There are solid indicators for the World for getting through an unstable period for some time in the coming future. If we go back to our school years; being unstable is defined as the faster movement of atoms by overloaded energy level. There has been an accumulation of energy in an increased level of speed on economic and politic order of the world since the beginning of the 20th century. While the pressure of the world had been released, to some extent, by the World War I and II, energy accumulation has been accelerating since the beginning of the 21st century. The world has entered to an uncertainty period since 2008 by the struggles on economy, social domain and health issues. Apparently, it is not our intention to make politic analyses on the history of the world, but to approach from a different perspective to understand the current issues effecting the Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) for the recent years.
Atmosphere of uncertainty in the world, states or society naturally has some effects on businesses. There are two main behavior models with regard to the perspective of planning for the businesses when the uncertainty during the periods of change is taken into consideration: The first reaction is; it is not possible to make planning as there is uncertainty. It is better to wait for things to happen before making any decision or move. The second reaction is; since we are in the environment of uncertainty, the result of not having the plan for the business would be to be drifted so far away. Changes in global or national order result in uncertainties. It should be the mandate of any business to be at the side of the companies of which least affected from the threads or effectively used the opportunities aroused by the change. It is needed to have smart plans for the company in order to realize this mandate. Otherwise, the business is cast adrift and there are substantial risks in where the company is drifted to. Businesses, particularly the MSMEs, cannot survive unplanned along the drift since they have a very limited power in the market for them to stay strong enough to survive. That’s why it is vital for MSMEs to have “smart plans” prepared ahead and updated dynamically while approaching to the periods of uncertainty and during in it.
Then, what is the “smart plan”? It is easy to define literally! We normally mention about an artfully considered and intelligently constructed plan within the context of external conditions of which the business is running in and everchanging (the potential is high nowadays for deep and fast changes) and the internal factors. There needs to be two preconditions for the plan to be smart and practical at the same time: Firstly, it is required to act upon every constituent of the business to take the company a step forward. Secondly, it is needed to move the constituents of the business coherently. Hence, “smart plan” for the MSMEs is to describe how the business will be taken a step forward as a whole and coherently by the factors of which are counted to describe a business in its integrity (i.e., products/services, management structure, clients, markets, warehouse/stocks, machinery and equipment, finance, etc.).
Each step given above has a certain function for the long-term growth and sustainability.
It is the comprehensiveness which holds together all the elements and having coordination deriving coherence in between that ensures the plan to be “smart”. It seems that the world is moving towards a new order. The opportunity for the MSMEs for becoming big and significant enterprises in the new order has more likely than ever (of accompanied by its significant risks) while the world is moving on the direction to change. It is the time for MSMEs to take it upon themselves to do something and to develop “smart plans” instead of waiting to be drifted. The diagram below is given for illustrating the flow of a planning process on how to become “smart”:
Smart plan flow diagram
The last but not the least statement is sub-plans are mandatory for a “smart plan”. In the case of missing sub-plans there will be problems with regard to having a comprehensive and coherent plan. There is gas and ash clouds ahead it is time to get armored by starting to construct “smart plan of the company” before getting into it more deeply.
