solved:   read the article and discuss the major points article. The instructions are attached academic sour

585

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS AGRICULTURAE ET SILVICULTURAE MENDELIANAE BRUNENSIS

Volume 65 63 Number 2, 2017

https://doi.org/10.11118/actaun201765020585

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND
TECHNIQUES USAGE: A QUALITATIVE REVIEW

Albana Berisha Qehaja1, Enver Kutllovci1, Justina Shiroka Pula1

1 Department of Management and Informatics, Faculty of Economy, University of Prishtina, “Agim
Ramadani” n.n. 10000 Prishtinë, Republic of Kosovo

Abstract

BERISHA QEHAJA ALBANA, KUTLLOVCI ENVER, SHIROKA PULA JUSTINA. 2017. Strategic
Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae
et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 65(2): 585–600.

This paper is one of the few studies to review the empirical literature on strategic management
tools and techniques usage. There are many techniques, tools and methods, models, frameworks,
approaches and methodologies, available to support strategic managers in decision making. They
are developed and designed to support managers in all stages of strategic management process to
achieve better performance. Management schools provide knowledge of these tools. But their use in
organizations should be seen in practice‑based context. Consequently, some questions arise: Do they
use these strategic tools and techniques in their workplace? Which strategic tools and techniques are
used more in organizations? To answer these questions we have made a review of empirical studies
using textual narrative synthesis method. Initially, this study presents a tabulation with a summary of
empirical research for the period 1990–2015. The included studies are organized clustering them by
enterprise size and sector and by country level development. A synopsis of the ten most used strategic
tools and techniques worldwide resulted as follows: SWOT analysis, benchmarking, PEST analysis,
“what if” analysis, vision and mission statements, Porter’s five forces analysis, business financial
analysis, key success factors analysis, cost‑benefit analysis and customer satisfaction.

Keywords: strategic tools and techniques usage, strategic planning tools, empirical evidence, narrative
synthesis

INTRODUCTION

“Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what
should be.” (Einstein)

Strategic management is about the direction
of organizations, most often, business firms. It
includes those subjects of primary concern to senior
management, or to anyone seeking reasons for
success and failure among organizations (Rumelt,
Schendel and Teece, 1994). According to Stonehouse
and Pemberton (2002), strategic management can be
conceptualized as a set of theories and frameworks,
supported by tools and techniques, designed
to assist managers of organizations in thinking,
planning and acting strategically. The strategic
management field underwent spectacular growth,
especially subsequent to the appearance of
Schendel and Hofer’s book Strategic Management

(1979) and the almost contextual establishment of
the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) in 1980, and
the Strategic Management Society in 1981 (Dagnino
and Cinici, 2016). Also, according to Ketchen, Boyd
and Bergh (2008), the Strategic Management Journal
(SMJ) has grown from a nascent outlet devoted to an
emerging field of study to become one of the most
highly regarded and influential publications within
the management discipline.

There is no doubt that strategic management
tools and techniques (hereinafter often abbreviated
as SMTTs) are important parts of the strategic
management process. Strategy tool is a generic name
for any method, model, technique, tool, technology,
framework, methodology or approach used to
facilitate strategy work (Stenfors, Syrjänen, Seppälä
and Haapalinna, 2007). According to many authors
(Clark, 1997; Clark and Scott, 1999; Frost, 2003)
there are certainly numerous techniques, tools

586 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

and methods, models, frameworks, approaches
and methodologies, which are available to support
decision making within strategic management.
Even Gunn and Williams (2007) described strategy
tools as concepts that assist strategic managers in
decision making. Whilst, according to Clark (1997),
SMTTs can be included in all stages of strategic
management process: situation assessment, strategic
analysis of options, and strategic implementation.

Stenfors et al. (2007) emphasized that
the strategic‑level support tools offered to
executives are diverse and come from many
different disciplines. According to them they: “can be
found at least in the following fields: systems science, systems
thinking, operations management, logistics, industrial
engineering, decision support systems, expert systems,
knowledge management, management information systems,
executive information systems, artificial intelligence, business
intelligence, online analytical processing, enterprise systems,
marketing, accounting and finance.”

Management schools provide knowledge of
these tools. Wright, Paroutis and Blettner (2013)
summarized the most mentioned strategic tools
in the literature of strategic management as
follows: Porter’s Five Forces Model and Generic
Strategies; SWOT; the Resource‑Based View of
the firm; Value Chain; Boston Consulting Group
(BCG) Matrix; McKinsey 7S Framework; Balanced
Scorecard; Bowman’s Strategy Clock; Strategic
Group Maps; Strategic Factor Analysis Summary
(SFAS); and Blue Ocean Four Action Framework.
These tools are mainly developed by consultants
for large international companies (Stenfors et al.,
2007). Accordingly, a variety of strategic tools are
developed to support managers in strategic decision
making (Ramanujam, Venkatraman and Camillus,
1986). Grint (1997) emphasized that at least one
new approach to transformation has emerged every
year in the last forty years. Oppositely, Porter (1996)
highlighted that: “the quest for productivity, quality and
speed has spawned a remarkable number of management
tools and techniques… Although the resulting operational
improvements have often been dramatic, many companies
have been frustrated by their inability to translate these
gains into sustainable profitability. And bit by bit almost
imperceptible management tools have taken the place of
strategy.”

Strategic management has often been criticized
on the grounds that it is based upon theoretical
principles and not on the realities of management
(Berry, 1998). Improving the quality and application
of strategic management education is seen as one
way to enhance management practice (Baldridge
et al., 2004; Bower, 2008; Grant, 2008; Ghoshal and
Moran, 1996; Jarzabkowski and Whittington, 2008;
Prahalad and Hamel, 1994; Whittington et al., 2003,
as cited by Jarzabkowski, Giulietti, Oliveira and
Amoo, 2012). So, the use of SMTTs in organizations
should be seen in practice‑based context. As
a result, there are some burning questions on
the topic: Do managers use these strategic tools and
techniques in their workplace? Which strategic tools

and techniques are used more in organizations?
So the main aim of this study is to investigate and
analyse whether SMTTs are used by managers
and which ones are used more. Consequently,
the following research tasks are set:
• Reviewing the empirical literature on SMTTs

usage during 1990 – 2015;
• Discussing the results by enterprise size, sector

and by country level development;
• Summarizing the most used SMTTs worldwide.

