Paper Title
Decision-Making in Moroccan SMEs: The Impact of the Manager's Profile

Abstract
In most SMEs, decision-making is largely the business of the manager. This situation represents the risk of basing all the activities of the company on a single stream of information, that of the manager. Today with the difficulty of decision making it is impossible for an isolated manager to be able to make regular rational decisions. The SME manager remains the cornerstone of any organizational system. He is above all the ones who imagine, plan , develop and realizes his own vision (Filion, 1991). Thus, because of its importance and weight, SME is often presented as an autonomous decision-making center where the manager plays a crucial role in the decision-making process (Bayad and D. Nebeuhaus, 1988). Many authors assert that it is possible to equate the SME with the person of the manager as it is expressed through the various facets of the daily management of the company (Gervais, 1978, Louart, 1990, Van love, 1991 ). This manager often tries to consider his business as a personal asset or a property (Hull). Above all, he is the one who imagines, develops and realizes his vision (L.J. Fillon, 1991). This management approach prompts some authors to describe the SME as "an ego-firm" (Tores, 2000; Plane, 1999). Indeed, the SME can be considered as a system of power organization, almost always concentrated in the hands of its manager who exercises a power of management and control. In this situation the objectives of the company are strongly determined by its personal objectives. Thus, the manager of the SME has the fundamental property of being an autonomous decision-making center. It plays a crucial role throughout the decision-making process (Bayad, D. Nebenhaus, 1998). The personification of SME management remains one of the most important characteristics of SMEs. In other words, the management of SMEs is a personalized management and a management of proximity (O. Torrès, 2006). It is difficult to grasp the problem of decision-making in an SME regardless of the characteristics of its manager. The manager has a fundamental influence on the intention of growth, considered as a condition incumbent to the attainment and maintenance of a trajectory of sustainable development. Each manager matches a "form" of intent to grow and personalize key decisions. The central question of our problem is the following: How is the decision taken by the manager of the SME? What are the explanatory factors? From this question we distinguish the following variables: • The dependent variable: This is the decision-making process put in place by the manager of the SME. • Explanatory or independent variables : these are the characteristics of the manager (the profile of the manager). To explain how the decision is made within the SME, the following variables are studied: the profile of the manager, the perception of the decision-making officer, the style of decision-making. Thus, we adopted the quantitative method. By focusing on the objectives of our research, we opted to use questionnaires as a tool for data collection. The approach of our research is part of a hypothetico-deductive approach, which implies the formulation of hypotheses. This formulation represents for us the culmination of a conceptual reflection. To achieve the objectives of our work, we have formulated four hypotheses of research. The hypotheses we have chosen are based on theoretical work that has put in place a set of concepts and variables that allow us to grasp management practices. On the other hand, previous empirical studies that have revealed variables influencing management styles. Hypothesis 1: The senior manager compared to the young manager centralizes decision-making Hypothesis 2: Women managers have a tendency to apply a decision-making process based on participation Hypothesis 3: The less experienced manager tends to decentralize decision-making Hypothesis 4: The level and nature of SME executive training influences its decision-making practices Keywords - Decision, Decision-making, manager, SMEs,