Planning to Grow? Exploring the Effect of Business Planning on the Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Abstract

The impact of business planning on performance (survival, growth, profit) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been debated in strategic management and entrepreneurship research for decades. This study clarifies prior inconsistent findings by unbundling the generalized construct of ‘business planning’ into three components: i) crafting an inspiring vision, ii) employing a system of success metrics and iii) developing a marketing plan. We examine how each of these components, and their interactions, influence SME growth, controlling for firm age and target market. A recent survey of SMEs from multiple countries provided the dataset of 393 firms to test these relationships.

Keywords: SMEs, strategy, business planning, metrics, growth, vision, marketing planning