The authors consider this to be one of the first
attempts in this context. Thus, this paper contributes
to the existing scientific literature especially in
strategic management field. Firstly: this study is
likely to contribute to decision makers in increasing
the SMTTs usage in their enterprises since there
are many benefits from using them. Secondly: it
pinpoints the most used SMTTs by different sized
enterprises, sector and country level development.

Theoretical insights
Tools for better planning have begun to emerge

before the publication of the classic book of
Ansoff “Corporate strategy”, in 1965 (Hussey, 1997).
According to Glaister and Falshaw (1999), at the end
of 1970s, strategic planning suffered a downturn in
popularity and influence. In large part this was due
to the inability of strategic planning tools to deliver
what was expected of them.

It is argued that the understanding of strategic
tools usage is important for three main reasons.
First, it indicates the motivations of managers when
using strategic tools. Second, it will be suggestive
of the dissemination processes underpinning
the application of tools. Third, it assists
academics and practitioners in moving away from
a normative, rational approach to more humanistic,
practice‑based approaches to the understanding of
tool usage (Gunn and Williams, 2007).

The list of tools that have been developed and
proposed by consultants or academics yet never
get widely adopted is too long to enumerate
(Jarzabkowski and Kaplan, 2015). Although there
is no definitive list of SMTTs in literature (Clark,
1997), there have been several attempts to classify
them, but these studies are considered secondary.
While according to Lisiński and Šaruckij (2006),
after extensive research into the literature, a lack of
a comprehensive study devoted to strategic planning
methods categorisation was noticed.

Various authors have presented a different number
of tools for strategic analysis by specifying them as
a guide for managers. Among the first authors that
have made an assessment and classification of 21
techniques with 11 dimensions were Prescott and
Grant (1988), who studied the usage of 21 strategic
techniques. While, Webster, Reif and Bracker (1989)
compiled the list of 30 most commonly used tools
for strategic planning. Clark (1997) investigated 66
SMTTs, from which mainly were used 33 of them.
Vaitkevičius (2006) analysed 41 SMTTs. Since,

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review 587

Lisinski and Šaruckij (2006) presented 28 strategic
tools in a dendrogram and made their classification
into four main groups.

Knowledge‑based global competition has
created a need for purposeful strategy work and
effective decision‑making processes. Companies
thrive on growth and competitive advantage and
seek more successful ways of working with and
managing knowledge (Stenfors et al., 2007). Wright
et al. (2013) pointed out that under increasingly
complex and uncertain environments, managers
are expected to recognize and embrace a more
complicated (not simplified) understanding of an (e)
merging world(s), and as such, need at their disposal
tools and techniques for better decision making.
In these circumstances, companies can benefit
more than ever from strategic management, its
tools and techniques, as their right use improves
the performance and efficiency of enterprises.

There have been many calls from academics to
review the role and importance of SMTTs (Clark,
1997; Frost, 2003; Barney and Clark, 2007; Gunn and
Williams, 2007; Jarzabkowski et al., 2012; Tassabehji
and Isherwood, 2014). According to Knott (2006),
the role of SMTTs is: “a guide to thinking and a starting
point for structuring strategic management activity.”
Pasanen (2011) stressed that the role of SMTTs is to
facilitate strategy work. According to Webster et al.
(1989), the use of SMTTs raise the level of strategic
thinking’ in organizations and the “effectiveness
of the strategic planning process”. Afonina and
Chalupsky (2012) emphasized that the SMTTs are
various tools that support managers in all stages of
strategic management – from strategic analysis to
the selection of the strategy and its implementation,
in order to improve deficiencies in the organization
to achieve better performance.

Jarzabkowski et al. (2012) provided evidence
from a large‑scale survey (1407 respondents) on
business school alumni’ patterns of adoption of
those tools, techniques and frameworks typically
taught within strategic management education.
The results of this study clearly indicated a strong
impact of management education in the workplace
practice of business school alumni. Even Wright
et al. (2013) probed the question: “How useful are
the strategic tools we teach in business schools?” Their
findings are promising in a business school context
(prior to the manifestation of practice). Gunn
and Williams (2007) found that there is a clear
relationship between the educational background
of the respondents and their use of strategic tools.
Those respondents with master’s degrees tend to
utilize a grouping of tools commonly associated
with those taught in business schools as part of
management courses (Gunn and Williams, 2007).
Unlike others, Vaitkevicius (2007) found that
managers in Lithuanian organization defined
the SMTTs in the wrong way. According to him: “one
possible way to explain this could be that knowledge gained
through general education is not sufficient to engage in
effective strategy development.” Legge, Sullivan‑Taylor

and Wilson (2007) emphasized that learning
management in schools mainly offers individual
career benefits, with limited knowledge and skills
transfer in the workplace.

The use of strategic tools in organizations, whilst
still fundamental to creating and developing
strategy, should be viewed from a practice‑based
perspective (Gunn and Williams, 2007). There are
gaps between the theory of how should SMTTs
be used and their real usage (how managers use
them). Therefore, recently several authors have
introduced into literature a new approach known as
“strategy as practice” (Whittington, 1996, 2006, 2012;
Jarzabkowski, 2004, 2005; Johnson, 2007; Carter,
Clegg and Kornberger 2008; Jarzabkowski and Spee,
2009; Golsorkhi, Rouleau, Seidl and Vaara 2010;
Vaara and Whittington, 2012).

General, strategic management tools and
techniques could bring a lot of benefits for
the organizations under the condition that managers
have a clear perception/understanding of existing
tools and techniques (Afonina and Chalupsky,
2013). The benefits of these tools include: increasing
awareness about the business environment,
strategic issues, opportunities and threats which
help reduce the risk involved in making certain
decisions; establishing priorities in large, complex
companies and providing a framework for
evaluating the relative importance of different
business portfolios; and aiding the presentation of
complex issues. (Frost, 2003). According to Gunn
and Williams (2007), strategic tools can be used to
analyze an organization and its environment, or as
a mechanism to improve communication, control
and coordination. Webster et al. (1989) argued that
the use of SMTTs will increase the analytical and
diagnostic skills of managers. While according to
Pasanen (2011) efficiency is the most important
advantage of using SMTTs. Also, according to Frost
(2003): “techniques may also aid the presentation of complex
issues, and may be seen as valuable communication devices,
in addition to their analytical role.” He added: “It often
becomes possible to reduce many pages of narrative plan
to one or two diagrams that result from the use of some of
the techniques.”

