CADI AYYAD University

School Of Technology
Essaouira
Field: Management Techniques.
Option: Tax system, Accountancy and Finance.

Monograph

BUSINESS STRATEGIES
What Model For Small-Medium Sized Enterprises?

Realized By:
By:

Supervised

ZALIM Jihane
Ahmed
GHAFRANE Soukaina

MR. JADIR

Academic Year: 2012/2013

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Dedications
This work is lovingly dedicated to our
precious and respective parents who has given
us the chance to prove and improve ourselves
through all our walks of life, and who have
always been there for us.
We would also like to dedicate this work to our
families and friends who always believe in us.

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Acknowledgements
Great praise and thanks are due to the Allah the
Almighty, who has enabled us to accomplish our
studies successfully.
We feel an overwhelming desire to express our
sincere gratitude to our respectful supervisor, Mr.
JADIR Ahmed who has done much to help in the
realization of this work through his correction,
remarks, questions and discussions , also we would
like to thank him for his worthy guidance and help
without which this monograph would not have
existed.
Also, we would like to seize this opportunity to
deliver a special thank to Mr. HADACH
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Mohamed for his valuable guidance, help and

advice.

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 9
1.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES ........................................................................................................ 11

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2.

METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 25
CASE
2.1

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DEFINITION .............................................................................................................................. 26
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3.

ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS ............................................................................................... 28

3.0

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3.3
3.4

RESULTS................................................................................................................................... 40
CONCLUSION: .......................................................................................................................... 41

GENERAL CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 42
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .................................................................................................. 43
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General Introduction
Management Techniques is among the fundamental fields within most of Technology
schools of Morocco. In fact, this field allows the person who chooses it to finish his
studies and become at the end of the training a highly qualified technician.
In our School of Technology in Essaouira city, we have chosen this field and as an option
we have opted for Finance, Accounting and Tax System.
During this training weve been called to realize a monograph about the end of studies.
So, weve decided to work on Strategic Management, specifically, business strategies
in the Small-Medium sized enterprises of Morocco.
Being a technician in management techniques requires enough knowledge and skills in
some fundamental notions such as strategic management and business strategies. This
shows

the

close

relationship

between

our

field

and

the

chosen

topic.

In fact, Every Small-Medium sized Enterprise should adopt a business strategy in order
to succeed in its chosen market place against its competitors. It is for the object of defining
the Enterprises long term survival that the manager should choose a strategy that would
give the best answer to the following questions:
What are the different strategies adopted within a Small-Medium sized
Enterprise?
To what extend the adopted strategy is going to help the Enterprise reaching it
goals?
The goal of our Monograph is to give a general idea about business strategies and
specifically the ones adopted by Small-Medium sized enterprises in Morocco.
In fact, they are defined by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as businesses
employing less than 99 people with a maximum turnover of 50million Dirhams. They are
a major engine of the economy and currently account for around 93% of all registered
businesses, 46% of employment and 38% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Their
overall contribution in terms of added value to the economy represents 20%.

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So, in the first part of our work we will highlight the main business strategies that are
known in the strategic management field, give their characteristics and their importance.
In order to well understand the topic, we are going to devote the second part to a case
Study so that we could determine the business strategies which are adopted the most
within Small-Medium sized enterprises, where we will give information about our
methodology we will use in it.
In the third part, we will give different conclusions about the results of the case study:
Remarks, recommendations and suggestions.

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1. Business Strategies

In this chapter, we are going to highlight Business strategies in order to get familiar
with our monograph topic. So, a business strategy analyses all the major initiatives taken
by an Enterprise's top management on behalf of owners, involving resources and
performance in external environments. It entails specifying the organization's mission,
vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and
programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources
to

implement

the

policies

and

plans,

projects

and

programs.

So, what are the types of business strategies that Small-Medium sized Enterprises adopts
the most?

The first corporate strategy which would be treated in this monograph is diversification
strategy. In fact, we will we will give a definition about it, its types, and the advantages
and disadvantages.

