Analysis of Information
Purpose
The authors claim that strategic management is “part of every business and constitutes an important path to a successful business” (Spillane and Ziemnowicz 461). The analysis of authoritative literature sources can be found in the paper; it interprets how the managers in Guatemalan businesses utilize it. The interviews help to claim that depending on the situation they are proactive in the decision-making (prevent the issues and make plans for the future) and reactive (take measures when something has already happened). The study concentrates on service and product retail businesses. The researchers provide three dimensions to evaluate the issue.
Audience
The authors claim that the audience includes “academics, practitioners, investors, and policymakers of the strategic orientation of small retail business in Guatemala” (Spillane and Ziemnowicz 474). Still, I believe that it is broader. The general public can refer to the article, as it includes background information and lots of explanations.
Subject
The peculiarities of the implementation of strategic management in Guatemalan businesses.
The way the managers make decisions is underlined.
Sources
The authors evaluated 37 sources (books and journal articles), which refer to small businesses, strategic types, and organizational environments. Still, the main sources are the interviews with 40 Guatemalan managers who deal with strategic management.
Primary Details
Thesis
The authors contemplate investigating “how managers in forty Guatemalan businesses practice strategic management. Whether the business managers are proactive or reactive in their decisions, they all recognize strategic management as an integral business activity” (Spillane and Ziemnowicz 461). Thus, the study contains theoretical investigation and its implementation to the data gained from the interviews with Guatemalan managers. Due to the exploratory purpose of the research, an interview-based qualitative method was used. Strategic orientation, marketing, and maneuvering were examined to define the decision-making approach. The steps of the research: contacting the firms, conducting a survey, classifying data, and measurement.
Evidence
The authors interviewed 40 managers within small retail businesses that practice strategic management and studied their company documents. Moreover, they built the research based on 37 valid sources, including books relevant to the issue and journal articles.
Limits
Location: only Guatemala. Field: small retail businesses. Sphere: strategic management (decision-making process, in particular). The research dealt with forty businesses, and only one author took all the interviews.
Point of View
Limited resource capabilities are the main problem that managers face. They underline the contrast between the internal and external environments, in which the managers are to make the right strategic decisions. One more issue is the need to utilize both reactive and proactive approaches. However, they conclude that retail managers consider “strategic orientation, marketing strategy, and strategic maneuvering as central dimensions of their businesses” (Spillane and Ziemnowicz 474). The authors claim that the idea of the manager’s false perception of these elements is unsound, and the level of managers’ competencies is high. Maintaining strategic management enhances the success of business operations.
Presentation and Argumentation
Concepts/Words
The authors provided three dimensions to evaluate the “strategic profile” of the companies. They display their findings regarding several issues: strategic typologies, strategic orientation, marketing strategy, and strategic maneuvering. They also use tablets as such presentation of quantitative data is more effective.
Use of Evidence
The evaluation is made regarding the evidence. Everything mentioned at the outset was referred to in the article (Graham 7). The authors omit direct quotations but use indirect ones to illustrate a particular point of view and substantiate it. They refer to other works to provide examples and to have reliable background information. The sources listed in references are used in the text.
Conclusion
The research was aimed to show that “strategic thinking among Guatemalan retailer managers is actively implemented in their decision-making behavior” (Spillane and Ziemnowicz 474). The authors this goal with the help of the interviews and decided that the managers make decisions using both proactive and reactive approaches. The proactive one shows that they treat strategic management as an inalienable part of a business and plan the activities considering their influence on the company and its future. Thus, it was proved that the managers are highly qualified, and the retail sector is among the main operant forces for employment and entrepreneurship.
Implications
The government tries to alter and modernize different elements of economic development and to understand how entrepreneurialism works. Academics and practitioners can find information that was unknown to them. Investors and policymakers will improve their strategies by understanding the processes that were unfamiliar to them. Thus, they will increase their profit and streamline the working process.
I find this article interesting and helpful as it includes lots of theoretical material that is explained by charts and decent examples. To my mind, we were told to analyze this very article because it is related to our course and contains general information about the way strategic principles started to be applied to small businesses, examines business behavior, and shows how people treat their businesses. Thus, the article deals with the themes covered in the course.
Evaluation
Personal Reaction
I find this article to be well-grounded and helpful. The authors wanted to show how managers use strategic management in Guatemala; however, the issue seems to be connected with more global concepts. The sources of the information utilized by the authors made their paper look trustworthy. The language is too sophisticated, and the meaning can be easily understood.
Strength of Case
The article is convincing. The authors used many in-text citations, which made the paper look authoritative. They provided theoretical ideas with examples from books and articles. Their thoughts were proved by the interviews, the results of which can be seen in the tables. Thus, the arguments made by the authors are accurate and reliable.
Evaluation
I believe that all issues were fully investigated, and the conclusion is aligned with the tithes statement. It is underlined that small retail businesses need to undertake particular strategic approaches. This idea is also present in the article “Strategic alternatives for small retail businesses in rural areas” (Byrom, Medway, and Gary Warnaby 33). The fact that small businesses face a range of problems due to the contrasting environments is supported by Kittima Cheungsuvadee (25). The value of the strategy and proactive decision-making are not just the concepts that the authors considered to be useful.
Their advantages were mentioned by Lechner and Gudmundsson (36). Bamiatzi and Kirchmaier also claim that they can make business operations successful (283). Thus, this article contains reliable information. It is well-structured, as this kind of structure can be seen in other articles. The issue can be considered within different locations, which can be seen in the article written by Byrom and his colleagues.
Quality
The research is of decent quality. It is easy to perceive, as the paper includes subtopics. Tables and schemes enhance understanding of findings. The authors were able to combine their views, opinions of other researchers, and the interviewees, which makes the study authoritative.
Other
The findings regarding strategic typologies consist of several tables that are to be examined accurately.
Works Cited
Bamiatzi, Vassiliki, and Tom Kirchmaier. “Strategies For Superior Performance under Adverse Conditions: A Focus on Small and Medium-Sized High-Growth Firms.” International Small Business Journal 32.1 (2014): 259-284. Print.
Byrom, John, Dominic Medway, and Gary Warnaby. “Strategic Alternatives for Small Retail Businesses in Rural Areas.” Management Research News 26.7 (2003): 33-49. Print.
Cheungsuvadee, Kittima 2006, Business Adaptation Strategies Used By Small and Medium Retailers in an Increasingly Competitive Environment. Web.
Graham, Amanda 2012, A Guide to Reading and Analysing Academic Articles. Web.
Lechner, Christian, and Sveinn Gudmundsson. “Entrepreneurial Orientation, Firm Strategy and Small Firm Performance.” International Small Business Journal 32.1 (2014): 36-60. Print.
Spillan, John, and Christopher Ziemnowicz. “Strategic Management in Small Retail Businesses: The Case of Guatemala.” International Small Business Journal 21.4 (2003): 461-478. Print.