a decision.

We have that this associativity has six important distinctions:

It is a collective strategy. It is voluntary. It does not exclude any company due to the type of market in which it operates. It allows solving joint problems while maintaining the managerial autonomy of the participating companies. It can adopt various legal and organizational modalities. It is exclusively for small and medium businesses.

V. Determining factors for the viability of associativity.

For the SME sector, its viability is restricted by the following factors:

The lack of a culture of cooperation between companies. The prevailing anti-competitive bias in inter-company relations. The absence of an institutional environment that stimulates and supports the existence of cooperation mechanisms. The confusion of the term with other types of individual and collective strategies..The lack of dissemination of experiences that can be typified as associative praxis.

Associativity tends to be confused as an association of companies that face common problems and that also require associating to pressure other companies or government agencies for a claiming solution.

Associative modalities: characteristics and challenges.

The different association tips can be grouped according to several criteria, namely:

Depending on the different phases of the business process: from design to marketing, in relation to each of the basic functions that exist in any company: financing, provisioning, human resources, services, etc., depending on the scope of the association: geographic, sectoral, specialized, diversified, etc.

Possible combinations of associativity

Phase / Function	Financing	Provisioning	Human Resources
I. Research, Development And Design.	New, Products, Patent Processes.	Testing Materials And Services.	Exchange and hiring of advisers.
II. Production.	Working Capital, Fixed Assets.	Raw Material, Production Services, Testing, Maintenance.	Recruitment of personnel, medical-social protection.
III. Commercialization	Market research	Sale Services, Dispatches, Transportation, After Sales.	Recruitment of staff, exchange and hiring of advisers.

SAW. Modalities, experiences and lessons in small and medium enterprises.

Associativity being a novel mechanism of inter-company cooperation. Cooperation between companies is strongly influenced by a type of network in which they are inserted. In addition to the influence of the technical nature of the network --- vertical and horizontal --- cooperation is strongly determined by the institutional environment of the countries, being able to appreciate various modalities, particularly in the way of inserting the SME sector into industrial development processes and the role played by the State in this regard. Some of these modalities can be used as reference points for the design of cooperation programs based on new approaches such as associativity.

Modalities of institutional environments in SMEs .

An institutional environment is understood as a set of actors with their respective interests and the different interrelationships that are established between them, allowing each one to achieve their respective objectives. The most relevant SME actors are the same companies in the sector, large companies and the State. Institutional arrangements vary from country to country and are strongly conditioned by factors such as the pattern of economic development that countries employ, business culture, and the articulation mechanisms of interest that they generally employ in society.

Intervention shall be understood as the specific weight of the State in economic activity, either as a producer or consumer of goods and services, as well as by the degree of regulation exercised by the State.

The Latin American Experience

During the eighties many countries in the region began to differentiate themselves from the rest, introducing substantial changes in the development model that have meant restorations in the industrial park. Despite the precariousness of information on specific weight in most Latin American and Caribbean countries, there is evidence that this industrial sector is also undergoing the pattern V of decline and recovery that was observed in Asian countries.

Our country Venezuela is another of the region that presents some economic peculiarities and specific experiences that can serve as elements of analysis in the design of policies towards SMEs. It also differs markedly in its economic performance, rather there is no important economic activity of Venezuela that is not determined by the oil industry, which has a strong insertion within the global economy.

While the rest of the countries of the region have slowly transformed into service economies, being in Venezuela a process clearly carried out under the influence of oil.

The excessive state presence in economic performance and the emphasis towards the distribution of oil income can be highlighted through generalized subsidies to the different sectors of the country, including the industry and within it to the SME sector.

The opening of the Venezuelan economy started in 1989, has been producing a change in various institutions that intervene in the SME sector, where there are three changes:

The emergence of concrete experiences of association in some regions and sectors of the SME. The opening to the private sector of activities of the oil industry that until then had been reserved to the State.

The attempts of some business unions to assume new roles, more appropriate to face competition in an open economy.

The institutional environment.

For an adequate institutional environment, it must facilitate inter-company cooperation, particularly in SMEs, which must have these characteristics:

A stable legal system, with credibility, efficient in costs of access to justice and speed in the procedures and effective in the resolution of conflicts, guaranteeing access to judicial arbitration, protection of innovations (patents), facilitating interaction and transactions of the members of the networks and discourage the opportunistic behavior that may occur in the agents An efficient social security system that allows you to: lower your costs of job creation and maintenance in SMEs and compensate for the fall in employment and Pumice during industrial adjustment processes A government that regardless of the role it plays in economic activity is capable of:facilitate access to all relevant decision-makers in the event of conflicts and provide and facilitate the dissemination of as much information as possible to all actors.