Porter (1996) showed his concern regarding
the use of SMTTs in the strategic work: He properly
stated that SMTTs cannot replace the firm’s strategy.
Hussey (1997) also stressed out that: “techniques
do not make a strategy: this is the role of managers.”
Whittington (1996) said that SMTTs can help a part
of the strategic management process instead of
ensuring a replacement for managerial skills and
experience.

Managers no longer have the luxury of dealing
with a few key issues at a time. They must deal
with a multitude of issues from different directions
simultaneously. Strategic tools and techniques that
help managers deal with these complexities and
uncertainties will be much sought after (Wright et al.,
2013).

588 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

Methodology
The study is based on a systematic review

of empirical research on the usage of strategic
management tools and techniques. Systematic
reviews (or overviews) are syntheses of primary
research studies that use (and describe) specific,
explicit and therefore reproducible methodological
strategies to identify, assemble, critical appraise and
synthesize all relevant issues on a specific topic
(Carney and Geddes, 2002).

The main method used for synthesizing empirical
research was textual narrative synthesis. This method
could bring together broad knowledge from a variety
of methodologies and approaches (Bélanger,
Rodríguez and Groleau, 2011). This approach relies
primarily on the use of words and text to summarise
and explain the findings of the synthesis (Popay et al.,
2006). Furthermore, according to Popay et al. (2006),
there are four main elements of narrative synthesis.
We then, followed these steps to conduct a narrative
synthesis for this study.

(1) Developing a theory of how the intervention works, why
and for whom, this is presented in narrative form in
the Theoretical insights;

(2) Developing a preliminary synthesis. According to
Popay et al. (2006), the purpose of the preliminary
synthesis is to develop an initial description of
the results of included studies and to describe
patterns across the studies.

As a tool to present the preliminary synthesis
we have used Tabulation. See Tab. I. Comprehensive
summary of empirical research on the usage of SMTTs in
enterprises.

(3) Exploring relationships within and between
studies. The practical work involves using data
previously extracted from primary studies to look
at the relationships between study results and key
aspects of the primary studies, and comparing and
contrasting these relationships across the studies
(Popay et al., 2006). Tables and graphs are used as
tools to present the exploring relationships within
and between studies.

(4) Assessing the robustness of the synthesis. According to
Popay et al. (2006), most straightforwardly robustness
can be used to refer to the methodological quality of
the primary studies included in the review and/or
the trustworthiness of the product of the synthesis
process. Thus, all primary studies included in
this review are published in popular scientific
journals and have their main findings are carefully
synthesised.

This study included 27 full articles for a usage
review of SMTTs. We used Google Scholar with
the terms strategic management tools and techniques,
strategic planning tools and techniques, strategy tools,
usage, use and empirical findings. It resulted with a lot
of articles on theoretical insights of SMTTs, then
articles focused in a particular tool or technique
usage, but we have decisively selected only
the articles about strategic tools and techniques
usage, as empirical evidence in different countries.

After we selected articles, we have extracted
the relevant data from these studies. Additionally,
a limited search was undertaken to identify any
new study published since the original review was
undertaken.

Therefore, study characteristics, context and
the main findings are reported according to
a tabulation and similarities and differences are
compared across studies.

Usually a process of narrative synthesis will
involve organising the included studies into smaller
groups to make the process more manageable
(Popay, et al. 2006). Since research papers included
in this review have investigated the usage of
SMTTs in different sized enterprises, different
sectors and different country level development;
we used these three levels as clusters for analysis.
Widely, empirical research is classified at a global
and national level and also in comparative studies
between the countries/continents in three time
periods (1990 – 1999; 2000 – 2009; 2010 – 2015).
Furthermore, they are classified by enterprise size
and also by sector in three time periods. Popay et al.
(2006) empathized: “Organizing the included studies
into groups can also be a useful way of aiding the process of
description and analysis and looking for patterns within and
across these groups.”

Moreover, this paper in particular has examined
the most used SMTTs resulting from all these
empirical studies. In order to make a right
comparison between the results of these studies,
they are divided into studies by country level
development (developed countries, developing
countries and transition economies) and by
enterprise size (different size enterprises, large
enterprises, small and medium enterprises). Two
articles were excluded as they didn’t provide any
information about the size and sector of enterprises.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Generally there is a dearth of research investigating,

in particular, the usage of SMTTs. From the available
studies, the SMTTs usage is analysed by different
researchers. Some have contributed in defining and
classifying them, others have investigated which
SMTTs are used more in different types and sizes of
enterprises, while others have investigated the level
of their usage and effects.

However, the usage of SMTTs is not discussed
enough by academics and practitioners. Clark
(1997) and Gunn and Williams (2007) emphasized
that there is a lack of studies on the usage of SMTTs
in enterprises. While Elbanna (2008) believes that
most of the studies are conducted in developed
countries and a few of them in developing countries.
Aldehayyat and Anchor (2009) pointed out that
the strategy academics have paid little attention
to the study of the SMTTs usage: “Instead, they have
incorporated tool usage as a small part of their investigations
of both developed and emerging market contexts.” According
to Frost (2003), the absence of a strong focus on tools

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review 589

within the strategic management discipline can be
partially attributed to the secondary role that they
serve.

Most of the studies support the use of SMTTs
as an important part of strategic planning by
examining SMTTs as a part of the strategic planning
process. Unlike others, Elbanna (2008) argued that
some enterprises may use some of the strategic
planning tools while having no written strategic
plans. Whilst, according to Šuklev and Debarliev
(2012), formality of strategic planning and the use of
strategic planning techniques might be two different
dimensions of strategic planning effectiveness,
which should be investigated separately.

The following summarizes the main empirical
research by their approach and focus:
• SMTTs’ researches as part of strategic planning

process (Glaister and Falshaw, 1999; Stonehouse
and Pemberton, 2002; Tapinos, 2005; Dincer,
Tatoglu and Glaister, 2006; Elbanna, 2007; Kume
and Leskaj, 2009; O’Brien, 2009; Glaister, Dincer,
Tatoglu and Demirbag, 2009; Gică and Balint,
2012; Šuklev and Debarliev, 2012).

