Instruments Supporting Development in the Life Cycle of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Matejun, M.
Abstract:
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important economic and social role in most countries of the world. Despite the significant internal diversity of the SME sector, a considerable part of this group consists of entities oriented towards development and growth. Because of their characteristic features, they are often unable to achieve their developmental goals based exclusively on their own resources. There then exists the alternative of using external development-supporting instruments offered by commercial and non-commercial small-business-related organisations in various regions of the world. Absorption of these instruments depends on many factors, in particular the needs and limitations characteristic of a specific stage in an organisation’s life cycle. With this in mind, the goal of this paper is to identify and assess the scope of use and factors determining the use of development-supporting instruments in the life cycle of small and medium-sized enterprises. The study includes a review of international literature on the subject, as well as a presentation of the author’s own model of the SME life cycle, composed of eight developmental stages. The work also includes empirical research conducted on a sample of 377 micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises operating in the European Union.
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APA citation
- Matejun, M. (2013). Instruments Supporting Development in the Life Cycle of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. International Journal of Economic Sciences, II(1), 40–60.