Diversification for Small-Medium Enterprises is the way to complete its current business
through new activities with different technical and commercial characteristics that require
different skills.
The diversified enterprise is characterized by the coexistence of several trades
corresponding to a wallet of heterogeneous activities.
McDonald's starting of McCafe is an excellent example of diversification. By starting
McCafe, McDonald's is offering new products that were not available in traditional
McDonald's stores. McCafe specializes in serving cafes, which attracts customers that
usually don't come to McDonald's to eat fast-food. McCafe is also not only a product
development. McCafe has its own section of the store and clearly distinguishes itself from

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the traditional McDonald store. The store has modern, yet relaxing mood. This is
important to attract new market segments, probably customers that go to cafe not to satisfy
hunger, but possibly to take a sip of coffee and chat in a relaxing environment. Thus,
McDonald's McCafe serves as an example performing diversification by developing both
new products and new markets.

In principle, there are three types of diversification:

Diversification of investment.
Diversification of redeployment
Diversification of reinforcement

It refers to companies that derive from their main activity a net surplus of liquidity,
because they are very well positioned in a strategic segment whose growth prospects
remain good.
The extent of this diversification of investment depends on the size of the fiscal surplus.
Any new activity should provide the company with a cost greater than the marginal
profitability of its assets if they were invested in the main activity.
The investment is financial if diversification is executed as a simple participation in which
the company will separate the first cash flow crisis.
Placement is Industrial if the company makes sure of it new skills and fully associates
itself with new projects, perceived as irreversible. In this case, the participation must give
the company a real influence.

Diversification of redeployments economic appearance is exclusively industrial. Faced

with a situation characterized by a strong competitive strategic position in a very aged

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strategic segment, diversification becomes a substitute for the slow growth of the core
business. According to the deadline for redeployment, more or less synergies will be
exploited between the new job and the original activity.
In this sense, the enterprise must be able to measure the intrinsic value of new business
to judge the interest of diversification.

It is aimed at companies occupying a middle position compared to their main competitors,

and difficult to improve substantially. With an additional activity the company is looking
to disrupt the competitive game which is unfavorable. The addition of an activity related
to the core business of the company can overcome the difficulties of logical volume. The
choice of areas of diversification depends on the extent of synergies that may present with
the initial activity. The criteria for investment decisions should be based on the prospects
of overall cohesion.

As well as any other strategy, diversification strategy has its own pros and cons:
Table 1: Diversification pros and cons

Advantages

Disadvantages

Allocating risks

Dispersion of material means,

Improve profitability

Increasing complexity of the

Synergy

environment and technology,

Significant cost (trending cost).

Among the important corporate strategies that an enterprise could ever adopt, we find the
famous specialization strategy. This section contains a definition about it, its types and
finally its advantages and disadvantages.

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Specialization is used to increase the experience of an enterprise in a single field of

activity which is in general the original business where the company focuses its
efforts. This orientation or strategy is the easiest and most common.

There are four types of specialization strategy:

Dominating the cost of products

Differentiation

Niche strategy

Refocusing strategy

The strategy of cost domination involves propose an offer of the same value as
competitors but at a lower price (that is why we also qualifies pricing strategy). It requires
reducing costs, which is obtained by optimizing the various stages of production, but
largely based on the experience effect (lower marginal cost per unit volume with
increasing cumulative production, obtained by including economies of scale or learning
effects). When based on the effect of experience, strategy cost leadership strategy is called
volume.

Differentiation is a concept used in business strategy and describes one of the three ways
to establish competitive advantage. Differentiation advantage occurs when a firm delivers
greater services for a non-unlimited higher price than its competitors.
They are collectively known as positional advantages because they denote the firm's
position in its industry as a leader in either superior services or cost. Product
differentiation is what allows firms in monopolistic competition (a market structure) to
sell their products at different prices, even though they are essentially the same

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A niche strategy consists for a company deploying its efforts, design, production and
distribution and promotion, not towards a mass market already occupied by major
competitors, but to a range of products or services and a specific customer segment.
The field of commercial activity thus is called a targeted niche market.
The goal is to occupy a significant market share in this field more closely, have certain
exclusivity and obtain more favorable profit margins by the possibility of selling with a
price higher than current products.
The establishment of a niche strategy is to decompose according to appropriate criteria;
a market generic homogeneous segments the difficulty of this step is to identify the
segmentation criteria (definition), the key success factors (homogeneity) and prospective
(quantification)

