- Culture
Small businesses are often run by people who founded them or have been there since their inception. This is one of the advantages because these individuals know the culture of the business and the story that binds employees. They understand the core purpose of existence, the philosophy of the job and the original intention of the owners. This sets the company apart as a workplace and is part of a brand that customers buy into. As the company grows, the original culture of the business may slowly disappear because many people who do not understand the company's origin arrive.
- Flexibility
Unlike large companies, which are compartmentalized and have a lot of bureaucracies, small businesses are small and agile. This makes them easy to be changed to fit into the changing business landscape. For example, if you, as the business owner, feel that the company should be changed in a particular manner, you can make decisions faster since there are few layers involved in decision-making, unlike the large multinationals where you have to consult many people and departments. As such, bigger companies are not as agile as small businesses because decisions must be filtered through various layers before they can be adopted.
Small businesses can make fast decisions because it does not take too much time to call a meeting of the entire company, including the workforce and explain decisions. Additionally, smaller businesses can identify problems faster and solve them before they become a disaster.
- Specialization
Big organizations are focusing on greater opportunities to generate significant revenues and grow. Therefore, many niches that bigger organizations do not target remain unserved. Unlike the bigger organizations, smaller companies have a chance to fill the void left by others. They can use this to build a reputation as being able to serve better than anybody else. An example is a contractor who can focus on residential building projects and deliver unique messages that distinguish it from the competitors. This kind of uniqueness attracts residential project owners and allows faster growth.
- Communication
Small businesses are closely-knit communities where employees are close to one another and always have verbal communication throughout the day. With this family-like mentality, there is better communication among the employees and those running the company. Workers can easily communicate directly with the business owner or boss they are likely to know in person. Therefore, if an organization has a problem, the boss will know it faster and solve it.
Proper communication within an organization is critical in building trust and solving complex business challenges. Unlike bigger organizations that have many bureaucracies and protocols, small organizations get information directly from lower cadre employees who have firsthand information on the happenings from daily operations. This is one of the areas in that small businesses have the edge over large organizations. With the right communication framework, issues that could have otherwise worsened due to the too much time it takes to be solved in bigger organizations are solved within the shortest possible time.
