Strategic Analysis For Micro, Small And Medium Sized Companies In The Mexican State Of Coahuila, Analisis Estrategico Para El Desarrollo De La Micro, Pequena Y Mediana Empresa En El Estado De Coahuila, Mexico

This paper analyzes micro, small and medium sized companies in the State of Coahuila Mexico on the basis of their strategies and main competitive factors, their planning indicators and strategic behavior, innovation and technology indicators and their degree of communication and information technology usage. The source of data is a personal interview survey based in a self-applied questionnaire to a sample of 319 micro-small-medium sized companies. The following are some of the most important results: the average age of the manager is 45 years old, and in a quarter of companies the average age is less than 37 years old. Some 35.8% of companies perform formal strategic planning of which 66,5% plan once a year, and 33.5% at longer periods. A defensive strategy is chosen by 31.9% of companies, and the exploratory strategy is applied by 25.8%. The small and medium sized companies give maximum priority to competition based on customer service (4.70), in quality of the product or service (4.54) and their reputation/image (4.58). The least regarded factors are research and development (3.13), personnel formation and training (3.27) ,and the development of new products and services (3.64). More than half of the surveyed companies described their technology position as strong or good, and from a size perspective, the medium sized companies are best positioned as more than 78% of them consider their situation as either strong or good. 42.9% of micro-companies describe their technological position as sustainable-weak. The presence of information technologies in the State of Coahuila is moderate with regard to owing a website and using the internet as a means of marketing.