4.2.2.2Growth strategies
Recalling from the literature, strategies are essential for the wellbeing of an enterprise whether it is large or small. Further strategies can be either in form of a plan, ploy, perspective, pattern or position that is according to Mintzberg et al. (2003). From the findings of these research though, the respondents have a unique view of the strategies they propose for their companies to take; they propose that focus be put on quick response to customer requirements, reduce the gap between the levels of management which hinder communication and exchange of ideas, increase on investments (wisely), and finally ensure equitable distribution of funds and resources to the firms departments. To connect their views to what Mintzberg et al. (2003) suggests; firstly, this means they will have to strategize growth through planning. That is to say that they will need to plan on better ways of investments for them to acquire funds. Secondly, since ploy strategies involve involves creating a good competitive environment for the firm. The firms could adopt ploy strategies by increasing the investments so that they can attain high quality and standards of service provision and production and consequently becoming more competitive and at the same time acquire a good position relative to other firms in the eyes of the customers. Thirdly, they could adopt perspective strategy so that they will manage to create a good rapport within the firms between the managers and all members of staff. Lastly, by involving the low level managers in forums where they get to air their views based on their experiences in the market, the firms will be able to develop pattern strategies based on how often or how rarely some risks and mishaps occur in the market. This way they will be able to develop growth strategies that are error and risk proof or that are able to curb risks associated with the external environment successfully.
4.2.2.3Factors affecting SMEs growth
The study revealed two major types of challenges associated with wedding SMEs growth: personal and organizational challenges. These challenges can also be regarded to as the factors that affect and determine the growth of SMEs. From the literature review, SMEs growth determinants included human such as age, education, gender etc.; business environment such as competition etc.; institutional such as bureaucracy; and firm characteristics such as age, size etc. (Kastrati, 2015). Relating this literature to the findings, we find that competition is among the major factor affecting the growth of the two firms. Further, we notice that the firms are experiencing financial constraints in one way or the other even though the magnitude of the constraints is not much felt by firm A. In addition to these factors, the firms are seen to experience effects of bureaucracy as they grow. This is especially very clear for firm A; as it increases complexity, there grows a need for delegation of power and increased need for a more formal coordination and control system. The CEO and the VP confess to the feeling that they need to delegate some of their responsibilities as the firm grows. Further, the low-level are complaining of the way the top management team is ‘self-centered’ and they mention sharing of power and easing of communication channels as a good remedy for ensuring growth of their SMEs. Finally, the firm’s age and/or size are proved to be a determinant factor of growth for SMEs. Firm A is taken to be older than firm B and also bigger than firm B. As seen, these is a contributing factor to the limitations of how much firm B can grow over a given period of time as compared to how firm A can grow. In other words, firm A has more resources than firm B and also easier access to bigger financial aids than firm B is.
4.2.2.4Growth management
Most of the respondents in firm A suggest that the firm has done enough to manage growth of the firm. The same scenario is witnessed by the respondents of firm B. However, those of firm B attest to the fact that the firm is not as far as it should be in terms of growth due to various factors deteriorating the management efforts of the firm. Some of these factors include the financial constraints the firm is experiencing, the informal operation adopted by the firm, and the insufficient supply of production resources. Not to forget the limited set of skills available in this firm. As expressed in the literature review, growth management requires any individual firm to be able to manage their resources wisely, efficiently and effectively. Nothing should be left to chance. Consequently management initiatives such as the PPM are incorporated in the management processes. In this case; time, cost, customers’ demands, quality, risks, scope, communication should be managed throughout the growth process (Murphy and Ledwith, 2007). Therefore, firm B should concentrate on managing such factors as the ones mentioned here. In other words, the firms did not grow so appreciably over the time they have been in the market due to the fact most of these factors are unaddressed. For instance one of the factors firm (B) fails to incorporate is risk management. This is crucial if a notable change is to be achieved in the growth of the firm in the near future.
4.2.2.5PPM tools in growth management
The major PPM tools of management of growth for the wedding firms for both firms were found to be the cost management, risk management and scheduling tools. In this case the mentioned tools were applied for managing cost, time and risks for the businesses. Also one of the wedding firms was seen to apply the quality control PPM so as to ensure that the products and services and also the materials they require for delivery of services to the customers were of standard quality. Specifically, ISO certification was the majorly used quality management tools. Comparing these tools to those stipulated in the secondary sources (literature review), a clear match is observed in the findings. Fassoula and Rogerson (2003); Aquil (2013) and Mir & Pinnington (2014) propose that the best quality tools for SMEs are software of cost and time management; graphic representations for risk management. Furthermore they suggest the application of ISOs and IPs for quality management. Conclusively, the study successfully determined the application of these tools in the studied wedding firms and thus concludes that the tools are effective for project and program management for the SMEs.
4.2.2.6Roles of PPM tools in management
The interviewees defined the roles of PPM tools clearly for each firm. It is important to notice that the two wedding firms considered for the study applied PPM tools for growth management and therefore the tools are effective for both young and slightly grown firms. Among the roles pointed out by the respondents, the use for scheduling, coast and risk management were prominent and also quality management. The roles of the PPM tools were thus defined as those linked with project management through cost, risk, quality and time management. This agrees with the previously studied researches by Aquil (2013) and Cegarra-Navarro, Sánchez-Vidal and Cegarra-Leiva (2015).
4.3 Limitations of the study
It should be noted that there was an array of backdated sources ranging from the years between 2003 and 2016. Consequently, this can be associated with the limitation of validity in terms of the old sources involved. Notably, the sources dated before the year 2008 could be considered to have a limited validity since what was documented then would have gravely changed in the modern days and could no longer be considered valid though most of the sources have been greatly used as references in many previous researches.
The study incorporated collection of primary data through interviews which were administered in Korean language. Consequently, translation of these responses to English may have resulted to distortion of the originality of the responses.
4.4 Conclusion
Clearly, the research has yielded great results which have been found to tackle the major themes and/or objectives of the study. The main idea from the findings is that the wedding industry has been growing and a lot needs to be done so as to manage this growth. Further, PPM tools were found to be essential for the management of this growth. The findings shall now be linked to the objectives in a more detailed manner in the next chapter.
