Free Essay: Recommended PPM-based Growth Strategies for Wedding SMEs in Korea

The overall conclusion, therefore, would be that any wedding SMEs in Korea should consider the application of PPM tools to strategize and manage growth. Figure 7 can offer a skeletal of what to consider for such a developmental strategy.

Figure 7: Proposed PPM-based Growth management strategy.

The main PPM tools should manage time, cost, risks, and quality of provided goods and services. In addition to the tools, plan, ploy, pattern, and perspective based strategies should be adopted so as to help manage the internal and the external growth determinants which should enhance the competitive, financial, communication, capabilities and ability to satisfy and meet customer demands for the firm.

5.2.2 The efficiency of PPM based growth strategies

As hinted out in the literature review, the Market Penetration strategy would be perfect for a new firm venturing into the wedding sector. Notably, Kohit Wedding firm (Firm B) should adopt this strategy. In addition to this, it should incorporate PPM software tools for auditing, scheduling and risk assessment. Providing cost effective and risk ‘free’ services to the customers would definitely attract customers to the firms’ services and products. Even better, the firm would be able to deliver their services on time leaving the customers satisfied which would earn the customers’ trust, boost sales and thus increase the chances of growth of the firm.

When risk assessment PPM tools are incorporated into the Market and/or Product development strategies, an established firm such as Wedding Ritz Firm would highly benefit since it would be able to anticipate and also easily curb the many risks associated with the strategies. Time management tools would enable the firm to acquire a better hand at delivering a new service (product) in an existing market in an efficient and cost effective manner. Ultimately, the firm would be well established to even venture into the global markets.

5.2.3 Why incorporate the recommended PPM tools?

According to the primary research, the recommended PPM tools based Growth management strategy will help meet the financial status of both considered firms. Incorporating the PPM tools for risk management will help Farm B to deal with the oncoming risks in an enlightened manner. This is because the farm will be able to learn from the past errors that always lead to severe risks on their business and this will be possible through adoption of graphical risk representation software as discussed earlier. Farm A on the other hand will be able to improve their financial condition and thus will be able to grow into foreign markets even sooner.

5.2.4 How to implement the strategies

Clearly, the whole managerial unit and the firm at large (Firm A and B) should work together in establishing the growth strategies. The low managerial levels should work with the high managerial levels so that efficient information about the ventured market can be acquired not to forget the right information about the customers’ preferences. For instance, the designers should provide information on what designs and the deco teams the customers prefer; the human resource should recruit the best members of staff to deliver this preferences; the management through the finance department should allocate the required funds to meet these preferences. In all these steps, the auditing, risk assessment and time management teams should be vigilant in ensuring that the most time and cost effective means are used to meet the preferences with minimal risks possible. Therefore, the whole firm will gain a maximal turnover and satisfy the customer such that it will gradually grow from one stage to another.

5.3 Outlook

Based on the research carried out, it can be seen that the wedding sector in Korea is propelled toward a boom period. The wedding industry has a bright future of growth on a local and a global level. Partnering between the small firms and the well established firms (such as hotels) will increase the capability of the industry to keep growing into new market coverage and operations due to the enhanced financial power.

5.4 Future studies

This study only concentrated on a minimum number of firms and respondents as a source of primary data due to the limits of time and accessibility to information. Future researchers should consider enlarging their scope of data sources so as to even make the generalization of results more credible.

Future researchers should consider use of more than one approach for data collection so as to overshadow any limitations resulting from each approach and thus improving the reliability of the findings.

Future researchers should base their research on more validated sources i.e. this research incorporated sources which were very backdated (before 2008) this may be considered a major limitation due to validity of old sources.

References

Aidis, R. and Mickiewicz, T. (2006). Entrepreneurs, expectations and business expansion: Lessons from Lithuania. Europe-Asia Studies, 58(6), pp.855-880.

Aquil, M.A. (2013). Project Management in SMEs. Journal of Strategy and Performance Management, 1(1), pp. 8-15.

Bachmeier, K. (2013). Analysis of marketing strategies used by pepsico based on ansoff's theory. Munchen: Grin Verlag.

Beck, T., Demirguc-Kunt, A. and Levine, R. (2005). SMEs, Growth, and Poverty: Cross-Country Evidence. Journal of Economic Growth, 10(3), pp.199-229.

