Canada’s SMEs can unlock strategic advantage with these business levers
By Brad Jackson, Industry Executive andChair, REMAP Board of Directors
In my last blog I discussed how productivity, innovation and quality are key levers when managing through a dynamic market environment. But those operational drivers alone will not enable an organization to chart rough waters or build for future growth.
To build a more resilient and competitive organization, I believe small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also need to place an increasing focus on three specific business levers.
Complementing the operational levers of productivity, innovation and agility, these success factors are: strategic collaboration, leadership and decision making.
If there was ever a time to support each other it’s now. Just as everyday Canadians are coming together like never before, this also needs to be happening in the manufacturing sector –particularly among SMEs. You may be small alone, but considering you account for about 99% of the manufacturing sector, are certainly mighty together. How can SMEs rally together alongside larger manufacturers, industry consortia and other industry players to boldly address issues of vital concern?
Broad manufacturing ecosystem collaboration holds enormous potential to address hard questions affecting entire industries. Obvious areas to address today are: How can we unite behind this common goal of creating less dependency on the US? How can we ride out this tariff war together and build for a stronger future?
Breaking down traditional boundaries not only enhances internal innovation but can also help to share and offset risk. Are you collaborating with your customers today, and with a view to tomorrow? If not, you’re missing a huge opportunity. SMEs need proof points to be able to demonstrate what they have to offer and customer collaboration will help to define or refine opportunities, and lay a path for the future.
If disruption is the new normal, then leadership needs to evolve to meet it. Resilience isn't just about weathering the storm – it’s about steering through it with purpose. And that requires leadership that’s not only comfortable with change, but actively driving it.
Too often, leadership development is left to chance, especially in SMEs where resources are tight and day-to-day operations take precedence. But in today’s environment, the ability to lead through uncertainty is no longer a nice-to-have – it’s essential.
I’ve had numerous conversations lately with funding agencies and ecosystem players, and leadership capacity consistently comes up as a gap in the Canadian manufacturing sector. Not technical leadership. Business leadership – the kind that connects strategy to action, motivates teams through ambiguity, and knows when to take calculated risks.
As cited in the Board of Canada’s 2024 Innovation Report Card, Canada has a risk adverse innovation culture. We have incredible talent, cutting-edge technology, and a global reputation built on trust - yet our cautious relationship with risk often holds us back from fully realizing these strengths and moving forward with bold ideas. Strong leadership is needed to overcome this fear of failure and enhance our overall competitiveness.
This doesn’t mean that every SME needs to send their people off to expensive executive programs. But it does mean carving out time and space to build decision-making muscles, to encourage cross-functional thinking, and to develop emerging leaders who can carry the torch forward. Strong leadership doesn’t just help companies survive uncertainty – it helps them shape what comes next.
In this unpredictable environment, you will need to make important decisions that impact how you run your business today and in future. It can be challenging to make important business decisions at the best of times – never mind in the midst of a market upheaval. As mentioned in my last blog, it’s critical to avoid panicked decision making, knee-jerk reactions to the daily news and market fluctuations, or burying your head in the sand and hoping the problem goes away.
As a smaller organization, how can you make important decisions in the face of unpredictability?
First and foremost, I encourage SMEs to use an established decision-making model. This helps to frame decisions rather than flying by the seat of your pants, or going on intuition. I’m a big fan of this matrix which helps companies to visualize decision-making factors and evaluate and prioritize between two different courses of action. This matrix not only simplifies complexity, it also enables leaders to pressure test decisions, prioritize resource allocations and adapt strategies as conditions evolve.
If you’re a SME, perhaps you’re thinking these business levers are for big companies – not small companies like yours.
At first glance, the fact that SMEs have fewer resources than large companies – staffing and capital to name just two –may seem like an obvious negative when it comes to making urgent changes. But here’s the thing – what you lack in size, you make up for in agility. By comparison, large companies may currently feel like they’re trying to turn the Titanic.
Your inherent agility – combined with the strength of your ecosystem partners – can be a real advantage when it comes to managing through these times and building a stronger foundation for future growth.
Driving innovation, manufacturing optimization and collaboration, for over a decade, REMAP is an ecosystem partner that is ready to help SMEs weather today’s storm and build for the future.
As a member of the REMAP Board of Directors since 2014, I’m exceptionally proud of the programs we offer to help Canadian SMEs through the common – or unique – challenges they face. Learn more at https://www.remapnetwork.org/advance
Read the other blogs in this series:
- Managing Through Market Disruption
- Build Resilience and Competitiveness Through Innovation, Productivity and Agility
