Strategic factors influencing growth in small and medium-sized enterprises.

The strategies adopted by small and medium ,sized enterprises (SMEs) are the basic factors that determine the success of the business. The strategic choices of SMEs remain an important characteristic despite some obstacles, these strategic factors influence the growth of SMEs in one way or the other. However, there are two sides to it, the business either turns out successful or unsuccessful depending on the kind of strategies being implemented. The implementation of strategies is not enough for a successful business but there are other to be done to ensure success in SMEs. This research was aimed at identifying the strategic factors implemented by SMEs and how they influence the growth in SMEs, in addition, the challenges encountered by SMEs were being determined, challenges such as: access to finance, lack of the right leadership and so on. This research is based on previous literature reviews related to the topic, also a case-study of three SMEs, in order to determine the strategies adopted by real life SMEs and the influence on the growth of SMEs. Secondary data was absolutely utilised in this research due to the inability of the author to get direct contact with the SMEs. The narrative and descriptive qualitative method of research was used in this thesis. Previous researches on SMEs were taken into consideration as well as research on strategic factors. Customer satisfaction was proven to be a crucial differentiation strategy because it creates customer loyalty which in turn increases profitability. SMEs are generally known to be price takers thus putting it in a position where it has no control over its price, but SMEs can however have control over the quality of products and services provided to their customers. SMEs that prioritise customer satisfaction end up successful despite not being able to control the price. This study also found out that there are other significant strategies that can influence the growth of SMEs depending on the goal of the SME