Small and Medium Business Organization

Introduction

Whether it is a small business or a medium scale business, a marketing strategy is a must to achieve the benefits of the organization which will also help in the customer satisfaction according to their expectation. A marketing plan or a marketing strategy is the type of document which is a vital part of the business plan which acts as the foundation of the successful organization (Brunswicker & Vanhaverbeke, 2015). To make a marketing plan; some specific things need to be taken care of. First thing is to take care is that, it is very much necessary to have a very clear view or insight of the reason why a customer will use the particular business, second one is to be clear about the target of the customers, Third is a must step which includes the identifying the competitors who also are willing to meet the target of the customers, fourth is having a strong statement according to the target of the customers (Brush, Edelman & Manolova, 2015). In other words, it can also be said that the marketing strategy must be clear, quantified, focused, and realistic and agreed. The plan for a small business organization must include the description of the business local with the competitors, also with the description of the product or the service having some special features with the pricing strategy and the marketing segmentation where in that case the medium sized organization needs a strategy which includes the executive summary, situation and issue analysis, action program with financial forecast and controls.

Research Questions

The researcher will follow the bellow mentioned research questions for this study:

• Why is marketing strategy decisive for small and medium size organizations?

• What are the best possible outcomes of using effective marketing plans in small enterprises?

Literature Review of The Business Strategy:

The review of literature of the market plan or the business plan will convey the ways that are acquired by the organizations and the process that must be acquired by the organizations whether it is a small type or a medium type of organization through various types of practical studies and researches in various scholarly journal articles. In a research paper, “Need For a Systematic Process of Marketing Planning in the Small and Medium Enterprises” by Iliuta Costel Negricea and Tudor Edu, they said that the major challenges that the organizations are facing irrespective of its size, is to understand the management methods of a particular market plan as these are having a mixture of components of the market(Negricea & Edu, 2013). This paper is particularly for the analysis of the implementation of a particular system according to the management of the marketing components of an organization to identify the strategies which will offer the higher value to the consumer ensuring the economic efficiency and competitiveness. The objective of this research was to make realize the organizations about the importance of the business planning procedure by forming an activity which will adapt to market evolution continuously (Kotler, 2015). So the main part that the paper is approaching is the market planning or the business planning according to the needs and aspects of the small or medium business organizations which finally conclude that the market planning is nothing but a framework that shows the future evolution of the organization. Regardless of the size of the organization, a perfect marketing plan is the secret success of the organization. In another study in the paper, “Exploring the Market Strategies in Small Businesses”, Julia Cronin-Gilmore, stated that the main purpose of the study is to understand the actions in a small business and the decisions that the owner takes by pursuing the business strategy(Cronin-Gilmore, 2012). In this process of study author found some findings by undergoing the interview, those are, marketing, strengths, strategic planning, values, and needs. After the whole total study of the case here the author concludes by providing recommendations to raise awareness among the owners of the small business regarding the importance of the business strategy. Also, it helps in determining the realistic marketing for a small business which will further create a good business market plan with increasing market share (Kampouri, Plakoyiannaki & Saridakis, 2016). 

Author Leonidou et al.In their research, The Relevance of Business Planning Document for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises had done the required work upon the impact of a marketing plan or a business plan strategy upon the growth and development of the small and medium businesses. They had also found that the business or market planning has also influenced the survival of the small and medium business organization (Leonidou et al., 2013). Heather C. Banham and CGA in the paper External Environmental Analysis for Small and Medium Enterprises, dealt with the prevalent forces for change for the growth and survival of the small and medium organizations. They said that the organizational changes are sometimes required for the successful implementation of the adaptation. Sarah Cox while doing a case study on the Social Media Marketing in a Small Business, which concludes the networking and creating relationships are more required for small businesses which increases the brand exposure and increasing the sales (Morrison, 2013). Maya Demishkevich in a case study of the Small Business Use of Internet Marketing, where the data analysis is on resource-based theories and examinations.