Berger, B. (2008). Employee / Organizational Communications | Institute for Public Relations. [online] Institute for Public Relations. Available at: http://www.instituteforpr.org/employee-organizational-communications/ [Accessed 16 Jul. 2016].

Bentzen, J., Madsen, E. and Smith, V. (2011). Do firms’ growth rates depend on firm size?. Small Bus Econ, 39(4), pp.937-947.

Binsbergen, J. (2013). QuantContentAnalysis < MoM < digitalmethods.net. [online] Digitalmethods.net. Available at: https://www.digitalmethods.net/MoM/QuantContentAnalysis [Accessed 15 Aug. 2016].

Blakstad, O. (2008). Ethics in Research - How Morals and Ethics Affect Research. [online] Explorable.com. Available at: https://explorable.com/ethics-in-research [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016].

Brown, J., Earle, J. and Lup, D. (2005). What Makes Small Firms Grow? Finance, Human Capital, Technical Assistance, and the Business Environment in Romania. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 54(1), pp.33-70.

Cegarra-Navarro, J., Sánchez-Vidal, M. and Cegarra-Leiva, D. (2015). Linking Unlearning with Work-Life Balance: An Initial Empirical Investigation into SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management, 54(1), pp.373-391.

Changingminds.org. (2016). The Greiner Growth Model. [online] Available at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/organization_design/greiner_model.htm [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016].

Chen, S. (2014). Fiscal and Monetary Policies in a Transactions-Based Endogenous Growth Model with Imperfect Competition. Japanese Economic Review, 66(1), pp.89-111.

Churchill, N. and Lewis, V. (2016). The Five Stages of Small Business Growth. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016].

Clark Muntean, S. (2013). Wind beneath my wings: policies promoting highgrowth oriented women entrepreneurs. Int Jrnl of Gen and Ent, 5(1), pp.36-59.

Cohen, D. and Crabtree, B. (2006). RWJF - Qualitative Research Guidelines Project | Semi-structured Interviews | Semi-structured Interviews. [online] Qualres.org. Available at: http://www.qualres.org/HomeSemi-3629.html [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016].

Cosenz, F. and Noto, G. (2014). A Dynamic Simulation Approach to Frame Drivers and Implications of Corruption Practices on Firm Performance. European Management Review, 11(3-4), pp.239-257.

Cravo, T. (2010). SMEs and economic growth in the Brazilian micro-regions. Papers in Regional Science, 89(4), pp.711-734.

Davidsson, P. (2010). Small Firm Growth. Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 6(2), pp.69-166.

den Nieuwenboer, N. and Kaptein, M. (2007). Spiraling Down into Corruption: A Dynamic Analysis of the Social Identity Processes that Cause Corruption in Organizations to Grow. J Bus Ethics, 83(2), pp.133-146.

Dijk, M. and Sverrisson, Á. (2003). Enterprise clusters in developing countries: mechanisms of transition and stagnation. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 15(3), pp.183-206.

Dunne, P. and Hughes, A. (2014). Age, Size, Growth and Survival: UK Companies in the 1980s. The Journal of Industrial Economics, 42(2), p.115.

E. Armstrong, C. (2013). Competence or flexibility? Survival and growth implications of competitive strategy preferences among small US businesses. Journal of Strategy and Mgt, 6(4), pp.377-398.

Ec.europa.eu. (2006). Industrial Policy - European Commission. [online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/index_en.htm [Accessed 15 Jul. 2016].

Efendic, N., Andersson, F. and Wennberg, K. (2013). Resources and Growth in Immigrant-run Businesses. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2013(1), pp.12273-12273.

Eijdenberg, E., Paas, L. and Masurel, E. (2015). The effect of decision-making on the growth of small businesses in an uncertain environment. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2015(1), pp.10915-10915.

Ericson, M. (2010). A narrative approach to business growth. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.4-29.

Fassoula, E. and Rogerson, J. (2003). Management tools for SMEs. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 14(10), pp.1143-1158.

Faruq, H., Webb, M. and Yi, D. (2013). Corruption, Bureaucracy and Firm Productivity in Africa. Review of Development Economics, 17(1), pp.117-129.

Fouka, G. and Mantzorou, M. (2011). What are the Major Ethical Issues in Conducting Research? Is there a Conflict between the Research Ethics and the Nature of Nursing?.Health Science Journal, 5(1), pp.3-12.

