Moving towards a control technique to help small firms monitor and control key marketing parameters: a survival aid

This article considers that one way
to help the small- and medium-sized
enterprise (SME) to survive is to
offer it a robust but simple
monitoring and control technique
that would help it manage the
business effectively and this, in
turn, should help to increase its
chances of survival. This technique
should also be of interest to all
people involved with monitoring or
advising a large number of small
enterprises or business units within
a larger organization. For example,
a bank manager or a small business
consultant responsible for a
portfolio of firms. The authors
utilize process control techniques
more often used in production and
inventory control systems to
demonstrate how one might
monitor the marketing ``health'' of
small firms.