• Focused researches on the usage of SMTTs
(Rigby, 1993; Clark, 1997; Frost, 2003; Ghamdi,
2005; Gunn and Williams, 2007; Stenfors et al.,
2007; Vaitkevičius, 2007; Aldehayyat and Anchor,
2009; Pasanen, 2011; Aldehayyat, Al Khattab and
Anchor, 2011; Afonina and Chalupský, 2013;
Rigby and Bilodeau, 2013; Kalkan and Bozkurt,
2013; Tassabehji and Isherwood, 2014; Rajasekar
and Al Raee, 2014; Afonina, 2015; Rigby and
Bilodeau, 2015; Nedelko, Potocan and Dabić,
2015).

• SMTTs’ classification researches (Prescott and
Grant, 1988; Webster et al., 1989, Clark, 1997;
Knott, 2006; Vaitkevičius, 2006; Savanevičienė,
Vaitkevičius and Merkys, 2006; Lisiński and
Šaruckij, 2006; Durkáčová and Gontkovičová).
The above empirical studies have explored

the application of SMTTs in different countries,
enterprises and sectors. It should be noted that these
studies have used various lists of SMTTs in their
research. The following tabulation summarizes
the key data of empirical research on the use of
SMTTs in the period 1990 – 2015.

I: Comprehensive summary of empirical research on the usage of SMTTs in enterprises

Author/Authors
Year Country/Countries

Industry
and size of

enterprises

Sample size
received/sent

Main findings:
The most used SMTTs1 in respective

enterprises

Rigby (1993)
North and South
America, Europe,

Asia and Africa
DSE2, DS3 ‑

Mission statement, customer satisfaction,
total quality management (TQM), competitor

profiling, benchmarking

Clark (1997) UK and New Zealand DSE, DS
UK: N = 61/1200
NZ: N = 138/400

SWOT analysis, focused groups, budgeting,
Porter’s 5 forces analysis, PEST analysis

Glaister and
Falshaw (1999) UK DSE, DS N = 113/500

“What if” analysis, key success factors analysis,
financial competitor analysis, SWOT analysis

Stonehouse
and Pemberton
(2002)

UK
DSE, PS4

production,
service

N = 159
Business financial analysis, SWOT analysis,
key competencies, organizational culture,

benchmarking

Frost (2003)
Western Australia
Singapore, Hong

Kong and Malaysia
SME N = 331/783 SWOT analysis, PEST analysis and budgeting

Ghamdi (2005) Saudi Arabia N/I, N/I N = 72
Key success factors analysis, benchmarking,

“what if” analysis

Tapinos (2005)

42 countries, main of
them: UK, Singapore,
China, USA, Greece

etc.

DSE, DS N = 428/4000
SWOT analysis, benchmarking, cost‑benefit

analysis, key capability analysis and risk
analysis

Dincer et al.
(2006) Turkey

LE5,
production,

service
N = 135/638

SWOT analysis, scenario analysis, financial
competitor analysis

Gunn and
Williams (2007) UK DSE, DS N = 149/800

SWOT analysis, benchmarking, key success
factors analysis

Elbanna (2007) Egypt DSE, DS N = 120/350

Financial statements as cash flow, income
and budgeting then cost‑benefit analysis,

SWOT analysis, competitor analysis, portfolio
analysis, benchmarking, key success factors

analysis

Vaitkevičiu
(2007) Lithuania DSE, DS N = 216/436 SWOT analysis

590 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

Author/Authors
Year Country/Countries

Industry
and size of

enterprises

Sample size
received/sent

Main findings:
The most used SMTTs1 in respective

enterprises

Stenfors et al.
(2007) Finland LE, DS N = 182/500

SWOT analysis, Spreadsheets applications,
balanced scorecard, risk analysis

Kume and
Leskaj (2009) Albania DSE, DS N = 230

SWOT analysis, mathematical and statistical
methods, Porter’s 5 forces analysis and value

chain analysis

Aldehayyat and
Anchor (2009) Jordan DSE, DS N = 83/203

Business financial analysis, PEST analysis,
Porter’s 5 forces analysis, key success factors

analysis

O’Brien (2009)
UK, Europe, USA,

Australia, New
Zealand, Africa, etc.

N/I, N/I N = 143/883
Forecasting, business financial analysis,

project management, brainstorming, SWOT
analysis, balanced scorecard, benchmarking

Glaister et al.
(2009) UK and Turkey DSE, DS UK: N = 113/500

Turkey: N = 135/638

UK: “what if” analysis, key success factors
analysis, financial competitor analysis, SWOT

analysis
Turkey: economic forecasting models, SWOT

analysis and scenario analysis

Pasanen (2011) Finland
SME,

production,
service

N = 143
Business strategies, vision and mission
statements, strategic alliances, growth

strategies, SWOT analysis

Aldehayyat et al.
(2011) Jordan DSE, hotels N = 40/60

Business financial analysis, SWOT analysis,
PEST analysis, Porter’s 5 forces analysis

Afonina and
Chalupský (2013) Czech Republic DSE, DS N = 74

SWOT analysis, customer satisfaction, price
analysis, analysis of views and employee

attitudes, cost‑benefit analysis, analysis of
employee satisfaction, analysis of customers
complaints, Porter’s 5 forces analysis, PEST

analysis

Gică and Balint
(2012) Romania SME, DS N = 200

SWOT analysis, pessimistic and optimistic
scenarios

Šuklev and
Debarliev (2012) Macedonia DSE, DS N = 212/350 ‑

Kalkan and
Bozkurt (2013) Turkey SME, DS N = 192

Strategic planning, human resources analysis,
TQM, Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) vision and mission statements, PEST

analysis, benchmarking

Tassabehji and
Isherwood
(2014)

47 different
countries: Europe,

USA, Canada, India
etc.

DSE, DS N = 458
SWOT analysis, financial forecasting, vision
and mission statements, scenario planning,

value chain analysis

Rajasekar and Al
Raee (2014) Oman DSE, DS N = 20/63

Benchmarking, stakeholders analysis and
SWOT analysis

Nedelko et al.
(2015) Slovenia and Croatia DSE, DS

S: N = 155/750
C: N = 185/750

S: Outsourcing, benchmarking, key
competencies, knowledge management, TQM

etc.
C: Vision and mission statements,

benchmarking, key competencies, CRM,
customer segmentation etc.

Afonina (2015) Czech Republic DSE, DS N = 91
SWOT analysis, customer satisfaction, price
analysis, cost‑benefit analysis, market share

analysis etc.