Ghafoor, Z. and Iqbal, M. (2007). Role of the Internet in SME Growth Strategies: Case studies of Sweedish Companies. Masters Thesis. Lulea University of Technology.

Gomez, J. (2007). Jim Davis, Gloria J. Miller, Allan Russell, Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business, Foreword by Thornton May. Publishing Research Quarterly, 23(2), pp.158-159.

Greiner, L. (1997). Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow: A company's past has clues for management that are critical to future success. Family Business Review, 10(4), pp.397-409.

Headd, B. and Kirchhoff, B. (2009). The Growth, Decline and Survival of Small Businesses: An Exploratory Study of Life Cycles. Journal of Small Business Management, 47(4), pp.531-550.

Hess, E. and Liedtka, J. (2012). The physics of business growth. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Briefs, an imprint of Stanford University Press, pp. 1-25.

Hess, E. (2010). Smart growth. New York: Columbia Business School Pub, pp.1-16.

Heui-Uk Yoon, , and Kyungdo Park, (2009). Understanding of and Development Strategy for Wedding Industry with Channel Structure Improvement : In the Perspective of Online Wedding Open-Market. Journal of Social Science, 35(3), pp.187-213.

Hill, S. (2013). Academic Writing and Plagiarism: A Linguistic Analysis; Cite them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide; Referencing and Understanding Plagiarism. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(2), pp.150-152.

Itika, J. (2005). Contextual Innovation, Growth And Income In Garment Micro Businesses: Limitations From Questionnaire-Based Data. African Journal of Finance and Management, 13(1).

Iwh.on.ca. (2016). primary data and secondary data | Institute for Work & Health. [online] Available at: http://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-data-and-secondary-data [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016].

Jamaluddin, A. and Dickie, C. (2011). Decision-making Related to Business Growth: Malay Small Businesses in Selangor. IJBM, 6(10).

Jasper, C. (2005). Women executives and business owners: A new philanthropy. New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising, 2005(50), pp.55-68.

Joseph, J. and Guillory, D. (2013). Transforming Information and Resolving Citizen Complaints by Utilizing Qualitative and Quantitative Information for Data Construction, Statistical Analysis, and Policy Implementation. Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, 2013(6), pp.7300-7305.

Kaganski, S., Snatkin, A., Paavel, M. and Karjust, K. (2013). SELECTING THE RIGHT KPIs FOR SMEs PRODUCTION WITH THE SUPPORT OF PMS AND PLM. International Journal of Research In Social Sciences, [online] 3(1), p.70. Available at: http://www.ijsk.org/uploads/3/1/1/7/3117743/8_product_life_management.pdf [Accessed 19 Aug. 2016].

Karpatschof, B. (2007). Bringing quality and meaning to quantitative data – Bringing quantitative evidence to qualitative observation. Nordic Psychology, 59(3), pp.191-209.

Kastrati, A. (2015). Determinants to SME growth in Kosovo. Masters thesis. University of Ljubljana.

Kess, P. and Isoherranen, V. (2014). BUSINESS STRATEGIES ANALYSIS BY STRATEGY TYPOLOGY AND ORIENTATION FRAMEWORK. management knowledge and learning, [online] 9(3), p.1115. Available at: http://www.toknowpress.net/ISBN/978-961-6914-09-3/papers/ML14-695.pdf [Accessed 19 Aug. 2016].

Kim, Y. and Choi, Y. (2011). Impact of the Changes in Social Trends in Wedding Culture: Focusing on a Five to Three Star Hotels. Korea Academic Society of Tourism Management: Tourism Research , 26(1), 51-71.

Kim, YoungMi, & Kim, Doyum. (2013). An Investigation of Korean Wedding Industry and Suggestions for Its Future Development from the Tourism Perspective . Journal of management. 6(1), pp.16-17.

Knobe, J. & Nichols, S. (2008). Experimental philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kohitwedding.com. (2016). KOHIT WEDDING- KOREA PRE-WEDDING PHOTOSHOOT. [online] Available at: http://www.kohitwedding.com/ [Accessed 19 Aug. 2016].

Kozan, M., Oksoy, D. and Ozsoy, O. (2006). Growth Plans of Small Businesses in Turkey: Individual and Environmental Influences. Journal of Small Business Management, 44(1), pp.114-129.

