Complexity-management in SME : organization of complex
relationships
Citation for published version (APA):
Gregus, M., & Mandorf, S. (2009). Complexity-management in SME : organization of complex relationships. Comenius Management Review, 01, 4-12.
Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2009 Document Version:
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Abstract
COMPLEXITY MANAGEMENT IN SME
Organization of Complex Relationships (A Short Review)
Michal Gregui
-
Susanna Mandorf
2The complexity of companies' environment IS growmg. Complexity management and
restructuring of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) become big challenges of business studies in the next future. A chance could be seen in the use of e-business strategies and the implementation of information systems in SME to improve their competitiveness. A suitable framework is the holistic approach, virtually represented by the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Analysis, but SME have to learn how to work with holistic methods first, because they suffer from organizational inertia and want to keep their self-sufficiency.
Introduction
Today's SME are surrounded by a complex network of interactions and e-business processes. The complexity of this internal and external situation has extremely increased over the last about ten years. That is why many SME were not able to manage the necessary restructuring and alignment of the complex circumstances.
The European Commission discovered that approx. 200,000 SME are loosing
competitiveness and facing bankruptcy in 2009. 3 So complexity management has become an important issue for the near future of European SME to stop that negative development.
Actually the scientists transfer the results of natural sciences on social systems to learn how to deal with complexity, but so far a general method of complexity management has not been established. Because of this methodical lack, scientists often try to reduce the complexity by simple fragmentation.
The problem depends on the fact that a fragmentation leaves important synergy effects unconsidered, what can lead to wrong recommendations in corporate behaviour.4
Considering the disadvantages of such a reduction, the holistic approach seems to be a more promising approach of complexity management in socio-economic systems. 5 It deals with
1
Doc. RNDr. Michal Gregus, PhD. Prof.. at Faculty of Management. Comenius University Bratislava. Address: Odbojarov 10, P.O.BOX 95, Bratislava, Slovakia, e-mail: michal.gregus@uniba.sk.
2 Susanna Mandorf, PhD., MSc. Address: P.O.BOX 600333, 44843 Bochum, Germany.
3 www.euractiv.com/en/innovationlcommission-expects-bankruptcy-surge-2009/article-180759 for 2009/03/30.
4
Bea, F.-X., Haas, J. (2005): Strategisches Management, 32.
