The Influence of Risk Management and the Strategic Planning on Sustainable Business Performance of SMEs: The Case of Palestine

Small and medium enterprises are considered as one of the most important sectors in the development of the Palestinian economy. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether risk management and strategic planning have a significant positive influence and to assess the influence of their applications on the sustainable business performance of SMEs in Palestine. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was adopted; secondary data were obtained by a theoretical presentation of previous literature, and primary data was collected by a specific questionnaire. This was done through a random sample of (fifty) questionnaires distributed to owners or managers of SMEs in Palestine. In order to answer the study question, the researcher followed the analytical descriptive approach using SPSS and tested three subquestions which were clarified in the study. This paper’s results revealed that risk management and strategic planning have a significant positive influence on the sustainable business performance of SMEs in Palestine. Furthermore, not all Palestinian SMEs’ managers use strategic planning and risk management steps since most of them have family businesses that are suffering from a lack of management steps and improper management styles, where most of them tend to use an autocratic management style. Therefore, the researcher recommended SMEs’ managers should think and use strategy in their daily operations and use risk management practices to protect their financial resources so they can attain superior sustainable business performance.