Influence of strategic management in Czech SMEs and their growth rate

The aim of the managers in SMEs is to have a competitive enterprise on the market, to develop and achieve some positive results. The successful strategic management has to adapt to the external environment, analyse emerging issues in time and react quickly and flexibly to changes. With the increasing amounts of business entities, strategic analysis and strategy as such acquire their importance. The basic data for the creation of strategy includes information about the external environment, i.e. about the market and its surroundings and internal business environment. Those managers, who can use the advantages of their enterprise and market opportunities and reduce the effect of weaknesses and threats, may ensure their enterprise prosperity and increase their growth rate. However, they must choose a competitive strategy, with which it is possible to succeed on the market. Such strategy provides SMEs the possibility of differentiation, setting a higher level of services offered to enhance customer satisfaction which is the most important. The paper deals with finding whether the strategic management of SME influences the growth rate of an enterprise. Data were gathered as questionnaires and interviews from 183 enterprises operating in the Czech Republic. The research was made in the period of 2014-15