The role of the government.

Depending on the intensity of government intervention in the economic activity of the SME sector, various forms of cooperation will be implemented. In a situation where market forces are sufficiently developed, the role of the government is one of low intervention. In this context and in the specific case of financing, the government's action would be to promote the pertinent legal changes so that the financial system allows the granting of credits through various instruments, among which are mutual guarantee or common guarantee programs.

The tasks of business unions.

As long as the company is weak, it is entitled to help. Therefore, one must not stop being weak. Experiences show that when financing sources are exhausted to maintain aid to the weakest sectors, the condition of weakness is accentuated, requiring much more resources, effort and time for recovery.

The AIMM project distinguishes five stages of development, starting with the communication service (email). In a second stage, the information service may be offered, allowing the companies that are members of the network to have access to a database that may include catalogs of the products of each of the affiliated companies. In a third stage, it intends to offer, always through the computerized network, human resources training services, including courses and establishing forums and seminars, where the physical meeting of the participants is necessary. In the fourth stage, the service of integration of production capacities of the companies that wish to contorcieres may be offered to meet specific demands that cannot be satisfied individually,and finally, the different rules for aid between companies can be fully developed, including purchases of raw materials and subcontracting.

The behavior of the owner-managers of SMEs.

It is essential that managers are the base in SMEs, since they must face many challenges and for that they will have to be aware and focus on the different changes that may arise. These managers must undertake great tasks such as:

Decide the strategic positioning of your company. Design the individual strategy that allows you to compete. Select the most appropriate collective strategy for your individual strategy. Contribute to the definition of the most appropriate role of your union in relation to your collective strategy. Actively participate in the materialization of union efforts to implement cooperation agreements.

Proposed objectives for a regional program to support inter - business cooperation for SMEs.

SELA can collaborate in the design and development of the program that would have as specific objectives:

Promotion of the concepts and methodology of the different cooperation mechanisms between companies (associativity, strategic alliances, outsourcing, bechamarking, among others). Dissemination of extra and intraregional experiences on inter-company cooperation mechanisms through workshops of experts, publications of chaos, documentation of processes, comparative analysis of cooperation practices and policies, information services on the subject, among others. Technical and financial assistance for the training of the different actors in the countries of the region on the subject of inter-company cooperation.

Coordination of actions and technical and financial aid that can be obtained from multilateral organizations or extra-regional governments.

Strategic Management Applied to the Trebol Supermarket

Current situation of the company Trebol.

Mission.

Customer acquisition through the sale of food products in the Caracas area, to meet the needs of the population.

Goals.

Increase food sales by 10% during the first half of 1998.

Reduction of administrative costs by 15%, in view of the fact that for the year 1999 these increased by 20%.

Goals.

Sales increase by 20% before the end of 1998. Design a new strategy and its respective implementation, with the aim of changing the image and structure of the Trébol supermarket and thus achieving increased sales in 1999.

Policies.

Receive merchandise from a single distributor at any time of the day.

Business hours for all employees are from 9 am to 5 pm.

Advance payments of social benefits will be made in any month of the year and as many times as the employee wishes.

Purchases can only be canceled in cash or a conformable check.

Proposed Strategic Management for the company Trebol

External audit.

Threats.

Country's Economic Situation Market competition Unemployment Purchasing Power Tariff Taxes Inflation Currency devaluation Political Situation.

Opportunities.

Market policy Loyal and unfair competition Geographical location Human resources Good image of the company with the entire environment (customer, suppliers, and associates).

External audit

Weaknesses.

Human resources not trained in some areas (customer service) Motivation of human resources (salary / benefits). Preparation of human resources. Competition between departments. Maintenance of equipment / billing system (systems) Infrastructure Non-compliance with hygiene and safety.

Strengths.

Financial resources.Physical infrastructure Affected product.Promotion.Image to the customer, suppliers.Quality of the product.Quality of the service.High-tech machinery and equipment.Trained human resources (administrative and operational).

Mission.

The Trebol business mission is to expand our sales area, as a leading company nationwide, offering our customers the possibility of purchasing all kinds of products in one place at highly competitive prices.

Setting goals.

Converting the Trebol de Caracas supermarket chain into hypermarkets during the first semester of the year 1999. Acquiring and conditioning the new premises in the cities of Maracay and Valencia, where the new branches will be opened in the second semester of the year 1999. Offering products to our customers at prices below the market, to make us more competitive, offering wholesale and retail sales. Achieve a higher level of development and excellence in the market. Expand the diversity of products by offering a wide variety of merchandise. Promote the new image of the company to publicize its current structure in high-quality services for the benefit of all customers and the organization. Increase sales by 80% by the end of 1999.