This strategy consists on focusing most of its efforts on a market segment. It is like the
"niche strategy". This leads also to choose in this niche a strategy of cost domination or
differentiation, to provide leadership in prices and / or quantities in this segment.
According to Porter, the company should focus on one (and only one) of these three
strategies (strategy of cost domination, strategy of differentiation and niche strategy).
Moreover, it should ensure to optimize the enterprises control to develop a real
competitive advantage.

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Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of Specialization strategy

Disadvantages of specialization strategy

Advantages of specialization strategy

Simplify

the

management

of

the

Enterprise

increasing the vulnerability of the

Enterprise to face changes

Avoid dispersal of resources and efforts.

Risk of organizational rigidity

Higher level of experience

Dependence on a single product.

An enterprise adopts an outsourcing strategy, when it takes a function out of its business
and relocating it to another country. So, how can we define it? And what are its types?

Outsourcing can be defined as a policy of cooperation, alliance or association between

companies with complementary activities that seek to identify synergies. By this strategy
the company entrusts to a third party purchasing, manufacturing or sales before they
realized themselves.

There are four types of outsourcing:

Subcontracting

Franchising

Concession

Divestiture of distance

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This strategy is for companies called outsourcer to entrust to another company a

subcontractor part of its production.
There are two types of outsourcing:

Subcontracting of capacity: The outsourcer has to produce the goods in question

but rather for reasons of cost and quality to the outside.

Subcontracting of specialty allows Outsourcers to benefit from the expertise and

skills of machines available to the subcontractor.

The benefits of outsourcing to the outsourcer:

Subcontracting of specialty: Benefit from the competence or technical advantage

of specialized companies.

Subcontracting of capacity: Increase the flexibility of the enterprise to cope with

changes in demand and reduce fixed costs.

Franchising is a business model in which many different owners share a single brand
name. A parent company allows entrepreneurs to use the company's strategies and
trademarks; in exchange, the franchisee pays an initial fee and royalties based on
revenues.
The parent company also provides the franchisee with support, including advertising and
training, as part of the franchising agreement.
Franchising is a faster, cheaper form of expansion than adding company-owned stores,
because it costs the parent company much less when new stores are owned and operated
by a third party. On the flip side, potential for revenue growth is more limited because the
parent company will only earn a percentage of the earnings from each new store. 70
different industries use the franchising business model, and according to the International
Franchising Association the sector earns more than $1.5 trillion in revenues each year.
Example of Franchisors: Subway (sandwiches and salads), McDonalds .

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 Advantages of Franchising:

For the Franchisor:

Accelerate growth, create a distribution network, conquer market share, and improve
profitability.

For Franchisee:

Starting a business, acquire expertise; preserve its independence, have a job and an
income.

The concession is a contract by which a company called grantor, reserves the distribution
of its products to an independent trader by providing supplies product brand and technical
assistance (training / Council).
Generally concession confers a geographic monopoly, which makes the dealer, the
exclusive representative of the company in an area bounded by a grantor.

The obligations of the concessionaire:

Respect the sales quotas,
Providing after sales,
Participate in promotional activities,
Comply with the tender specifications;

Also the concession allows the company (licensor) to form a homogeneous distribution
network.

This is for a company holding a certificate to authorize another to use (exploitation of a

patent trademark, logo, expertise ...) for a license fee.

Advantages of Divestiture of distance:

Synergy

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The flexibility of the company

Reduce costs

Simplification of the organization

Disadvantages of Divestiture of distance:

Economic dependence.

As a result of growing globalization and competition the issue of internationalization is

becoming more and more important and relevant for companies all over the world. This
section contains a definition of internationalization, its process and its different strategies.

Internationalization can be defined as a strategy of a company outside its domestic

market. It can be expressed whether in the presence of production units in different
countries or the conquest of multiple national markets.

In the internationalization process, we find at first place, the direct exporting and, at the
second, the indirect exporting.

