Managing Complexity and Change in SMEs: Frontiers in European Research

Citing increased academic and policy focus on the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for economic growth and the renewal of industrial structure, Christensen (Aarhus School of Business, Denmark) and Poulfelt (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark) present ten papers that explore three overall themes of complexity and change for SMEs. The first theme, institutional boundaries, is reflected in papers that discuss the institutional contexts of entrepreneurial emergence, entrepreneurial rule-breaking, and differences in institutional frameworks in Europe. Evolutionary perspectives on SME performance are provided in contributions looking at the role of entrepreneurial experience on performance, evolutionary traits in Swedish science and technology firms, and interconnections between growth processes and internal organization of SMEs. The final theme is managerial complexity and is addressed in papers on the necessary conditions for managing small information technology firms, managerial implications of asymmetric knowledge, and the role of social capital in facilitating external knowledge acquisition in the customer relationships of small firms. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)