The Effect of the Operational Strategy on the Company Performance: An Empirical Study in the Small and Medium Industries (SMES) in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

The aim of this study is to determine the implementation on the effect of the operational strategy of the performance in the small and the medium industries, SMEs, in South Sulawesi. The variables of operating strategy consist of the cost, differentiation, quality, flexibility, delivery, and innovation ones. While the operational performance variables encompass the level of the productivity and the level of the efficiency. The number of samples comprises 75 small and medium industries (SMEs) in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The collected data use a survey method with questionnaire tools, the data were analyzed with a descriptive method and path analysis, using the SPSS ver.17 program package. The results showed that the variables comprise the operational strategy of the cost, the quality, the delivery, the innovation positively significant effect on the improvement of the operational performance and the flexibility of the company. While, the differentiation variables significantly negative effect on the company's improved operational performance. It is recommended to other researchers to examine why the variables of the differentiation and the flexibility did not, as one of the operational strategies, have a significantly positive effect on strengthening operational performance in the industries, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Sulawesi.