Direct exporting is when the enterprise exports directly to a customer interested in buying
its product. In fact, the company is responsible for handling the market research, foreign
distribution, and logistics of shipment and for collecting payment. In fact, thanks to direct
exporting the company can sell abroad without using of intermediaries. The company will
therefore not need to participate in trade fairs abroad, mobilize a force of foreign sales via
sales agents or representatives of employees.

Advantages of direct exporting

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The advantages of exporting directly are:

The company remains able to control the pricing.

The company is in full control of its brand.

Easy maintenance of the customer relationship.

Ability to identify possible new opportunities.

Customers may prefer dealing directly with the producer.

Disadvantages of direct exporting

The disadvantages of exporting directly are:

Waste of time, energy, staff resources and money

Competitors with a local presence will be perceived as lower risk to buy from

After-sales commissioning and service may require local language capability

Prompt troubleshooting may not be able to be done remotely and will require
additional visits

Indirect exporting is when the enterprise sells products to an intermediary, who in turn
sells it either directly to customers or to importing wholesalers. It is preferable in the
indirect exporting to sell to an intermediary in the enterprises country. In fact, this one is
not responsible for collecting payment from the foreign customer.

Advantages of indirect exporting

It demands minimal involvement in the export process.

It allows you to continue to concentrate on your domestic business.

You are not responsible for product marketing problems at the first place, but
someone else is.

You learn as you go about international marketing.

Depending on the type of intermediary with which you are dealing, you don't have
to concern yourself with shipment and other logistics.

The disadvantages of indirect exporting:

Your profits are lower.

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Loss of control over foreign sales.

Lack of knowledge about customers, and consequently the company cant

keep up its supplies with the customers demands.

There are four internationalization strategies:

International strategy;

Multinational strategy;

Global strategy;

Transnational strategy;

The international company is an organization whose decision center and the system of
production and marketing are located in the country of origin and intends to extend its
activities to other countries. The logic of this strategy is that the company develops the
skills and knowledge that enable business management at the national level and then
proceed to transfer to the local level in units abroad. In fact, it is important to focus on the
technical, human and organizational resources of the parent company by enhancing and
adapting to different local markets. This type of configuration is suitable for companies
wishing to limit their internationalization in some countries and willing to limit structure
and coordination costs. Companies located in the first stage of the internationalization
process often adopt this strategy.
Companies concerned are recent and smaller companies such as Small-Medium sized
Enterprises and Very Small Enterprises, wishing to expand internationally while reducing
the costs of internationalization.

The multinational company shows a stronger commitment to the international business

world. It locates its production operations and marketing in different countries to take

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advantage of the best in each country. It uses direct investment to establish local
production units or development of technology transfer contracts with foreign companies.
Strategic decisions are centralized at the headquarter of the company management while
local activities are entrusted to local units. The multinational company adopts multi
domestic strategies to better tailor its commercial policy to the specificities of local
markets. Local operations are undertaken in order to exploit local opportunities. In this
type of organization, business activities are differentiated and locally adapted to better
meet the needs of local customers. Products and or services are developed according to
local specificities in order to best meet the specific needs of each local market.
Standardization is banned; each market's needs differ from those of other markets that the
company must satisfy. Potential markets for multinational company are those large or
fast-growing and where competitive intensity is moderate or low. The key success factors
for a multinational company are the management of relations between the seat and its
subsidiaries, the management of international changes and the positioning and image of
the subsidiaries in their respective host countries. The level of control over the
subsidiaries and the level of autonomy of subsidiaries and management for expatriates
and expatriate determine the success of the multinational enterprise.

The global company adopts a global strategy centered on a policy of standardization and
optimization of resources. The world is viewed as a single market. The strategy is based
on industrial and commercial presence of the company worldwide. The offers are
standardized with undifferentiated marketing, centralized coordination of the activities
and operation of strategic interdependencies.
The search for economies of scale, cost sharing flow coordination and integration of
research globally are at the heart of strategy. The global company is trying to move
beyond cultural differences in managing global integration teams and development
activities. She is looking for a true identity, which is one of the key success factors.
The search for economies of scale, cost sharing flow coordination and integration of
research globally are at the heart of strategy. The global company tries to move beyond
cultural differences by managing global integration teams and development of activities.
It is looking for a true identity, which is one of the key success factors.