Rigby and
Bilodeau (2015)

Over 70 countries
(5 continents)

DSE, DS N = 13,000
CRM, benchmarking, employee engagement

surveys, strategic planning, outsourcing,
balanced scorecard etc.

1 Most used tools have derived from empirical results of different studies. The number of tools defined as the most
commonly used, varies from study to study.

2 Different size enterprises.
3 Different sectors.
4 Particular sector/s.
5 Large enterprises.
Source: Authors.

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review 591

Empirical research by the level of study
The Tab. II summarizes empirical research

on the use of SMTTs nationally, globally and
comparative studies between the two countries or
continents. The summary of these studies is divided
into three time periods.

As shown in the Tab. II, the majority of empirical
research is conducted at country level, then at
the global level and there are few empirical research
that compare the use of SMTTs between two
countries or continents. Also, the data in the table
above indicate that the fewest researches on the use
of SMTTs are conducted in the period 1990 – 1999,
then follows the period 2010 – 2015, whilst, as
seen in the period 2000 – 2009 are done most of
the researches. Although the period 2010 – 2015
compared to previous periods as the period would
have to take into account the empirical research in
the years 2016 – 2019, in the way the comparison to
be completed for three decades separately.

Empirical research by enterprise size and sector
Economic literature contains major differences

in the definition of small and medium enterprises.
Statistical agencies, international organizations,
governments of independent countries emerge
with different definitions and categorizations for
businesses which do not reflect the differences
between them (Berisha and Shiroka‑Pula, 2015).

The following table summarizes the researches on
the SMTTs by enterprise size1 and sector2, and time
period.

The Tab. III shows that researches on the use
of SMTTs are conducted primarily in enterprises
of different sizes and different sectors, followed
by researches in SME and different sectors. After
them come the researches that did not specify
the enterprise size nor the sector and finally
come researches in SME and particular sectors.
While, the fewest researches are focused on large
enterprises (all sectors) and DSE (particular sectors).
From all summarized researches in Tab. I, only
four of them have analysed the usage of SMTTs in
particular on one or two specific sectors.

Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013) found differences
in the use of SMTTs by size enterprise and sector.
Whereas, Glaister and Falshaw (1999) found
relatively few significant differences in the findings
between firms in the manufacturing sector and firms
in the service sector. Also, according to the results
of Stonehouse and Pemberton (2002), there are
few significant differences between sectors, with
the exception of SWOT analysis which was used
more in the service sector. Unlike, Aldehayyat and
Anchor (2009) did not find significant differences
between the three sectors on the use of SMTTs,
except in the case of PEST analysis, which was used
more by industrial sector.

The empirical research on the usage of SMTTs
mainly has been conducted in enterprises of
different sizes (68 %), followed by SME (23 %) and
fewest only in large enterprises (9 %).

II: Summary of empirical research on the usage of SMTTs according to their level of study

Researches
Time period

1990–1999 2000–2009 2010–2015

At country
level

Glaister and
Falshaw
(1999) – UK

Stonehouse and Pemberton (2002) – UK
Ghamdi (2005) – Saudi Arabia
Dincer et al. (2006) – Turkey
Gunn and Williams (2007) – UK
Elbanna (2007) – Egypt
Vaitkevičius (2007) – Lithuania
Stenfors et al. (2007) – Finland
Kume and Leskaj (2009) – Albania
Aldehayyat and Anchor (2009) – Jordan

Pasanen (2011) – Finland
Aldehayyat et al. (2011) – Jordan
Afonina and Chalupský (2013) – Czech Republic
Gică and Balint (2012) – Romania
Šuklev and Debarliev (2012) – Macedonia
Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013) – Turkey
Rajasekar and Al Raee (2014) – Oman
Afonina (2015) – Czech Republic

At global
level

Rigby
(1993 – 1999),
Bain &
Company

Rigby (2001)
Tapinos (2005)
Rigby and Bilodeau (2007)
O’Brien (2009)

Tassabehji and Isherwood (2014)
Bain & Company (Rigby and Bilodeau,
2010 – 2015)

Comparative
studies Clark (1997)

Frost (2003)
Glaister et al. (2009)

Nedelko et al. (2015)

Source: Authors.

1 Enterprise size is taken according to the criteria used in respective researchers.
2 Different sectors (DS) are considered the researches conducted in three or more sectors. While particular sectors (PS)

are considered researches conducted only in one or two sectors.

592 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

III: Empirical research by enterprise size and sector

Researches by enterprise
size and sector

Time period

1990 – 1999 2000 – 2009 2010 – 2015

Enterprises of different
sizes (DSE) and different
sectors (DS)

Rigby (1993)
Clark (1997)
Glaister and Falshaw (1999)

Tapinos (2005)
Gunn and Williams (2007)
Vaitkevičiu (2007)
Kume and Leskaj (2009)
Aldehayyat and Anchor
(2009)
Glaister et al. (2009)

Afonina and Chalupský
(2013)
Šuklev and Debarliev (2012)
Tassabehji and Isherwood
(2014)
Rajasekar and Al Raee (2014)
Nedelko et al. (2015)
Afonina (2015)
Rigby and Bilodeau (2015)

Enterprises of different
sizes (DSE) and particular
sectors (PS)

– –
Aldehayyat et al. (2011)
Hotels

Large enterprises (LE) and
different sectors (DS) – Stenfors et al. (2007) –

Large enterprises (LE) and
particular sectors (PS) –

Dincer et al. (2006)
production and service

–

Small and medium size
enterprises (SME) and
different sectors (DS)

–
Frost (2003)
Elbanna (2007)

Gică and Balint (2012)
Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013)

Small and medium size
enterprises (SME) and
particular sectors (PS)

–
Stonehouse and Pemberton
(2002)
production and service

Pasanen (2011)
production and service

Researches that did
not specify the size of
the enterprises or the type
of sectors

–
Ghamdi (2005)
O’Brien (2009)

–

Source: Authors.

