Abstract:

Business developed in small-and medium-sized entities hold an important place in the economic structures of most countries around the world, representing significant shares in the number, personnel and turnover of enterprises as a whole. The dynamism, flexibility, and the crisis-resistant capacity are specific features of the Small and Medium-Sized Entities, construed as essential for the economic-social cohesion, for economic growth and for the creation of new jobs. This explains the fact that the concentrating tendency of the economic activity is often reversed in favour of small production facilities, which have a major role in restructuring industries, in the equilibrium of activities on the national territory and the economic bloom. One may notice that this tendency is also manifested (rather shyly for now) at the level of the Romanian economy. At the same time, at the level of these entities, there is a certain settling tendency on scientific bases as far as the managerial/decision-making process is concerned. However, in Romania, nowadays, businessmen would often refuse to acknowledge the importance of strategic planning. They consider it an “accessory” that is useful to acquire only if time allows it. Sometimes, even if strategic planning studies claim the contrary, they think their business is too small and the procedure too simple to achieve strategic planning. Given this perspective, we believe that the strategic planning issue deserves a special approach, our paper insisting on this particular issue.