Krasniqi, B. (2007). Barriers To Entrepreneurship And SME Growth In Transition: The Case Of Kosova. J. Dev. Entrepreneurship, 12(01), pp.71-94.

Kusi, A., Narh Opata, C. and John Narh, T. (2015). Exploring the Factors That Hinder the Growth and Survival of Small Businesses in Ghana (A Case Study of Small Businesses within Kumasi Metropolitan Area). AJIBM, 05(11), pp.705-723.

Kwarteng, F. and Li, Y. (2015). SMEs Growth Influencers: An Exploratory Study on the Impact of Entrepreneur Character Traits on SMEs Growth in Ghana. British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade, 9(4), pp.1-14.

Kwarteng, F., Yao, L., Aboagye, O. and Boatemaa, A. (2016). Institutional Financial Support and SMEs Growth. A Case Study on Selected SMEs in Ghana. British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade, 12(2), pp.1-19.

Lau, C. K. H. and Hui, S. (2010). Selecting Attributes of Wedding Banquet Venues: An Exploratory Study of Hong Kong Prospective Wedding Couples. International Journal of Hospitality Management , 29(2), 268-276.

LeBrasseur, R., Zanibbi, L. and Zinger, T. (2003). Growth Momentum in the Early Stages of Small Business Start-Ups. International Small Business Journal, 21(3), pp.315-330.

Lockett, A. and Wild, A. (2013). A Penrosean theory of acquisitive growth. Business History, 55(5), pp.790-817.

McLeod, S. (2014). Sampling Methods | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/sampling.html [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016].

Mendoza, R., Lim, R. and Lopez, A. (2015). Grease or Sand in the Wheels of Commerce? Firm Level Evidence on Corruption and SMES. Journal of International Development, 27(4), pp.415-439.

Mintzberg, H., Lampel, J., Quinn, J., & Ghoshal, S. (2003): The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts and Cases, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, p. 64.

Mir, F. and Pinnington, A. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: Linking Project Management Performance and Project Success. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

Mishra, C. and Zachary, R. (2013). The Nature of the Firm, the Growth and Resource-Based Theories of the Firm, and the Emergent Theory of the Entrepreneur: A Dedication to Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 3(4).

Moussetis, R. (2011). Ansoff revisited. Journal of Management History, 17(1), pp.102-125.

Murphy, A. and Ledwith, A. (2007). Project management tools and techniques in hightechnology SMEs. Management Research News, 30(2), pp.153-166.

Myers, J. and Well, A. (2003). Research design and statistical analysis. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Paglia, J. and Harjoto, M. (2014). The effects of private equity and venture capital on sales and employment growth in small and medium-sized businesses. Journal of Banking & Finance, 47, pp.177-197.

Peters, K. and Halcomb, E. (2015). Interviews in qualitative research. Nurse Researcher, 22(4), pp.6-7.

Raddats, C. and Easingwood, C. (2010). Services growth options for B2B product-centric businesses. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(8), pp.1334-1345.

Rasmussen, E. (2009). Growth Strategies in small businesses: A case study of the development of growth strategies in young, small businesses. Degree Thesis. Aarhus University.

Roberts, R. and Hirsch, P. (2005). Evolution and revolution in the twenty-first century: Rules for organizations and managing human resources. Human Resource Management, 44(2), pp.171-176.

Rodney, T. (2010). Small-Medium-Sized Enterprises: Innovation Growth Management. [online] Pmi.org. Available at: http://www.pmi.org/learning/library/medium-enterprises-innovation-growth-management-6454 [Accessed 17 Jul. 2016].

Rojsurakitti, T. (2015). SMEs High-Growth in Thailand. ABR, 3(1).

Scott, M. and Bruce, R. (1987), Five stages of growth in small business. Long Range Planning, 20, 3, 45

Scribd. (2016). Research Methodology Onions. [online] Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/72024845/Research-Methodology-Onions [Accessed 12 Aug. 2016].

Sekaran, U. (2003), “Research Methods for Business” , New York: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 34-47.

Seoul.usembassy.gov. (2013). Economic Data & Reports | Seoul, Korea - Embassy of the United States. [online] Available at: http://seoul.usembassy.gov/business_0612.html [Accessed 16 Aug. 2016].