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The transnational company does not provide importance to attachment to their country
of origin. She bathes in the cultural mix, which explains its detachment to the country of
origin. It tends to lose its national identity. The transnational strategy is a step forward
in the internationalization process of the company as it enables the company to combine
the forces of global integration with the requirements of adaptation to local markets
targeted by company. Somehow, the transnational company adopts a comprehensive
strategy to develop a competitive advantage globally. The main objective of this
strategy is to take advantage of cost by the coordination of activities and ensuring
responsiveness and flexibility to identify and exploit local opportunities. The key
success factors of the strategy are related to the ability of the transnational company to
cooperate with the requirements of integration and differentiation, transforming these
contradictions into an operational reality.

This section contains the fifth and the last corporate strategy, the one of vertical
integration, in which we will give a definition about it and its levels.

Vertical integration can be defined as the grouping of companies with complementary

activities. These are located at successive stages of the production process. Simply said,
as an example, we can say that, when a customer buys a product (juice for example), he
might judge that the whole product was produced by the brand on it, but, actually, the
bottle might be produced by another person who can do it better and at a cheaper cost,
but when the company becomes able to produce the bottles itself, it would benefit from
some advantages, and we call this procedure vertical integration.

We distinguish in the levels of vertical integration between 3 ones: full integration,

modulated integration and finally quasi-integration.

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Full integration

Full integration is a level in which, all necessary activities that are carried out within the
company are fully taken care of, such as production, distribution, administration and
supply.

Modulated integration

Modulated integration is a level in which, a part of the activities is entrusted to

independent enterprises, whether suppliers or distributors.

Quasi-integration

Quasi-integration is a level in which, a part of the activities is entrusted to companies

which has been affiliated by alliance whether by franchising, concession or
subcontracting

As we have seen there is a multiple choice of strategies for any kind of Enterprises
whether it is local, international, industrial, commercial or any other kind, it just depends
on the core or the main activity of the enterprise as well as its resources and performance
in the external environment.
The following figure summarizes the main corporate strategic orientations that we
explained in the first part of our project:

Figure 1: Corporate strategic orientations 1

Specialization
strategy

YES

Unique
activity
NO

Horizontal

Diversification
strategy

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Vertical

Integration
strategy

Internationalization
strategy

YES
Activities
developed
abroad?

Source: S.GHAFRANE & J.ZALIM

The question which is still asked is: which strategies are adopted by Moroccan
Small-Medium sized enterprises?

2.

Methodology
Case

The best answer to any problematic is the one which is characterized by its quantitative
and qualitative information at the same time. So, the only way to get the best answer to
the problematic of our Monograph is by making a case study that would allow us to get

Jean-Pierre Helfer, Michel Kalika, Jacques Orsoni, Management stratgie et organisation , Vuibert
7th edition, figure 4.1 : les orientations stratgiques corporate , page 196.

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this information. In this part, we will try to make a Questionnaire about business strategies
within Small-Medium sized enterprises in Morocco. Through this questionnaire, we will
try to distinguish the strategies that are adopted the most by the Moroccan Small-Medium
sized Enterprises, and the reasons behind their choices of strategies. We will start by a
definition of the case study, presentation of a questionnaire and the sampling methods

2.1 Definition
The case study is a detailed study of a particular case that is to say in our case a topic
about the most adopted Strategies in Moroccan Small-Medium sized Enterprises. It is
among the few approaches to social science research that combines direct observations
and various documentary sources related to the practices and speeches concerned with
our topic.
The construction and analysis of the data as referred is to seize the object of study in its
dimensions of time and space as they are developing in a given social environment.

After some deep researches that we made and also after the recommendations that we
took from both our Teachers and colleges, we found out that a questionnaire is the best
way to give the reality trait that we are missing in our monograph, also we found out that
the best way to analyze the results of the questionnaire is with the help of the SPSS
software

So what is a questionnaire?

