IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijsoma/v1y2005i3p220-238.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using a viable system model as a diagnostic tool for small-sized companies

Author

Listed:
  • Saud G. Al-Mutairi
  • Neil D. Burns
  • Chris J. Backhouse

Abstract

With international trade now being more accessible and communication easier, international marketing strategies are increasingly important as managers deal in the global marketplace where the ability to survive depends on effective competition. Resting on a one-person decision, together with limited resources, means that international involvement for most small companies is riskier than for larger companies (Beaver and Prince, 2004; Goodman, 1999; Lloyd-Reason and Mughan, 2002). This paper investigates small-sized companies and clusters them into clearly defined groups, with the forms of uncertainty they face during international involvement being used to differentiate between them. The Viable System Model (Beer, 1979; 1981; 1985; Yolles, 2004) is then used as a diagnostic tool to provide a picture of the possible international markets that such companies might enter. Finally, an example of the Viable System Model for one type of small-sized company is outlined with a view to generalising evaluation procedures.

Suggested Citation

  • Saud G. Al-Mutairi & Neil D. Burns & Chris J. Backhouse, 2005. "Using a viable system model as a diagnostic tool for small-sized companies," International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(3), pages 220-238.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijsoma:v:1:y:2005:i:3:p:220-238
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=6575
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijsoma:v:1:y:2005:i:3:p:220-238. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=150 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.