Planning as a management tool for making decisions required by small and medium enterprises within their continuous improvement

Abstract

This research focused on analyzing planning as a management tool for decision-making that small and medium-sized businesses require within their continuous improvement in small and medium-sized businesses in the hardware sector of the city of Quibdó - Chocó - Colombia. Understanding strategic planning as a technique that brings together a set of methods, instruments, and objectives to establish the forecasts, economic and financial goals of a company, considering the means available and those required to achieve it. In the research, the epistemological position based on the positivist paradigm was assumed, through a quantitative approach, with a type of descriptive study; A non-experimental design of descriptive, field and transactional type was adopted; In relation to the population, this was made up of the main SMEs in the hardware sector, which offer their services in the Department of Chocó, the total sample was 30 subjects or key informants, which, since the studied population is finite and accessible, is addressed. the population census technique Observation was used through a survey-type questionnaire with a total of 45 items, with LIKERT scaling response alternatives, namely: Always, almost always, Sometimes, almost never and never. The results revealed the impacts of the general principles of strategic planning in the SMEs under study, concluding that the importance of making decisions correctly is based on strategic planning, since it is a basic responsibility of the administrator, in which It can include the participation of collaborators, helping the organization to achieve its expected performance.