How can we make it?

And what is SPSS Software?

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other

prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Questionnaires have
advantages over the other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much
effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized
answers that make it simple to compile data. However, such standardized answers may

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frustrate users. Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must
be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups
conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be practical.
As a type of survey, questionnaires also have many of the same problems relating to
question construction and wording that exist in other types of opinion polls.
In order to make a Questionnaire, there are some steps that a questioner must follow in
order to make it comprehensive and practical such as:

Shaping the subject and the aim of the questionnaire;

Collecting information about the topic of the questionnaire ;

Selecting a statistical population to answer the questionnaire (Sampling) ;

Choosing questions based on a comprehensive and practical language that will

make the process of answering easier for the sample.

Classifying Questions based on the importance and the relations between them.

In statistics and survey methodology, sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset
of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole
population. In our Monograph we have chosen a sample of 26 Small-Medium sized
Enterprises out of the thousands that exist in Morocco.
There are two advantages of sampling:

Lower cost comparing with the other types of survey ;

Collection of information is easier and faster.

Each observation measures one or more properties (such as weight, location, color) of
observable bodies distinguished as independent objects or individuals. In survey
sampling, weights can be applied to the data to adjust for the sample design, particularly
stratified sampling (blocking). Results from probability theory and statistical theory are
employed to guide practice. In business and medical research, sampling is widely used
for gathering information about a population.

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In our case, the steps on top were the basics to the making of our Questionnaire(cf.
annex1), beside some others that we think would make it more practical and
comprehensive for the users.
For example:

Choosing a sample of 26 Small-Medium sized Enterprises;

Collecting information from the theoretical part of our Monograph;

Gathering questions according to four sections that we have chosen based on the
information we have already collected from the first part of the Monograph;

Using simple words and simple vocabulary ;

Using informative tables that offer more explanations about the strategies.

After Making and collecting the questionnaire, we have analyzed the results of each and
every kind of information that we came up with. In order to do so, we follow a way that
makes this task as simple and fast as it could be.
So, after some deep researches and recommendations from our teachers, we have a
choice of two software types:
Sphinx which is a software survey and statistical analysis of data;
SPSS which is a software package used for statistical analysis.
Our choice was the SPSS software because its much easier to use and also because it
gives mush more detailed analysis with graphs and summarizing tables.

Due to language problems, we made the Questionnaire in French, that is why the annex is in French.

3.

Analysis of the results

3.0
In this part, we are going to answer the problematic of our Monograph. After the phase
of collecting the questionnaires from users comes the one in which we should analyze the

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results of the answers. In order to do that, we used software called Statistics Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) that helps analyzing results of any questionnaire.

This presentation contains all the results that we obtained through our questionnaire,
especially:

The identification of the study sample;

Business strategies adopted by the study sample;

The organization within the study sample (Decision making and communication).

To identify our study sample, we asked several questions, about:

The name of the enterprise;

The legal status;

The line of business;

Number of staff;

Revenue;

Table 3: The name and legal status of the enterprise

Name

Legal status

Line of Business
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OSOTTO

Limited liability company

Commerce

AQUA PLAGE

Limited liability company

Commerce

GROUPE3

Limited liability company

Commerce

SKAWA

Limited liability company

Commerce

EL HASNI ET JILAL

Limited liability company

Commerce

CODEMAX

Limited liability company

Commerce

HAYAT SPORT

Limited liability company

Commerce

GAMA
IMMO

Limited liability company

Commerce

GAR TRANS

Limited liability company

Commerce

SIDRA CAP

Limited liability company

Commerce

POLE STAR

General partnership

Transport

NEO-PLATRE

General partnership

Transport

OMAVIS

General partnership

Transport

ANAREC

General partnership

Transport

TIJANATINE

General partnership

Transport

PAGE MAJIC

General partnership

Transport

2R TRAVAUX

Public limited company

Industry

EUROBROD

Public limited company

Industry

FIHAM

Public limited company

Industry

INTEM SARL

Public limited company

Industry

METRO MATERIAUX

Public limited company

Service provision

GHAFIR SARL

General partnership

Service provision

FATIMANEGOCE

Other

Service provision

MSEC SARL

Other

Service provision

METRO MATERIAUX

Other

Service provision

SOTAREV

Other

Service provision

TRANS

Source: J.ZALIM & S.GHAFRANE.

