[closed] How do managers from smaller companies think differently from those who work at bigger companies?

Hi Aimee,
To start with, let me take this opportunity in mentioning that Office Management and Business Administration are two different things. Office Management actually means managing the personnel, logistics and regular functioning of an office, on the other hand Business Administration is managing the productivity part of the business and generating revenue to the company.
Now to answer the other question about how the managers think differently:
1. Managers are those who know how to organize the workforce and get the set targets achieved.
2. Managers from smaller companies will have to be organizing and managing multiple departments or teams depending on the size of the company.
3. Managers from larger companies will be assigned to a specialized department and will need to produce or achieve targets specific to that particular department of the company, which will eventually result in the final outcome once all the department's results are collated or put together.

Hence Managers from larger companies will have expertise in their own respective field and need to be more focused on their deliverables.
Managers from smaller companies have a more difficult task in terms of knowing how to delegate tasks and follow through till the end with a larger area of focus with much more deliverables.

Wishing you all the best in the future. Should you have any doubts, please feel free to address the same to me at any time.

Hi Aimee,

Good to know you are on your way to getting your Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, while the curriculum could differ depending on university, country the basics remains the same. It is to equip you with all the fundamentals needed to run, manage and hopefully one day make decisions of your own for the organization. At its core business is about managing resources at your disposal in the most effective way towards a certain objective or purpose as may be defined by you or your organization. Management principles while universal can differ in the shape and form it is applied depending on the context of your business and competitive landscape and therefore there is a huge need for cognitive awareness which often is referred to as management or leadership. Fundamentally at its core is the right use of resources that are often limited to create value

To your question on difference between large and small companies, there could be many however I will state the following based on my limited experience thus far having worked in both these environments.

1. 
   

   Small companies by nature tend to be more nimble and flexible Vs larger ones where we often term large corporations as Bureaucratic
   in Essence Large corporations organize their workforce under verticals which are well defined, Roles and responsibilities are well defined and can be
   seen limited to specific task. There is need for control when you have a large scale as well as centralization of information and decision making. This will be quite different in smaller companies who are starting out. All companies will eventually go through this cycle when starting out they will be nimble and power centers often spread out over time and scale they will organize their business to fit changing needs.

   
   


2. 
   

   Given the above context it may seem that working for a small company can have a high Risk to reward in terms of professional growth and developing business acumen and the contrary for working with larger ones while starting out. Well the problem is, its not that simple, nothing in our career choices or business is ever quite that clear. There will be Pro's and Cons, we will need to evaluate these with our individual goals and aspirations and come to a decision.

   
   


3. 
   

   Its important to choose a path, company big or small, a brand that resonates with your value system and a profession that interest you and one that you will enjoy doing for the rest of your life.

   
   

Few things you should take into consideration:

Your degree provides you a multi disciplinary foundation, if you already have a liking for a specific domain say for e.g. Finance then accounting methodology being globally standardized hence your learning and experience will have universal appeal and applicability in some other profession example marketing methods could more greatly differ depending on industry. If your goal is to become a business leader in the long term than having a multidisciplinary experience is the way to go, whereas if you're looking to become a specialist your path will be slightly different where you would specialize in terms of complexity and breadth of domain you would want to manage eventually in a given field, classical case could be Finance,R&D and HR

Technology today is disruptive and in large part an unknown in terms of what and how they will evolve, choose a company that is best placed to outlive its competition
Where barriers of entry are tough for other players, this can help your organization perform better. Also it's always an advantage to join companies that are in the top of their ecosystem placed number 1 or 2. Whereas if you join a new start up or a small company, you will have to make an assessment based on evidence, research and finally gut feel on the prospects of that firm or business. Its important to note that all Top 500 Companies at some point in time started up as small companies, start ups.

Your own individual aspirations are the key, if the company's vision, Culture, its senior leadership attracts you and inspires you its an added bonus. Remember you will spend half your life time working in these organizations

Lastly there is no secret formula or recipe for success, do your home work and research and follow your instinct and be guided by your value system no matter what !