Young Small Business Strategies and Re-orientation towards Sustaining its Business Goals

Abstract: This research is aimed at studying the business strategies of young small businesses in Finland and Ireland. Needless to say those young small businesses are critical to many economies despite their size. Studying their operational strategies and finding ways to re orient them to attain and sustain their business goals despite being faced with economic challenges, is therefore of scholastic interest To carry out this study, a qualitative method was used. The primary data used was interview of the manager of four young small firms; two from Finland and two from Ireland. To achieve geographical spread and diversity of information 4 firms were selected: 2 each from Finland and Ireland. And to avoid management bias in information delivery; we interviewed selected employees to help cross check information gathered from the latter. Some randomly selected employees of these firms were also interviewed. Secondary data such as literature collected from books, journals and previous researches were also used. Findings on strategies that the businesses applied during their operation were qualitatively analyzed and recommendations made to help re-orient such businesses. The analysis of the collected data revealed that products and service offerings, strategic marketing and communication, operational costs effectiveness, business educational background as well as commitment of the entrepreneur coupled with the corporate social responsibility affects the goals and for that matter the success of young small businesses. In Recommendation, it is therefore that if young small businesses would not consider their size and scale of operation but objectively adhere to strategy formation principles, they would experience swift strategy implementation guidelines and be in a better position to monitor and control their progress to be able to effect appropriate changes on time in order to sustain their business goals in the long run notwithstanding the economic challenges they face.