Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Global Economy

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often have difficulty competing in the global economy unless they collaborate with domestic or foreign partners or with public sector organizations. This book addresses the resource leverage and innovation challenges that increased global trade represents for SMEs. In doing so, it explores how SMEs can become more competitive at home and in foreign markets as stand-alone firms or as members of supplier and customer networks.SMEs are turning increasingly to innovation as a source of competitive advantage in order to protect their home markets and participate in expanding foreign markets. The contributors to this volume - leading experts in entrepreneurship, innovation, and international business - provide in-depth coverage of the most compelling issues facing SMEs. These include: innovation as a competitive strategy, network dynamics, ways to leverage technology, internationalization, and the role of the public sector in helping SMEs to overcome resource deficiencies. This comprehensive look at SMEs in the global marketplace will be of great interest to academics who study entrepreneurship, innovation, or international business, officials from public sector agencies with responsibility for helping SMEs to internationalize and become more innovative, and senior executives of SMEs or executives of larger companies who are considering collaboration with SMEs.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction 1. Introduction Gerald I. Susman PART I: INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 2. Exploring the Reach of Innovation-Related Cooperation in Small Firms Mark Freel 3. Innovation, Productivity and Growth: An Analysis of Irish Data James H. Love and Stephen Roper 4. Innovation Strategies and Manufacturing Practices: Insights from the 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey Jan Youtie and Philip Shapira PART II: NETWORK DYNAMICS 5. Economies of Speed: A Conceptual Framework to Describe Network Effectiveness Irene J. Petrick and Carleen Maitland 6. Sourcing of Innovation as Trendsetting in the Imaging Sector: A Comparison between Large MNEs and SMEs Johannes M. Pennings and Gino Cattani PART III: TECHNOLOGY AND ENHANCED CAPABILITIES 7. The Fastest Growing SMEs in Canada: Their Strategies, e-Commerce and Network Practices Hamid Etemad 8. Knowledge and Capabilities in Subcontractor’s Evolution: The Italian Case Roberto Grandinetti, Andrea Furlan and Arnaldo Camuffo 9. The Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Through the Supply Chain: A SME Perspective Craig H. Wood and Allen Kaufman PART IV: INTERNATIONALIZATION 10. A Comparison of the Pace and Pattern of Internationalization by US and Canadian High-Growth Firms David J. Maslach and Rod B. McNaughton 11. The Effects of Product Diversification and International Diversification on SMEs’ Innovation Jane Wenzhen Lu and Zhijian Wu 12. Should High-Technology SMEs Expect to Internationalize by Passing Through a Sequence of Development Stages that Affect Choice of Export Market and Entry Mode? Marian V. Jones 13. A Comparative Study of Canadian and UK High-Technology SMEs’ Internationalization Processes Dave Crick and Martine Spence 14. SME Choice of Export Market and Entry Mode: Theory and Research Gerald I. Susman and Jenna P. Stites PART V: ROLE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR 15. US States and the Global Economy: Trends and Policies in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest Terrence Guay 16. University Research Parks: Untapped Source of Exports from Innovation-based SMEs Paul M. Swamidass and Venubabu Vulasa 17. Issues Surrounding the Internationalization of SMEs: Implications for Policy Makers and Researchers Paul Westhead, Mike Wright and Deniz Ucbasaran PART VI: EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES Diamond V Mills, Mark Kujawa Markel Corporation, James Hoban X-Rite Incorporated, Joan Andrews Revere Copper Products, Thomas O’Shaughnessy Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc., Karen Lint Brock Solutions, Inc., Vivienne Ojala DALSA Corporation, Savvas Chamberlain US Small Business Administration, Manuel Rosales Kennametal Inc., Markos I. Tambakeras Index

About the Author :
Edited by Gerald I. Susman, Robert and Judith Klein Professor of Management, Director, Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change and Associate Dean for Research, The Pennsylvania State University, US

Review :
'Globalization has jarred the traditional role and competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises. This masterful volume comprises leading scholars, policy makers and business leaders who have new insights and strategies for SMEs creating opportunities rather than being victims of globalization. The result is a breakthrough in our understanding of entrepreneurship in the global context.'