Small businesses must focus limited resources on core activities to guarantee success, including operations, growth, finance, and marketing & sales. While a balanced scorecard approach may not be realistic for small companies, concentrating on these key areas provides the best chance of long-term survival. The document discusses the importance of prioritizing operational efficiency, financial management, growth strategies, and marketing/sales efforts even with fewer resources than larger firms.

1. Core business activities to
guarantee success in SMEs
Parker Marketing is the business vehicle for the work of Nick Parker, a fractional Sales and Marketing Director working for the
leaders of £0.5m - £20m business service companies based in Oxfordshire, UK
e: nick@parker-marketing.co.uk m: 07973 380776
© Nick Parker 2014
Operations
GrowthFinance
Marketing
& Sales
The Balanced Business Scorecard*
* The Balanced Business Scorecard is perhaps the worlds most widespread strategic management system and is commonly attributed to Robert Kaplan
and David Norton. In summary, it espouses that the management of the a larger and more complex business must have a dashboard showing the
performance of the company against 4 metrics in each of 4 specific business areas. Just as a pilot flying a modern and complex plane, this is the only
way to ensure that all business functions are in the rude health to guarantee survival
In smaller businesses
it is not realistic to
have sufficient
resources to support a
balanced approach.
However, limited
resources must be
focused on some
specific activities to
guarantee success.
Guaranteed infinite survival
for the smaller business
Operations
GrowthFinance
Marketing
& Sales