A case study of the socio-economic approach to management used for a Lebanese entrepreneurial venture

Oftentimes, small businesses fail to address short and long-term hidden costs because they believe this, in itself, creates an up-front expense. Using socio-economic approach to management (SEAM), hidden costs can be calculated to reveal evidence that in fact, the outcomes, especially for small businesses, can become quite the opposite. This paper explores a case study within a small Lebanese business, using the SEAM methodology to improve the social and economic state. The paper addresses how this methodology can help businesses with limited resources and funding avoid short and long-term hidden costs. The application of this method can be used to calculate ongoing hidden costs that keep a business sustainable and competitive. In SEAM, the qualitative results are collected from the interviews performed by the intervener with all employees of the company. The results are then categorised into six different groups of dysfunctions as defined by SEAM. These groups are: 1) working conditions; 2) work organisation; 3) communication-coordination-cooperation; 4) time management; 5) integrated training; 6) strategic implementation. Each category of the six categories is divided further into subcategories. We found that using SEAM helps in reducing the hidden costs.