IV: Empirical research by country level development and time period

Empirical research by
country level development

Time Period

1990–1999 2000 – 2009 2010 – 2015

Developed countries Clark (1997)
Glaister and Falshaw (1999)

Stonehouse and Pemberton
(2002)
Gunn and Williams (2007)
Vaitkevičiu (2007)
Stenfors et al. (2007)

Pasanen (2011)
Afonina and Chalupský (2013)
Gică and Balint (2012)
Nedelko et al. (2015)
Afonina (2015)

Developing countries –

Ghamdi (2005)
Dincer et al. (2006) Elbanna
(2007)
Aldehayyat and Anchor
(2009)

Aldehayyat et al. (2011)
Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013)
Rajasekar and Al Raee (2014)

Transition economies – Kume and Leskaj (2009) Šuklev and Debarliev (2012)

Developed countries,
developing countries and
transition economies

Rigby (1993)

Frost (2003)
Tapinos (2005)
O’Brien (2009)
Glaister et al. (2009)

Tassabehji and Isherwood
(2014)
Rigby and Bilodeau (2015)

Source: Authors.

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review 593

Empirical research by country level development
The classification of countries is based on

the World Bank report (2014), “World Economic
Situation and Prospects”. Consequently, the following
table shows a classification of researches of
developed countries, developing countries,
transition economies and those who have
researched in countries with different levels of
development.

The Tab. IV indicates that the most researches
on the use of SMTTs are conducted in developed
countries followed by developing countries. After
them come the researches in various countries
with different development levels. While it seems
that there is a lack of the researches in transition
economies.

Empirical research by country level development
and enterprise size

Regarding the results of empirical studies for
the most used SMTTs, these are analysed divided
by the country level development and enterprise
size. However, it should be noted that this analysis
did not include the results of empirical research by
Ghamdi (2005) and O’Brien (2009) because we didn’t
have information about enterprise size researched
by them. Also, the results analysis of the usage
of SMTTs in developed countries has included
empirical research that has made a comparative
study between two countries, as researched
countries belong to the category of developed
countries (Clark, 1997; Nedelko et al., 2015).

The most used SMTTs were analysed according to
the country level development and enterprise size.
The research results show that managers use SMTTs
in their workplace. Surely, there are differences in
usage of them among enterprises according to their
size, sector and country level development as well.
The results are discussed below in details.

It is noted that enterprises of different sizes (DSE)
of developed countries used more variety of SMTTs
(total 22 SMTTs resulted as the most used) than large
enterprises (LE) (total four SMTTs) and SME (total
seven SMTTs).

The results of some studies show that the use of
strategic tools and techniques was more common
in the larger companies (Stonehouse & Pemberton,
2002; Elbanna, 2007; Aldehayyat & Anchor, 2009;
Aldehayyat et al., 2011; Pasanen, 2011; Kalkan
& Bozkurt, 2013; Rigby & Bilodeau, 2015).
According to Rigby and Bilodeau (2015), the larger
the company, the more likely it is to use the vast
majority of tools. According to them, on average,
large companies used 8.1 tools in 2014 compared
with midsize firms’ usage of 7.6 tools (up from 6.8 in
2012) and smaller companies’ usage of 5.3 tools.

Empirical studies conducted in DSE and SME
(Glaister & Falshaw, 1999; Stonehouse & Pemberton,
2002; Gunn & Williams, 2007), resulted in SWOT
analysis as the most used tool. While, according to
the results of empirical studies in DSE (Glaister &
Falshaw, 1999; Gunn & Williams, 2007), the most
used tools were: SWOT analysis, key success factors
analysis, “what if” analysis of and competition

V: Empirical research by the country level development and enterprise size

Country level development
Enterprise size

DSE LE SME

Developed countries

Clark (1997)
Glaister and Falshaw (1999)
Gunn and Williams (2007)
Vaitkevičiu (2007)
Afonina and Chalupský
(2013)
Nedelko et al. (2015)
Afonina (2015)

Stenfors et al. (2007)

Stonehouse and Pemberton
(2002)
Gică and Balint (2012)
Pasanen (2011)

Developing countries

Aldehayyat and Anchor
(2009)
Aldehayyat et al. (2011)
Rajasekar and Al Raee (2014)

Dincer et al. (2006)
Elbanna (2007)
Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013)

Transition economies Kume and Leskaj (2009)
Šuklev and Debarliev (2012)

– –

Developed countries,
developing countries and
transition economies

Rigby (1993)
Tapinos (2005)
Glaister et al. (2009)
Tassabehji and Isherwood
(2014)
Rigby and Bilodeau (2015)

– Frost (2003)

Source: Authors.

594 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

analysis, etc. Unlike the results of Stonehouse and
Pemberton (2002) and Gunn and Williams (2007),
where benchmarking resulted as the most used tool,
this was not the case with the results of Glaister and
Falshaw (1999).

Two empirical researches by Stenfors et al. (2007)
and Pasanen (2011) are included from Finland.
The first study investigated the usage of SMTTs in
LE, while the second one investigated the usage of
SMTTs in SME. Results of Stenfors et al. (2007) noted
that the simplest tools were most popular. According
to them, the use of SMTTs at strategic‑level is not
widespread, since only one third of the respondent
companies use them. Unlike the unsatisfactory
results of Stenfors et al. (2007), according to Pasanen
(2011), 75 % of SME used business strategies and
the vision and mission statements. Also, resulted
nine SMTTs over the average rate of satisfaction
from their usage. If we compare the results of two
studies in Finland, only SWOT analysis results as
the same used tool.

Findings of Vaitkevičius (2007) study suggest that
strategic management in Lithuanian organizations
is to a little extent based on formal analysis. It is
characterized by intuitive application of strategic
management tools accompanied by especially
sophistic strategic analysis (not based on hard data).
This claim is partly confirmed by an especially
frequent application of a SWOT analysis in strategic
management of Lithuanian organizations.

Two researches on the use of SMTTs (Afonina &
Chalupský, 2013; Afonina, 2015) are conducted
in the Czech Republic. The first study involved
different SME and sectors, while the second one
included DSE, also from different sectors. The results
of these studies are similar. The research findings
indicate extensive use of strategic management tools
and techniques among Czech companies. It has
been found that 14 of 19 SMTT used by over 50 %
of sampled organizations. Even here SWOT analysis
resulted as most used tool in Czech enterprises,
similar to the results in British enterprises (Gunn &
Williams, 2007), Australian enterprises (Frost, 2003),
Finnish enterprises (Stenfors et al., 2007; Pasanen,
2011), Lithuanian enterprises (Vaitkevičiu, 2007),
Romanian enterprises (Gică & Balint, 2012) and
Turkish enterprises (Dincer et al., 2006).

