Countries have been competing against each other in order to attract financial investment and human capital for decades. However, emerging economies have a long way to go before they achieve the same levels of competitiveness as a developed economy. Lack of firm institutions, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of trust in the legal system are urgent and unavoidable factors that emerging economies must address. The Handbook of Research on Increasing the Competitiveness of SMEs provides innovative insights on integrating, adapting, and building models and strategies compatible with the development of competitiveness in small and medium enterprises in emerging countries. The content within this publication examines quality management, organizational leadership, and digital security. It is designed for policymakers, entrepreneurs, managers, executives, business professionals, academicians, researchers, and students.

As large firms move into international markets, smaller firms find it increasingly difficult to compete internationally. This book explores the nature of the international market for smaller firms and discusses ways that they can compete and use their unique competitive advantages in the global markets. The chapters examine niche markets that do not require economies of scale and ways of rethinking the relationship between local and global markets. Tamir Agmon and Richard L. Drobnick also explore the need to design new control systems across borders that recognize local norms and the new accounting systems that have developed based on differing country environments.

This text, with the incorporation of the theoretical review of the concepts involved, and the empirical study, which shows the relationship between organizational performance and competitiveness from the perspective of resource-based theory, provides greater understanding of this theoretical connection through non-experimental research; of trans-sectional type; and with a correlational/causal approach.

This book analyses the relative importance of small firms in industrial economies. It brings together a series of studies spanning a spectrum of selected countries in developed Western nations and Eastern Europe to identify the exact role of small firms and how this role has evolved. A striking result which emerges is that a distinct and consistent shift away from large firms and towards small enterprises has occurred within the manufacturing sector of all Western countries, while the role of small firms in Eastern European nations has been remarkably restricted, and, indeed, all these countries have experienced a shift away from small firms. It is clear from this analysis that a major challenge for political and economic reform in Central and Eastern Europe is to create the strong entrepreneurial sector which exists in the West.

Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top†? of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.

Smaller companies are abundant in the business realm and outnumber large companies by a wide margin. To maintain a competitive edge against other businesses, companies must ensure the most effective strategies and procedures are in place. This is particularly critical in smaller business environments that have fewer resources. Start-Ups and SMEs: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source that examines the strategies and concepts that will assist small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve competitiveness. It also explores the latest advances and developments for creating a system of shared values and beliefs in small business environments. Highlighting a range of topics such as entrepreneurship, innovative behavior, and organizational sustainability, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, business managers, executives, managing directors, academicians, business professionals, researchers, and graduate-level students.