Resilience and competitiveness of small and medium size enterprises: an empirical research

Abstract A small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) is normally a company that employs about 50–200 people. Because of the globalisation of market and operations, and technological advances, the competition among SMEs has radically increased over the years, and their survival is increasingly dependent on a number of factors including resilience of SMEs to refocus some of their strategies and technologies. In this article, a review of selected literature has been undertaken on some of the SME characteristics and new strategies, techniques and technologies that can provide a competitive advantage and sustainability in the global market and operations. Based on the literature review, a framework has been developed with key factors/enablers that determine the resilience and competitiveness of SMEs. This framework has been empirically studied by collecting data from SMEs. It involves a sample of 40 SMEs in the Southcoast of Massachusetts and provides further insight into the key characteristics associated with resilience and competitiveness of SMEs that are influenced by advances in operations strategies, technology and globalisation. Finally, a detailed summary of findings and conclusions are presented. Keywords: SMEsresiliencecompetitivenessglobalisationtechnologyempirical studyMassachusetts Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and the special issue guest editors, Prof. Samar Doni and Prof. Ran Bhamra for their constructive and very useful comments which helped to improve the presentation of the paper considerably including the contents. Notes Notes 1. http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sb_econ2007.pdf 2. http://www.smedp.org.mk/en/documents/National%20SME%20Strategy%20final%20draft.pdf 3. A copy of the questionnaire can be obtained from authors upon request.