Measurement of the strategic behavior of micro and small-sized enterprises: An analysis supported by the Miles and Snow typology (1978)

The purpose of this article was to analyze the strategic behavior of micro and small-sized enterprises in accordance with the typology proposed by Miles and Snow (1978). The research used a quantitative approach through a survey. The analyzed data originates from 368 questionnaires applied in service-providers located in the city of Concórdia, Santa Catarina Brazil. As a result, it was verified that the service-providers tend to use strategic behavior based on analytical placement. This suggests that the enterprises seek to maintain themselves in a stable market, but also seek for new products and markets. It was also observed that family enterprises and non-family enterprises have very similar strategic behaviors, indicating that the means of ownership does not condition strategic behavior, or at least does not differentiate them in a totally opposite polarization in their strategic behaviors. As a main contribution, this study demonstrates that the taken by the researched enterprises can be the result of dynamics of the environment and of the strategic mindset of its managers..