The influence of employees' perceptions on business strategy of small and medium-sized enterprises

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to understand the influence of employees’ perceptions about business strategy in order to identify the factors that contribute to a successful strategy. The research also examines employees’ perceptions about strategy formulation and implementation process of SMEs in Laos, and how these perceptions would affect the outcome of strategy. This research studies the phenomenon by exploring the reality in a scientific way. As a result, this research is based on the positivist paradigm by applying a quantitative research method. The target population of this research is employees of SMEs in Lao PDR, which comprises 100 respondents as the sample size. The findings show that employees who work for profitable SMEs believe business strategy is a key factor that drives superior business performance; certain degrees of interest in business strategy among employees work for SMEs regardless of their gender, age groups, and levels of education; employees who were satisfied with the strategy of their companies performed well in their jobs; and employees who value the formulation process are those who believe in the management system of their companies.