By Dr. Sarath Buddhadasa, BA (Pera) MBA (SriJ) PhD (KL)
CEO, Business Consultancy Services (Private) Limited
Decision making and problem solving is a critical competence the entrepreneurs must possess in their journey towards business success. The decisions we take today determine the way we travel and to what direction the business is aligned. As such, making timely and right decisions play a crucial role in our entrepreneurial career.
Mostly, it is my experience, not only in this country but, in other countries especially the developing countries, if you study the SME entrepreneurs, they are lacking in this aspect which is a key deficiency in their set of core entrepreneurial competencies. They tend to make decisions out of hunch and insight which is risky unless they seek data and information’s to be acquired, processed and used appropriately to address the business issues and problems.
It is common knowledge that the decision making ability depends on how best you are able to access the right information and apply them on time. Most of our SME entrepreneurs do not have this habit or competence as such the businesses suffer and problems prolongs without solutions creating SME stagnation. One reason, why this is not happening is that they don’t know what sources to tap for business information and as such, there is a gap exists between the entrepreneur and information. Further, another key personality character is their high ego where they think that they “know all” and tend not to seek external support in gathering information. Some of course who knows the importance of information but, goes to the wrong source mostly informal sources and get mis-guided and suffer in business.
Business needs various types of primary and secondary information such as trading, marketing, technology, machines and equipment, customer behavior trends, rules and regulations and law, insurances, tax, labor, factory maintenance, engineering, quality and productivity, impending macro level interventions, socio-economic, etc. Fortunately, all these data and information, more or less available somewhere but the value of it and access to these remains major constrains.
Information is known as the life blood of any business and it’s a commodity that can be sold. Whereas, if it is not used, the business suffer especially it may not solve its problems. Thus, entrepreneurs must be motivated to work with support institutions and advisory services to have access to information and to process such information in a way that is useful for your business.
The writer can be contacted on Mobile: 0777789822
or through email: sarath.bcslanka@gmail.com .
For more details of the services offered by BCS Sri Lanka, please visit www. bcssrilanka.com
