Reaching a crossroads: a strategic roadmap for the small to medium size enterprises

Abstract

Globalisation is now well and truly upon us and the barriers of entry no longer hold bounds on the larger organisations, the big corporations are now looking for new opportunities for expansion. For the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland this presents a serious problem as today, not only do they have to compete with the local competition, they now have to face the force of the big corporations who bring with them the power of finance, possess superior products and technology with a strong experienced managerial team driving it. Where at one time the SME had dominance in their local markets, in many cases the arrival of the major entrant signals the end of the road. Many SMEs have diversified and become sub-contracting subordinates for larger organisations, while others have sold out to Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs). For the purposes of this research we examine the SMEs that have sold out to larger MNEs and we attempt to discover what unique features those SMEs have that is seen as adding value to the MNE. By understanding these factors we propose to create a strategic roadmap for all SMEs to benchmark themselves against, to bring them to the same level of higher performance as those SMEs seen as attractive propositions to the MNEs.