Figure 2: Legal Status (%)

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As we can see, the majority of our samples are Limited Liability Companies with a
percentage of 45.45%, followed by 31.82% for the General partnership, then 22.73% for
the Public Limited Company.
Figure 3: Line of business

For the question: What is your line of business? the results are as follows:
38,46% of our study sample operate in commercial sector;
23,08% of them have chosen transport and service provision as their line of
business;
15, 38% of them operate in the industrial sector.

Figure 4: Human resources in SMEs

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For the question: What is the number of you staff? we find that:
88,7% of the study sample employs between 5 and 25 people;
15,38% of SMEs in Morocco host from 71 to 99 employees;
Only 3,85% of them have a staff between 51 and 70 employees;

Figure 5: Revenue

This figure concerns the revenue of the study sample which is less than 5 million Dirhams
for 38, 46% and more than that amount for the rest (61, 54%).

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Figure 6: Business strategies (Percentage)

Concerning business strategies, we realized that 34% of the sample adopts a

diversification strategy and 42% of them adopt a specialization one, and the rest is
adopting other strategies that they havent specified in the questionnaire.
Figure 7: Internationalization strategy

Concerning our Sample:

73% havent thought about adopting an Internationalization Strategy, while only

27% thought about it.

Figure 8: Kind of Communication

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Only 38, 46% of the SMEs use a formal communication while the others prefer
an informal communication.

Figure 9: Importance of communication

As the figure shows, only 61, 54% of SMEs consider that communication is very
important for them, while others dont give it any importance.

Figure 10: Decision making

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The decision is taken mostly by the direction, only 23, 08% give an importance to
the team and gives them the priority to take decisions within the enterprise.

Figure 11: Types of decision

Unfortunately, only 30, 77% of SMEs take into consideration the decisions that
are made by groups. In fact 69, 23% of decisions are decentralized.

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Figure 12: Identification of the sample

This figure summarizes all the information that we have got through our questionnaire to
identify our study sample. In fact:
The enterprises which are limited liability companies and operate in the
commercial sector have a very small number of staff;
All the SMEs that operate in the transport sector are general partnerships and
have their staff between 51 and 70 employees and a revenue that doesnt exceed
5 million Dirhams;
In the industrial sector, we find that SMEs hire a higher number of staff and chose
to be public limited companies;
When it comes to service provision sector, we distinguish between two legal
statuses. In fact, there are some SMEs that choose to be public limited companies

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and those who prefer be general partnerships. They have a small number of staff:
between 5 and 25. Their revenue is less than 5.000.000 DHS.

Figure 13: Importance, kinds and means of communication

This figure resumes the information about communication within SMEs. In fact,
Most of them give it big importance.

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Figure 14: Strategies and their effectiveness for SMEs

All the SMEs, whether they were adopting a specialization or a diversification strategy
find it affective. In fact:

35% of the SMEs who are adopting a specialization strategy think that the witness
about its effectiveness is their revenue, while 20% have chosen their competitive
position;
Concerning Diversification strategy, 35% have chosen their revenue as criteria of
their answer about its effectiveness, while only 10% have chosen their competitive
position.

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Figure 15: Specialization Strategy and line of business

As we have seen in the first part of our monograph, Specialization has four types:
Dominating the cost of Products;
Differentiation;
Niche strategy;
Refocusing;

As a result of the questionnaire:

In the line of transport, 2 enterprises adopt a specialization strategy through
dominating the cost of products, while two others adopt a niche strategy;
Only one enterprise, in the commercial sector chooses differentiation as a type for
its specialization strategy;
Among 4 enterprises from the industrial sector, 3 chose a refocusing strategy as
their type of specialization.

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Figure 16: Type of diversification and SMEs line of business

2 of SMEs who operate the industrial sector choose specifically diversification of

investment as their type of diversification strategy;
Diversification of redeployment and reinforcement is preferred to be adopted by
SMEs who choose commerce as their line of business (2).