According to Gică & Balint (2012), a percentage
of 55.5 % of the 200 surveyed SME, said they did not
develop strategic plans in writing. Most companies
that elaborate written strategic plans are medium
sized, having 10 to 49 employees, active for no more
than five years. Their study shows that the most
commonly used tools are SWOT analysis 49.5 % and
pessimistic and optimistic scenarios 43.5 %. Unlike
the Czech enterprises that used on average 14
SMTTs (Afonina, 2015), the Romanian enterprises
used one or two (1 – 2) SMTTs (Gică & Balint, 2012).

It should also be noted that in all types of
enterprises in developed countries the SWOT
analysis appears to be the most used tool. Beside
SWOT analysis, other tools used in LE and SME are

not the same. Two other tools, vision and mission
statements and scenario analysis, resulted as
the most used tools in DSE and SME in developed
countries.

In developing countries, results showed that
diversity of used tools is higher in SME (13) than
in LE (3) and DSE (7). Even here it is noted that
the SWOT analysis has resulted as one of the most
used tools regardless of the enterprise size. Beside
this tool, no similarity was noticed in the tools used
in LE and SME. While a similarity of results was
noticed for DSE and SME. The most used tools in
DSE and SME in developing countries appeared
to be: business financial analysis, SWOT analysis,
PEST analysis, benchmarking and key success
factors analysis.

Ghamdi (2005) conducted a study in Saudi
Arabia. It resulted that thirteen tools and techniques
were used frequently. However, almost half of
the respondents said that they don’t use SMTTs in
their planning activities.

Two research studies were conducted in Turkey by
Dincer et al. (2006) and Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013).
The first research involved LE in the manufacturing
and service sector. The second research included
SME in different sectors. Dincer et al. (2006) found
that enterprises used very few SMTTs. Also,
according to Kalkan and Bozkurt (2013), the use of
SMTTs is uncommon in SME. Unlike other research
results, here SWOT analysis and scenario analysis
resulted among the least used tools. It is worth
mentioning that these two tools were the two most
used tools in Turkish LE (Dincer et al., 2006).

Elbanna (2007) has conducted a research in
SME of different sectors in Egypt. He found a little
difference of SMTTs usage between manufacturing
and service firms.

Aldehayyat and Anchor (2009) and Aldehayyat
et al. (2011) conducted research in Jordan. Both
studies were conducted in DSE, unlike the first one
was focused in various sectors, and the second one
in the hotel sector. The results of the first study show
that the use of strategy tools and techniques was
more common in the larger companies. According
to Aldehayyat and Anchor (2009), this could be
explained by the greater financial and human
capability of larger companies. Also, managers were
aware of most strategy tools and techniques, but they
did not always use them. The findings of the second
study were very similar to results of Aldehayyat and
Anchor (2009). The exception is the SWOT analysis
which was not among the most used tools in DSE
(DS), while in the hotel sector resulted as one of
the most used tools.

One of the latest studies is conducted from
Rajasekar and Al Raee (2014) in Oman. According to
them, on average, almost 30 % of the organizations
in Oman never or very rarely use strategic planning
tools.

None of the researches in transition countries do
analyse in particular the usage of SMTTs but only as
part of the strategic management process. Therefore,

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review 595

the research of Šuklev and Debarliev (2012) does not
mention researched strategic tools, whereas Kume
and Leskaj (2009) identified four most used tools
in DSE. Even here SWOT analysis leads as the most
used tool.

Empirical research conducted globally, in
countries with different development level, resulted
that only SWOT analysis is the same tool used in
DSE and SME.

Based on the above results, the most commonly
used tools regardless of the country level
development resulted in: SWOT analysis and
Porter’s five forces analysis. While the most used
tools in developed countries and developing
countries resulted benchmarking, key factors of
success analysis and cost‑benefit analysis.

It is noted that some of the tools used by
enterprises in developed countries are not used in
developing countries, as customer satisfaction and
“what if” analysis.

Tab. VII and Fig. 2 show the most used SMTTs by
enterprise size.

Based on the results above, the following tools
have proven to be the most used, regardless of
the enterprise size: SWOT analysis, PEST analysis,
benchmarking, cost‑benefit analysis, “what if”
analysis and vision and mission statements. It is
worth noting that the key success factors analysis
and Porter’s five forces analysis were among the most
commonly used tools regardless of the country level
development. But, here it is noticed that these two
tools are not among the most used tools by SME. It
is also noted that strategic planning, budgeting and
business strategies are not the most used tools in
SME versus large enterprises.

The Tab. VIII presents the ten most used SMTTs
according to the results of 25 different empirical
studies, regardless of the country level development
or enterprise size.

Obviously SWOT analysis resulted as the most
used tool worldwide, regardless of the country level

VI: Summary of the ten most used SMTTs by country level development

Summary of the ten most used SMTTs by country level development

Developed countries
Developing countries

(excluded research results
of Ghamndi, 2005)

Transition economies

Developed countries,
developing countries

(excluded research results of
O’Brien, 2009)

SWOT analysis
Benchmarking
Key competencies
Customer satisfaction
Key success factors
analysis
Price analysis
Cost‑benefit analysis
Porter’s five forces analysis
PEST analysis
“What if” analysis

SWOT analysis
Business financial analysis
PEST analysis
Benchmarking
Porter’s five forces analysis
Key success factors analysis
Competitor financial analysis
Stakeholders analysis
Strategic planning
Cost‑benefit analysis

SWOT analysis
Mathematical and
statistical methods
Porter’s five forces analysis
Value chain analysis

SWOT analysis
“What if” analysis
PEST analysis
Vision and Mission statements
Benchmarking
Budgeting
Financial forecasting
Economic forecasting models
Key success factors analysis
Customer satisfaction

Source: Authors.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

10
SWOT analysis

Price analysis

Competitor financial
analysis

Benchmarking

Cost-benefit analysis

Business financial
analysis

Customer satisfaction

Key success factors
analysis

Budgeting

Porter’s five forces
analysis

Vision and Mission
statements

PEST analysis

Key competencies

“What if” analysis

Mathematical and
statistical methods

Value chain analysis

Developed countries

Developing countries

Different countries

Transition economies

1: The ten most used SMTTs by country level development
Source: Authors.

596 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

development or enterprise size. So, SWOT analysis
resulted as the most used tool in 22 (88 %) studies
out of 25 (100 %). Then, comes benchmarking and
PEST analysis as the most used tools after SWOT
analysis.

