Final answer:
Companies with fewer than 50 employees typically use outsourcing and employee leasing to manage tasks that would otherwise require more in-house resources. Offshoring and downsizing are less common due to the smaller scale of their operations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Companies with fewer than 50 employees often utilize outsourcing and employee leasing as a means to manage certain business functions that can be more effectively completed by specialized outside firms. These small companies typically do not engage heavily in offshoring, which involves moving operations overseas, or downsizing, which refers to reducing the number of employees to cut costs. Instead, they tend to outsource tasks such as accounting, payroll, human resources, and data processing to external contractors. Leadership development is also important but is not specific to the size of the company; rather, it is a broad strategic initiative applicable to businesses of all sizes.
Outsourcing is a cost-effective strategy for small businesses that may not have the resources to maintain all business functions in-house. Meanwhile, employee leasing allows companies to temporarily hire workers through a professional employer organization, which can be a flexible alternative to permanent hires.