In March 2023, it is estimated that there are 2.92 million companies in Spain, of which only 0.18 are companies with more than 250 employees.
Depending on their size and track record, we find different levels of maturity in terms of organizational management. To talk about the maturation process of SMEs, I am going to saudi arabia mobile number owner name focus on my experience with digital marketing and business mentoring , where I see all kinds of cases (mainly in micro-enterprises with employees and small companies). Because it is in these companies where the need for professionalization is most evident.
What are the problems facing Spanish SMEs?
As I said, we are going to focus on small and micro businesses. We could classify their level and area of maturity based on their size:
Small business : To reach their current size, they have had to consolidate the key areas of the company. It will depend on each case, but everything related to the development of the product or service and its marketing is usually fairly consolidated.
Beyond the omnipresent commercial pressure, the problems are usually in people management and digital marketing .
Micro-enterprise (with employees) : in this case, they are usually in the process of consolidating the key areas, and there are no defined policies for the rest. But human resources and marketing are still pending issues.
We can say that companies, from the moment they are born as a project until they are consolidated, are in a constant process of maturation.
The professionalization of organizational management in SMEs
In the early days of a startup, we do things almost purely out of common sense. We have certain ideas about how things should be done, but the reality is that we are learning as we go. We are in everything and nothing at the same time.
The problem is that part of these processes and the inertia they generate become part of the business culture.
What is corporate culture?
When we talk about culture in a company, we are unintentionally going into other territories. So, to clarify, let's start with its definition:
Corporate culture represents an organization's unique personality and values, which are reflected in the way it does things and how it interacts with customers, employees and other stakeholders.
We are talking about the set of values, beliefs, habits, traditions, attitudes and experiences that represent an organization and its members. In other words, we are talking about how the company's personality affects its internal and external performance. As you can see, this is something that is quite easy to understand, but not so easy to define.
How to professionalize SMEs (especially micro SMEs and small businesses)
I have made this parenthesis talking about business culture, so that it is better understood how difficult it is to pull the levers that allow us to transform a company from within.
How to transform an already established company, regardless of its size? This should be the question to be answered.
People
With this first point we could answer practically all the points. A small company is the sum of the people who make it up (in large companies, the value of intangibles means that it does not depend so much on people).
If we want to professionalize our company, we must start by acting on people. In most cases we will be able to improve their performance, but sometimes the only way out is to replace them.
Training and business culture
A well-formed team aligned with the business culture established by its founders is the basis for the success of any organization. On top of this we can put processes, strategies and planning, but if we do not have this basis it will be difficult for us to make the company evolve.
It is training that gets companies moving and opens them up to changes, whether they are generated by themselves or by third-party companies that help them move forward.
Work processes
And it all ends up in the processes that allow the company to function “on its own”. When we start a project we hate processes, we like to do things our way and at the right time.