SMEs in a globalised world:survival and growth strategies on Europe's geographical periphery

This insightful book shows how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from some of the traditionally less dynamic peripheral economies of the 'old' EU - namely Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain - have responded to the twin challenges of globalisation and industrial restructuring. Through a series of unique case studies the contributing authors discuss how these economies, and in particular the SME sector, can be transformed. The book begins by examining the key drivers of the globally competitive SME sector in the EU, before moving on to explore the relationship between multinational enterprises (MNEs), SMEs and industrial development. The authors investigate important policy implications and provide lessons for SME development and growth. With empirical and theoretical contributions on SMEs in both the manufacturing and the services sectors, this essential book will be invaluable for researchers and policymakers in small business economics and management. Postgraduate students of entrepreneurship, business economics, industrial economics and European studies will appreciate this unique set of insights.

Creating resilient SMEs:why one size might not fit all

This article is a first step towards addressing a gap in the field of organisational resilience research by examining how small and medium enterprises (SME) manage the threat and actuality of extreme events. Pilot research found that the managerial framing of extreme events varied by a range of organisational factors. This finding informed further examination of the contextual nature of the resilience concept. To date, large organisations have been the traditional focus of empirical work and theorising in this area; yet the heterogeneous SME sector makes up approximately 99% of UK industry and routinely operates under conditions of uncertainty. In a comparative study examining UK organisational resilience, it emerged that SME participants had both a distinctive perspective and approach to resilience when compared to participants from larger organisations. This article presents a subset of data from 11 SME decision-makers. The relationship between resilience capabilities, such as flexibility and adaptation, is interrogated in relation to organisational size. The data suggest limitations of applying a one-size-fits-all organisation solution (managerial or policy) to creating resilience. This study forms the basis for survey work examining the extent to which resilience is an organisationally contingent concept in practice.

Impacts of flooding on SMEs and their relevance to chartered surveyors:

This is the final report of the RICS Education Trust funded “Developing Flood Expert Knowledge in Chartered Surveyors – DEFENCES” research project. The UK has endured a number of major flood events in recent years, and the UK Environment Agency (2009a) identified that about 5.2million properties in England, amounting to one in six, are at risk of flooding. The impacts of flooding include direct and indirect impacts and can be particularly devastating for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are generally more vulnerable to such events than larger business organisations. Recent flood events have established how costly flooding can be to the SME sector (Pitt, 2008, ABI, 2010), which has given greater impetus to the need to improve the resilience of at-risk SMEs. A lack of professional advice on flood protection and adaptation measures represents a potential barrier to the uptake of such interventions by SMEs. A recent Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey, as quoted in Defra (2008) notes that, although a majority of chartered surveyors would like to work in this area of practice (flood risk assessment and adaptation), they are conscious of gaps in their competency, knowledge and understanding. The research project sought to contextualise this broader issue and investigate how chartered surveyors can bridge the gap in providing professional flood advice to SMEs. Further, a shift in the UK government policy on flood risk management is evident, where at-risk communities are urged to adapt to flooding. This places greater emphasis on property-level flood adaptation, providing further impetus for Chartered Surveyors to be involved. Findings of the research will be of interest to the RICS, the RICS Flood steering Group, practicing surveyors generally, SMEs, business support and policy making organisations.

Small and medium-sized enterprises and regional economic growth in Brazil

This paper examines the relationship between the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector and economic growth for an annual panel of Brazilian states for the period 1985–2004. We investigate the importance of the relative size of the SME sector measured by the share of SME employment in total formal employment and the level of human capital in SMEs measured by the average years of schooling of SME employees. The empirical results indicate that the relative importance of SMEs is negatively correlated with economic growth, a result that is consistent with previous studies examining developing countries. In addition, our results show that the human capital embodied in SMEs may be more important for economic growth than the relative size of the SME sector.

Working with the public sector:SME medical device innovation and pre-procurement

Healthcare providers are under ever increasing pressure to deliver more technologically advanced care without increasing costs. Innovation is essential (Darzi, 2008), and for this healthcare providers rely on innovation within commercial companies. SMEs have an important part to play in this sector (NHS Supply Chain Parliamentary Brief, 2013). Collaboration between SME suppliers and the NHS for innovation forms the focus of this paper. We examine the academic literature on interorganizational innovation including academic insights from the areas of forward commitment procurement (Environmental Innovation Advisory Group, 2003-2008), pre-commercial procurement (Bos & Corvers, 2007), innovation and SMEs. We then explore practice, first from a policy and business sector perspective. Second, we present evidence from fifteen cases of interorganizational innovation projects involving SMEs and UK healthcare providers. Our findings show much effort is being put into creating opportunities for more interorganizational innovation of medical devices. Working across organizational boundaries presents added complexity to the innovation environment and process, and the challenge of developing high-quality cross-boundary group interaction.

Building up resilience of construction sector SMEs and their supply chains to extreme weather events

Wider scientific community now accept that the threat of climate change as real and thus acknowledge the importance of implementing adaptation measures in a global context. In the UK , the physical effects of climate change are likely to be directly felt in the form of extreme weather events, which are predicted to escalate in number and severity in future under the changing climatic conditions. Construction industry; which consists of supply chains running across various other industries, economies and regions, will also be affected due to these events. Thus, it is important that the construction organisations are well prepared to withstand the effects of extreme weather events not only directly affecting their organisations but also affecting their supply chains which in turn might affect the organisation concerned. Given the fact that more than 99% of construction sector businesses are SMEs, the area can benefit significantly from policy making to improve SME resilience and coping capacity. This paper presents the literature review and synthesis of a doctoral research study undertaken to address the issue of extreme weather resilience of construction sector SMEs and their supply chains. The main contribution of the paper to both academia and practitioners is a synthesis model that conceptualises the factors that enhances resilience of SMEs and their supply chains against extreme weather events. This synthesis model forms the basis of a decision making framework that will enable SMEs to both reduce their vulnerability and enhance their coping capacity against extreme weather. The value of this paper is further extended by the overall research design that is set forth as the way forward.