The diagram below presents the ten most used
tools out of 100 % of the whole usage. The size

of each slice presents the proportional use of
a particular tool to the category’s percentage of
the pie.

According to Frost (2003), researchers think
that managers prefer this tool (SWOT) because it
is familiar and easy to use, requires no training or
specific competencies to understand and apply.

VII: Summary of the most used SMTTs by enterprise size

The most used SMTTs by enterprise size

DSE LE SME

SWOT analysis
Benchmarking
Porter’s five forces analysis
Key success factors analysis
PEST analysis
“What if” analysis
Customer satisfaction
Cost‑benefit analysis
Vision and mission statements
Price analysis

SWOT analysis
Spreadsheets Applications
Scenario analysis
Balanced Scorecard
Competitor financial analysis
Risk analysis

SWOT analysis
PEST analysis
Budgeting
Benchmarking
Vision and mission statements
Business financial analysis
Strategic planning
Business strategies
Pessimistic and optimistic scenarios
Cost‑benefit analysis

Source: Authors.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14
SWOT analysis

Benchmarking

Key success factors analysis

Porter’s five forces analysis

PEST analysis

“What if” analysis

Customer satisfaction

Cost-benefit analysis

Vision and mission analysis

Price analysis
Business financial analysis

Spreadsheets Applications

Balanced Scorecard

Competitior financial analysis

Risk analysis

Budgeting

Business strategies

Strategic planning

Mathematical and statistical
methods

Value chain analysis

DSE

LE

SME

2: The ten most used SMTTs by enterprise size
Source: Authors.

VIII: The most used SMTTs, derived from Tabs. VII and VIII

The ten most used SMTTs

Type of tool Percentage

1 SWOT analysis 88 %

2 Benchmarking 36 %

3 PEST analysis 32 %

4 “What if” analysis 24 %

5 Vision and mission statements 20 %

6 Porter’s five forces analysis 20 %

7 Business financial analysis 20 %

8 Key success factors analysis 16 %

9 Cost‑benefit analysis 16 %

10 Customer satisfaction 12 %

Source: Authors.

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques Usage: a Qualitative Review 597

CONCLUSION
This paper is one of the few studies to review the empirical literature on strategic management tools
and techniques usage. The research questions of the paper were: Do managers use these strategic
tools and techniques in their workplace? Which strategic tools and techniques are used more in
organizations? To answer these questions we have made a review of empirical studies using textual
narrative synthesis method. Initially, this study presents a tabulation with a summary of empirical
research for the period 1990 – 2015. The included studies were organized clustering them by
enterprise size and sector and by country level development.
The research results show that managers use SMTTs in their workplace. Surely, there are differences
among enterprises according to their size, sector and country level development as well.
The research results indicate that enterprises of different sizes (DSE) of developed countries used
more variety of SMTTs (22 SMTTs resulted as the most used) than large enterprises (LE) (four SMTTs
resulted as the most used) and SME (seven SMTTs resulted as the most used). The results of some
studies (Stonehouse & Pemberton, 2002; Elbanna, 2007; Aldehayyat & Anchor, 2009; Aldehayyat et al.,
2011; Pasanen, 2011; Kalkan & Bozkurt, 2013; Rigby & Bilodeau, 2015) show that the use of SMTTs
was more common in the larger enterprises. It should also be noted that in all types of enterprises in
developed countries, SWOT analysis resulted to be the most used tool. Beside SWOT analysis, other
tools used in LE and SME were not the same. While two other tools, the vision and mission statements
and scenario analysis, resulted as the most used tools in DSE and SME in developed countries.
As per developing countries, research findings indicate that diversity of used tools is higher in SME
(13) than in LE (3) and DSE (7). Even here it is noted that the SWOT analysis has resulted as one of
the most used tools regardless of the enterprise size. Beside this tool, there is not noticed any
similarity in the used tools in LE and SME. While it is noticed a similarity of the results for DSE and
SME. The most used tools in DSE and SME in developing countries resulted to be: business financial
analysis, SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, benchmarking and key success factors analysis.
None of the studies in transition economies did analyse in particular the usage of SMTTs but only as
part of the strategic management process. Therefore, the study of Šuklev and Debarliev (2012) did not
mention which SMTTs were investigated, whereas Kume and Leskaj (2009) identified four most used
tools in DSE. Even here SWOT analysis resulted as the most used tool.
Empirical research conducted globally, in countries with different country level development,
resulted that only SWOT analysis was the same tool used in DSE and SME.
The most commonly used tools regardless of the country level development resulted: SWOT analysis
and Porter’s five forces analysis. While the most used tools in developed countries and developing
countries resulted benchmarking, key factors of success analysis and cost‑benefit analysis. Some
of the tools used by enterprises in developed countries were not used in developing countries, as
customer satisfaction and “what if” analysis.
The following tools have proven to be the most used, regardless of the enterprise size: SWOT
analysis, PEST analysis, benchmarking, cost‑benefit analysis, “what if” analysis and vision and mission
statements. It is worth noting that the key success factors analysis and Porter’s five forces analysis were
among the most used tools regardless of the country level development. But here it is noticed that

Fig.3. The ten most used SMTTs

31%

13%

11%8%

7%

7%

7%

6%

6%
4%

SWOT analysis

Benchmarking

PEST analysis

“What if” analysis

Vision and mission statements

Porter’s five forces analysis

Business financial analysis

Key success factors analysis

Cost-benefit analysis

Customer satisfaction

3: The ten most used SMTTs
Source: Authors.

598 Albana Berisha Qehaja, Enver Kutllovci, Justina Shiroka Pula

these two tools were not among the most used tools by SME. Also, it is noted that strategic planning,
budgeting, and business strategies were not the most used tools in SME versus large enterprises.
As a conclusion, the ten most used SMTTs according to the results of 25 different empirical studies,
regardless of the country level development or enterprise size resulted as follows: SWOT analysis,
benchmarking, PEST analysis, “what if” analysis, vision and mission statements, Porter’s five forces
analysis, business financial analysis, key success factors analysis, cost‑benefit analysis and customer
satisfaction.
It should be noted that researchers have not used the same questionnaires, which means they have
used questionnaires that had listed various tools.

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Contact information

Albana Berisha Qehaja: [email protected]‑pr.edu
Enver Kutllovci: [email protected]‑pr.edu
Justina Shiroka Pula: [email protected]‑pr.edu

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