Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to highlight the lack of business sustainability of small and medium enterprises in Ghana and how the trend can be reversed through the adoption of customer relationship management and strategic management practices as a solution for sustainable business that can transcend generations.

Small and medium businesses in Ghana more often either collapse, shuts down or in case owners are sick, the business cease or when owners die, the business dies with them. Those that are able to put structures and systems in place soon become dreary and inward looking and eventually fall into decline, as a result of lack of strategic management and customer relationship management. Failure to build, develop and manage strategic and customer relationships creates complacency stifling growth and profits notwithstanding business expansions, hence the business folds up or shuts down with economic turbulence.

According to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 small and medium businesses fail within the first 18 months and the reason being that, they simply run out of cash. (Bloomberg 2013). The trend can be reversed if small and medium enterprises embeds the necessary elements including customer and strategic relationship management practices to enable their long-term sustainability.

Implications of the short lives of small and medium businesses in Ghana is an indication of a cycle of stifled economic growth as new businesses keep springing up but without a successful, practical and workable existing business model to emulate or learn from to support their sustainable business practices.

Keywords: customer relationship management, strategic management, service management, business sustainability.

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