Small and medium enterprise development: Borrowing from elsewhere? A research and development agenda

The paper focuses upon the issue of the transfer of ideas between countries and cultures in the field of small and medium enterprise (SME) development. It argues that there has been a neglect of such work in academe. Yet there has been a growing import into the UK of ideas from abroad (mainly from the US). There has also been an extensive export particularly to Transition economies. The results in both respects have been less than satisfactory. There is also greater opportunity for ideas transfer via the new communication technologies. The European Commission is particularly active in the field of transfer. There is therefore a strong case for greater academic interest. The paper explores the concept of transfer by posing four questions: (1) What does the notion of transfer mean? (2) Where are the academic challenges in such processes? (3) Where might there be opportunities for transfer in the future of relevance to UK SME development? (4)How and where might we begin to address the issue? In addressing question one, six key areas are identified: ideology transfer; concept/paradigm transfer; benchmarking; institutional development; programme transfer; and transfer of process insights. The second question looks at the academic challenge through the lens of a number of problems, including those of ideology, culture, language, concept, context, agency, reasoning and rationality, agenda, field of production, and customer. Each of these areas is defined, and examples are given of the kinds of problems that arise and their impact. The third question is addressed by a short and speculative review of possibilities for transfer of ideas to the UK relating to the broad areas of policy, institution development and assistance to SME development. The final question is approached by a brief review of the potential for action by journal editors, academic groups and policy makers.