The findings of this case study are very much useful in influencing the social changes positively by having more effective and efficient market practices which ultimately leading to a healthier economic system. In a research of Strategic Planning and Reality of External Environment of Organizations in Contemporary Business Environments, Muhammad Wasim Jan Khan, and Dr. Muhammad Khaliq both stated that the small and the medium business organizations are now being the backbone of the economy of the world in the present situation(Khan & Khalique, 2014). For this, the strategic planning for the growth of these organizations must require which will provide success to business arenas.

They also added that to fulfill more constituent of the strategic planning the empirical study of the situation and the context must be done. Because the strategies are being buried in making the business or the market plans for many other larger business entities, the smaller organizations are being ignored by the marketing and the research point of view (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). But if the detailed strategic planning is done then the pitfalls that are being faced by the small and medium organizations can be minimized.

Methodology:

The business or the marketing strategy is a kind of process of an organization that concentrates upon the opportunities with its limited resources which will finally get a sustainable advantage. This methodology of the marketing plan is a framework which utilizes the resources of the organization with respect to the objectives of the market. Generally, the process of methodology starts with the process of identity, objectives and the basic information of the company (Winston & Weinstein, 2016). There are a series of phases in the process of methodology which is the result of a disjointed business plan. There are all total eight phases of the business methodology which can clearly describe from the picture:

Figure 1: eight phases of the business methodology

Source: (Strauss, 2016)

Out of the eight phases, Phase 1 is the company profile which gives somehow some idea and a statement regarding the company’s objectives and other information about the company. Mission Statement and Elevator Pitch is such two components of the company profile by which anyone can get to know about the company and its all relatedness. The Mission Statement gives the idea about the company value according to the market, the foundation of the decisions that are used in the business plan whereas the Elevator Pitch, an idea about the general purpose of the company (Leonidou et al., 2013).

The second phase is the situation Analysis or the Phase 2, where there occurs a total assessment of the organization’s environment whether internally or externally by defining the organization’s position in a general with respect to the market. It does a SWOT analysis A Marketing analysis (Wynarczyk et al., 2016). The situation analysis is said to be effective when the current situation and the current forecast trends are assessed. It can also be said that the situation analysis becomes the foundation of the main market plan.

Market Strategy, Growth Strategy, Competitor Analysis, Industry Analysis comes under Phase 3, where the assessment and the investigation of the market are being done. The main motto of the market analysis is to carry out a future aspect of the business which also includes the current one which basically focuses on the market growth, market size, market segments, market profitability and its trends. The growth strategy shows the direction for the sustained growth of the organization’s product or service or the revenue. The general growth strategy is measured by the relationship between the market and the product. The competitive analysis here explains the competitive strategy of the organization which develops a profile of each competitor on the market place and the industry changes. The industrial analysis is also a part of a competitive strategy which basically defines the industry which is achieved by investigating the assessment of the forces and the structure of the organization (Leonidou et al., 2013). Phase 4 is composed of the marketing strategy, Sales strategy and the strategic positioning. The Phase 5 comprised of the business development, the product strategy and competitive strategy. Phase 6 includes the Marketing and the Sales Plan along with the financial plan. It also includes the Business or the Operation Plan. In this phase, the topics that are basically taken into consideration are the design processor the manufacturing process, the inventory process, the internal controls, etc.

It also makes the plan for operational efficiency. Phase 7 comprises of the executive summary, the appendix of the business plan and the business plans. The appendix of the business plan have the notable case studies, customer letter of intent, photos of the product or the service, sample pieces for marketing and much more. Finally the Phase 8, which has the implementation and have the quarterly review. This is the two components which an effective business plan must have (Wynarczyk et al., 2016). As a useful business plan is definitely being dependent upon the time sensitive information and evolving circumstances. This says that all the organizations must have the ways to manage the research and production of the business plan. The business methodology sometimes results in conflicts in the market place.