3.3

Results

After analyzing the results of the questionnaire we can say that:

Small-Medium sized Enterprise in Morocco are mostly Limited Liability Companies, that
operate in the commercial field with a number of staff going between 5 and 99 persons

Moroccan Small-Medium sized Enterprises, whom adopt a specialization strategy

has a lake of resources because their revenue is mostly inferior to 5 Million
Dirhams;
For those whom apply a Diversification strategy, their revenue is superior to 5
Million Dirhams and the majority thinks actually of adopting an
Internationalization strategy;

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For the Communication inside the Small-Medium sized Enterprises, the

questionnaire has revealed that it is mostly informal but important. So we can say
that soon we will see that the voice of the staff will be taken into consideration
for the process of the decision making inside of all the Small-Medium sized
Moroccan Enterprises;
Concerning the decision making it is still centralized, for the majority of the
Sample, due to the informality trait of the communication inside of the
Enterprises, and the unintegration of the staff into the process.

3.4

Conclusion:

To summarize, we can say that

SMEs in Morocco adopt mostly, both Diversification and specialization

strategies.
Their choice on their revenue and their line of business.
SMEs still dont involve the staff in the process of the decision making although
the communication is important inside of it

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General Conclusion
Strategic management is very essential for managing any business effectively. In order to
stay competitive and profitable in todays business world, it is necessary to know what
direction the company wants to go, and how to reach its goals, because its main mission
is concerned with the long-term success of the Enterprise. It helps in defining and
attaining their objectives, to attain their objectives and plans the implementation of these
plans in the marketplace as well as developing strategies, which we discussed throughout
our monograph.
Also, business management is only effective when leaders realize the importance of
leadership in managing change as well as how employees react to it. In fact, these ones
must be encouraged by their managers to move through change in a positive way, so that
problems can be avoided. Unfortunately, we still dont give a big importance to that in
our Moroccan enterprises. In fact, those in position of authority still dont understand that
its in the best interest of the company to cooperate and communicate effectively with
their employees to manage conflicts and prevent them altogether in many cases.
Moreover, managers should be aware of its bad influence of conflicts. In fact, leaders
should know how to use positive language to change other peoples impressions, how to
listen and how to differentiate between good conflicts and bad ones.
These are some tips regarding ways to manage a business effectively. Today, successful
companies are the ones, which realize that the key of success lies in management in every
aspect, whether it was strategic management, excellent communication and the ability to
resolve conflicts and to adapt to change.

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List of figures and tables

Table 1: Diversification pros and cons ............................................................................................... 13

Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of Specialization strategy .................................................. 16
Table 3: The name and legal status of the enterprise ........................................................................ 29

Figure 1: Corporate strategic orientations 1 ...................................................................................... 24

Figure 2: Legal Status (%) ................................................................................................................. 30
Figure 3: Line of business .................................................................................................................. 31
Figure 4: Human resources in SMEs ................................................................................................. 31
Figure 5: Revenue .............................................................................................................................. 32
Figure 6: Business strategies (Percentage)......................................................................................... 33
Figure 7: Internationalization strategy .............................................................................................. 33
Figure 8: Kind of Communication ..................................................................................................... 33
Figure 9: Importance of communication ........................................................................................... 34
Figure 10: Decision making ............................................................................................................... 34
Figure 11: Types of decision .............................................................................................................. 35
Figure 12: Identification of the sample .............................................................................................. 36
Figure 13: Importance, kinds and means of communication ............................................................ 37
Figure 14: Strategies and their effectiveness for SMEs ..................................................................... 38
Figure 15: Specialization Strategy and line of business ..................................................................... 39
Figure 16: Type of diversification and SMEs line of business .......................................................... 40

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JEAN PIERRE HELFER, MICHEL KALIKA, JACQUES ORSONI,

Management stratgie et organisation, 7e dition, VUIBERT.

STRATEGOR, 4me Edition

NEIL RISTSON & VENTUS PUBLISHING, Strategic Management

en.wikipedia.org
www.memoireonline.com
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Translate.google.com

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