Implications of strategic planning in SMEs for international entrepreneurship research and practice

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) typically employ a major share of an economy’s total employees. However, SME management suffers from an insufficient business-related knowledge base that top managers in SMEs possess. Indeed, formal plans or cost controls are often provided on only an irregular basis and planning instruments are usually used by only a small number of individuals and developed rather intuitively (Brinkmann, 2002). These shortcomings point towards the importance of examining the value of strategic planning for SMEs in more detail.