Set the Strategies.

The company Trebol will enter into a partnership with the main distributor of food products in Venezuela. The company Trebol will partner with an import company of household appliances and white goods to facilitate and ensure the supply at low prices of these products. To achieve a penetration in the national market for which a promotion will be launched in the new cities where the new headquarters will be opened, as well as in the Capital city. New national and imported food products will be introduced for sale, other types of merchandise will also be sold, such as lingerie, White goods, household appliances, hardware, pharmacy, toy store, clothing, among others. The company Trebol will carry out an opening to attract new members and thus increase its capital with which the new projects will be financed.

Set goals.

Implement an incentive for employees who achieve and / or exceed their own goals, established by management. Introduce aggressive and competitive marketing activities to attract customer attention during the second semester of 1999. Manage financial resources through Money table placements and fixed term. Increase in sales through new marketing activities by 80% during the second half of 1999. Training of human resources within the area that it performs in order to maintain it as permanent staff.

Set policies.

An affiliation process will be implemented for our natural and legal clients, which will translate into a benefit since they will be granted a discount of 10% of the total amount of purchases. Agreements between companies will be developed in order to offer exclusive sales to the employees of said companies, granting them a 15% discount on purchases. It will be established as a requirement not to receive merchandise from our suppliers without the respective purchase order, which will allow us to have better control of merchandise inventory.

It will be established as a merchandise reception schedule from 8 am to 12 noon in order to guarantee that these products can be stored in their respective places the same day of arrival, and thus maintain better control and order of the merchandise. A payment system, to provide greater agility when canceling purchases, for this, a system of points of sales will be installed that allow payments to be made using credit, debit, check, Food Ticket and Basket Tickets. to the public from 9 am to 9 pm to offer greater possibilities to our customers when they make their purchases. A work schedule of 11 hours a day will be implemented, which will be divided into three shifts morning, afternoon and evening.Implement a security system to monitor the different activities that take place within the establishments to control the merchandise.

Resource allocation.

Financial resources.

Using part of the resources from the capital increase, investments will be made in the financial banking system, such as money table placements and time deposits.

Human Resources.

In order to have a trained human resource necessary to meet the stated objectives, a specialized workforce will be hired for the different areas and personnel with the required capabilities and thus obtain high quality customer service.

Material resources.

Computer equipment. Point of sale equipment. Shelves. Premises for new offices and their conditioning. Air conditioning equipment. Industrial refrigerators. Closed circuit systems. Fire systems. Office equipment.

Evaluate Results

The evaluation process is made up of three essential activities which are detailed below:

The activities to evaluate the strategies will be carried out to solve the potential internal and external problems, for this it must be evaluated if the internal strengths / weaknesses and the current external threats / opportunities remain the same as those identified before proposing the strategies of the business

For this, the following questions must be asked and answered:

Do our inner strengths still exist, have other inner strengths emerged? If yes, what are they? Do our internal weaknesses continue to exist? Do we have other internal weaknesses? If so, what are they? Do our external opportunities continue to exist? Are there other external opportunities now? If so, what are they? Do our external threats still exist? Are there other external threats now? If yes, what are they?

The second strategy evaluation activity is to measure organizational performance. This activity includes comparing expected results with actual results of strategy implementation efforts, researching plans, evaluating individual performance, and analyzing progress toward achieving the proposed goals and objectives.

For this, the report that will be presented to the board of directors at the end of the year will be used, which will be the product of the analysis of the financial statements and the profit and loss statements of the company.

The third activity of evaluation of strategies is the execution of corrective measures, in case it is required, after having evaluated changes in the sales goals for next year could arise, changes in the structure of the organization such as replacing those who have not carried out their functions well, setting new goals and objectives, designing new policies, etc.

Conclusions

This topic on strategic management for small and medium industries is important because it is an exciting process or stage that allows a certain organization to be proactive instead of reactive in formulating its future; In addition, there is formulation, execution and evaluation of actions that allow industries to achieve their objectives.

As it was aimed at the beginning of the work, the research team managed to conceptualize the strategic management, some terminologies, models and usual audits in said management.

Strategic management is of great importance since it allows an industry or an organization to establish goals, design policies, and the resources available to carry them out.

It is believed that the content does not exhaust the topic, but that it barely touches part of it, so the reader is asked to analyze with other strategies and points of view.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DAVID, Fred R. THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT. Colombia, June, 1994. Editorial Business Series. Ninth Reprint. P. 371.

Technical Assistance Guides. Business Training Program. Page 11 CORPOINDUSTRIA.

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