Smba.go.kr. (2016). Status of Korean SMEs | Korean SMEs | Small and Medium Business Administration.[online]Available at: http://www.smba.go.kr/eng/smes/status.do?mc=usr0001147 [Accessed 20 Jul. 2016].

Sobri Minai, M. and Lucky, E. (2011). The Moderating Effect of Location on Small Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence. IJBM, 6(10).

Sulong, F., Sulaiman, M. and Norhayati, M. (2015). Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) enablers and barriers: the case of a Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, pp.1365-1374.

Terrell, E. (2016). A Guide to the Wedding Industry (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress). [online] Loc.gov. Available at: https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/wedding/ [Accessed 20 Jul. 2016].

Thakker, N. and Read, A. (2010). Ethical Issues in Conducting Genetic Research: Commentary. Research Ethics, 6(3), pp.101-102.

Thakor, A. (2011). The four colors of business growth. San Diego CA: Academic Press, pp.95-112.

Tilly, R. & Glennon, R. (2013). Growth Strategies for SMEs: An Independent member of Baker Tilly International, pp. 54-64.

Trochim, W. (2006). Deduction & Induction. [online] Socialresearchmethods.net. Available at: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php [Accessed 12 Aug. 2016].

Tundui, C. and Tundui, H. (2012). Survival, Growth Strategies and Performance of Women Owned Micro and Small Businesses in Tanzania. IJBM, 7(8).

Wahab, N. and Rahim, S. (2013). Areas for Benchmarking among SMEs. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, pp.270-273.

Weddingritz.com. (2016). Korea Pre Wedding Photoshoot Review by WeddingRitz.com. [online] Available at: http://www.weddingritz.com/en/ [Accessed 19 Aug. 2016].

Wang, Y. and You, J. (2012). Corruption and firm growth: Evidence from China. China Economic Review, 23(2), pp.415-433.

Xiao, Q. (2011). Research on the Status of SMEs of Ya'an in the Internal Control. Journal of Management and Strategy, 2(3).

Yasuda, H. (2005). Formation of strategic alliances in high-technology industries: comparative study of the resource-based theory and the transaction-cost theory. Technovation, 25(7), pp.763-770.

Yu, H., Abdullah, A. and Saat, R. (2014). Overcoming time and ethical constraints in the qualitative data collection process: A case of information literacy research. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 46(3), pp.243-257.

Zhu, J. and Zhang, D. (2016). Does Corruption Hinder Private Businesses? Leadership Stability and Predictable Corruption in China. Governance.

Zuilhof, J. (2013). QualContentAnalysis < MoM < digitalmethods.net. [online] Digitalmethods.net. Available at: https://www.digitalmethods.net/MoM/QualContentAnalysis#A_424._Discourses_42 [Accessed 15 Aug. 2016].

Appendices

Appendix 1

Interview questionnaire

(The questions were categorized into four sections)

Section A (based on the response in section A, the interviewee proceeded to relevant section)

1) What level of management are you in?

Top-level management

Middle level management

Low level management

Other

Section B: Top Level Manager

2) Your organization has grown markedly in the last decade

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

3) What are the major challenges that you face as a manager as the company grows?

4) As an organization what challenges do you encounter during growth?

5) Does your company have any aspirations in terms of growth stages?

Yes

No

6) Are you familiar with any helpful tools of growth management for activities such as scheduling, risk management, decision making or auditing?

Yes

No

7) Which tools (from Q6) does your company apply for growth management?

8) What tools (apart from money) would you need as a company for a more effective growth management of your firm?

9) Any plans in expanding to serve foreign countries? What is your strategy?

Section C: Middle Level Manager

10) Are there any growth projects you are overseeing? If so which tools (if any) are you applying to manage growth? (Such as software for scheduling, cost management etc.)

11) At your level of work, what problems affect the growth of the firm?

12) What additional tools applied would you suggest to incorporate in your in a bid to control growth of your firm?

13) Has the company invested enough in growth of the firm? Explain

Section D: Low Level Manager

14) Are you aware of any tools applied by your firm to control growth in terms of time, cost or risk management such as software etc.?

Yes

No

15) If so, do you think they are effective according to your interactions with the customers?

16) Do you think the higher management is doing enough to manage growth of the firm?

17) What strategies would you make for the organization to improve on growth management?