This report is the third in a series by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) that examines the domestic and global operations of U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Commission found that U.S. exporting SMEs outperform their nonexporting SME counterparts by several measures. Whether they deal in services or manufacturing, exporting SMEs show higher total revenues, faster total revenue growth, and higher labor productivity than their nonexporting SME counterparts. The Commission also found several noteworthy contrasts between exporting large firms and exporting SMEs. Across all sectors, large firms primarily sell to foreign clients via foreign affiliates rather than through direct exports, while SMEs serve foreign clients primarily through direct exports. Exporting services SMEs, which represent a very small share of all U.S. services SMEs, are more export-intensive than large services exporters. U.S. services SME multinational companies, which are even less common, are nearly three times more export-intensive than large U.S. multinationals. On the other hand, trade barriers, including both tariffs and nontariff measures, disproportionately affect SMEs relative to large firms, as do many business impediments, such as high transportation costs. In addition to their role as direct exporters, U.S. goods and services SMEs also participate in the export economy by exporting indirectly through wholesalers and other intermediaries or selling intermediate goods or services domestically to large and small firms that use these intermediate inputs to produce exported goods or services. The Commission estimates that SMEs contribute a substantially higher share of the value-added content embedded in exports than suggested by traditional trade statistics.

The managed flow of goods and information from raw material to final sale also known as a "supply chain" affects everythingâ€"from the U.S. gross domestic product to where you can buy your jeans. The nature of a company's supply chain has a significant effect on its success or failureâ€"as in the success of Dell Computer's make-to-order system and the failure of General Motor's vertical integration during the 1998 United Auto Workers strike. Supply Chain Integration looks at this crucial component of business at a time when product design, manufacture, and delivery are changing radically and globally. This book explores the benefits of continuously improving the relationship between the firm, its suppliers, and its customers to ensure the highest added value. This book identifies the state-of-the-art developments that contribute to the success of vertical tiers of suppliers and relates these developments to the capabilities that small and medium-sized manufacturers must have to be viable participants in this system. Strategies for attaining these capabilities through manufacturing extension centers and other technical assistance providers at the national, state, and local level are suggested. This book identifies action steps for small and medium-sized manufacturersâ€"the "seed corn" of business start-up and developmentâ€"to improve supply chain management. The book examines supply chain models from consultant firms, universities, manufacturers, and associations. Topics include the roles of suppliers and other supply chain participants, the rise of outsourcing, the importance of information management, the natural tension between buyer and seller, sources of assistance to small and medium-sized firms, and a host of other issues. Supply Chain Integration will be of interest to industry policymakers, economists, researchers, business leaders, and forward-thinking executives.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle with the paradox of developing new products and technologies on the one hand and minimizing costs on the other. These SMEs must be innovative to survive and grow. However, compared to large firms, SMEs have several problems in their innovation process, which negatively influence their overall innovation performance. This research explores successful patterns of internal SME characteristics that lead to high overall innovation performance. Cluster analyses were conducted to find patterns in the internal characteristics of SMEs with high overall innovation performance. We find that companies that focus on incremental innovation and that achieve high overall innovation performance indeed share a pattern in their internal organization, when controlling for innovation type. The paper adds to the current body of knowledge by comparing high- and low-performing companies based on competence differences. Because real-life organizations consist of multiple organizational characteristics, we also contribute to management practice by simultaneously addressing multiple organizational characteristics for the successful organization of innovation.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must on the one hand innovate for company survival with the appropriate degree of product innovativeness, and on the other they need to collaborate and focus on core competences for efficiency matters. This research examines the relation of network characteristics and product innovativeness on innovation performance in SMEs. We tested hypotheses on the relationship between these three variables via data gathered from 60 SMEs, active in the medical devices sector. In this context we aim to offer consensus on the theoretical and empirical question of whether or not network characteristics and product innovativeness have a direct effect on innovation performance of SMEs. Results show no significant direct effect of product innovativeness on innovation performance. A positive interaction effect of multiple network characteristics on innovation performance was found, which confirms the significant importance of network configuration on innovation performance for SMEs. It indicates that, for SMEs in a highly regulated sector like the medical devices sector, the interaction of network characteristics is of crucial importance for high innovation performance. It is the combination of network characteristics that counts.

This book provides an overview of the current state of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participation in U.S. merchandise and services exports' principal products/sectors and destination markets, and assesses how these exports have changed over-time. It also provides a general description of SME characteristics, explains their recent role in generating domestic employment and economic activity, and highlights areas in which data limitations impede a more comprehensive understanding of SME participation in U.S. exports.