The Factorial Mirror (FAM) Concept of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the Firm Impact Sphere (FIP)

Abstract

E-globalization is a terminology of high significance when focusing on smaller firm mechanisms of survival and growth in the new IT-based economy. One of the new approaches to understanding the interaction between the firms’ activities and their environments is the concept of the ‘Firm Impact Sphere’. The ‘Firm Impact Sphere’ (or FIP) concept was initially proposed by Abouzeedan and Busler (2002a, 2006a). The FIP concept facilitates better perception of the business environment of today. In relation to that, it is worth recalling that scholars made an effort to categorize a firm’s performance factors related to internal environments versus the ones related to the external environment of the firm, by arranging the various factors of impact into individual groups, such as the SPF classification system (see Abouzeedan 2002). In that paper, the equivalency between the sub-groups within the SPF-classification system was established. That work was developed further by a later paper by Abouzeedan (2003), where the author discussed how to relate equivalent groups of parameters. To do this, he introduced the concept of the mirror effect using the ‘Factorial Mirror’ concept (see Abouzeedan 2003). In this article, I try to illustrate how the ‘Factorial Mirror’ (or FAM) concept can be utilized to understand the relationship between the external and internal parameters incorporated in the firm performance models and relate that concept to the Firm Impact Sphere (FIP) framework of analysis. I then proceed to connect that analysis to bridging tactics and alliances’ formation. In the context of this discussion, I introduce the BFF Triangle as an abstract presentation to the said. By understanding how manipulating parameters of the external environment would alter the internal environment of the firm, scholars should be able to build a better perception of the dynamism behind the ability of firm bridging tactics to transfer themselves into workable alliances.