Advantages and disadvantages of managing a small firm

Managing a small firm is nothing like managing at corporate level with hundreds or even thousands of employees.

Imagine moving from a large metropolitan city to live in the country side, you will miss many services that you were accustomed to. The dry cleaner is not down the road, the major grocery store is about 20 min away, it may take few days before a plumber would show up, the broadband speed may not be at level you feel comfortable with, etc, etc.

The above scenario, may be exaggerated a bit, shows how I felt when I started to work for a small company. Although technology making it easier to work and move around, I found many disadvantages of working for a small firm.

1-Lake of good infrastructure: good infrastructur such as (ample office space, latest hardware and software, well written manuals, long term vision and goals, etc) may not always be available in small firm environment.
2-Constant changes in vision and in goals: in some small firms, change in vision and in goals is so prevailing it makes it impossible for managers to put in place a long term strategy.
3-Limited budget: as a manager in a small firm, you may have to work with a small budget which will limit your ability to solve problems and create new strategies
4-Lake of experience: since you will be working with a small number of people, the total over all experience of the firm may be limited and in certain cases you will have to look outside the firm for help.

After I talked about some of the disadvantages of working for small firm, are there any good incentives to work for a small firm? The answer is yes.

1-Limited hierarchy: decisions can be reached quickly since there is a limited number of people involved in the decision making process
2-Ease of communication: in a small firm, you almost can meet every on the payroll in one day , you will have more time to talk to each of your staff members
3-Your ideas will be recognized: if you come up with a good solution, your idea will resonate throughout the company and you will be recognized quickly.
4-Challenging environment: if you love challenges and want to know what it means to think on your feet, than a small company may provide you with that challenge.

If you like to see dreams come true, than I believe working for small firm may grant you your wish. After all, many multi-national corporations we see today started as a small business.