Management Of Data And Ethical Responsibility:

Sometimes during the making of the marketing plan with the business laws, there comes a relationship between the market and the product which is also a very important factor that affects the preparation of methodology as affects the data and the sources of the data. Here now the management of the data is very much important as it will; serve as the foundation for many of the further studies that are going on to be short. The data and its resources should be thorough and complete, legible, well-organized, archived and finally also accessible to people when needed to access (Leonidou et al., 2013). A collection of the data, using the data and then sharing it in the research field is one of the most important works which definitely needs to be respected both ethically and legally.

The key principles of the are having a data and maintaining it is, the confidentiality towards the informants and the participants, also the participants can be protected from any the harm. It is the duty to inform the members that the data should be obtained and can be shared and processed. The resources produced by the researchers. So when it comes to the maintenance of the data; there come the ethical standards which the research persons must need to maintain (Wynarczyk et al., 2016). The ethical guidelines that should be used by the researchers are being made by the various organizations those are involved in the finding, or they may be the host institutions or they may be some of the professional bodies. On the other hand, any fabrication with the data is a serious offense which leads to a challenge to the research integrity.

Managing the data is, however, a key element for ensuring the research integrity by any means. By any of the falsification in the provided data or the provided raw data can become a very big allegation of misconduct where the integrity is challenged. The process of the data management, however, begins with the planning for the particular data and its collection which will be further continued only after the work is published. The process of the data management, however, starts with the experimental and the protocol availability which involves the keeping in a way which ensures the accuracy. But the data that are being collected by the human resource participants or any data that are collected for any sensitive nature requires very special secure storage, and finally, these are having an ultimate disposal as it interferes with the life and it shall be harmful (Leonidou et al., 2013). Again for the management of these data, there are many laws, rules and regulations which implemented for its security and storage because when it comes to the legal terms, then the data are must say to be the property of the institution instead of the investigator. It is a must that the integrity of research depends on the data integrity. The data integrity is again can be said as a shared responsibility (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). When it comes to a topic of the research data, then it can be done that it can be shared with other researchers also.

References

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Brush, C. G., Edelman, L. F., & Manolova, T. (2015). The impact of resources on small firm internationalization. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 13(1), 1-17.

Cronin-Gilmore, J. (2012). Exploring marketing strategies in small businesses. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1), 96.

Evans, N., Stonehouse, G., & Campbell, D. (2012). Strategic management for travel and tourism. Taylor & Francis.

Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L., & Armstrong, G. (2015).Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Khan, M. W. J., & Khalique, M. (2014). Strategic Planning and Reality of External Environment of Organizations in Contemporary Business Environments. Business Management and Strategy, 5(2).

Kim, H. D., Lee, I., & Lee, C. K. (2013). Building Web 2.0 enterprises: A study of small and medium enterprises in the United States. International Small Business Journal, 31(2), 156-174.

Kampouri, K., Plakoyiannaki, E., & Saridakis, C. (2016, June). The role of Emotions of Small & Medium Family Businesses (SMFBs) in International Strategic Networking Decisions. In 4 th International Conference on Contemporary Marketing Issues ICCMI June 22-24, 2016 Heraklion, Greece(p. 662).

Leonidou, L. C., Leonidou, C. N., Fotiadis, T. A., & Zeriti, A. (2013). Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance. Tourism Management, 35, 94-110.

Morris, M., Schindehutte, M., Richardson, J., & Allen, J. (2015). Is the business model a useful strategic concept? Conceptual, theoretical, and empirical insights. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 17(1), 27-50.

Morrison, A. M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge.

Negricea, I. C., & Edu, T. (2013). Need For A Systematic Process Of Marketing Planning In Romanian Small And Medium Enterprises. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 8(2), 144.

Wynarczyk, P., Watson, R., Storey, D. J., Short, H., & Keasey, K. (2016).Managerial labour markets in small and medium-sized enterprises. Routledge.

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