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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play important role in positioning a nation for both local and international development (Karami & Tang, 2019). The percentage of SMEs in most countries is on the increase and their contributions have been considered significant to national growth by academics and practitioners (Jenkins & Hossain, 2017; Agwu, 2018). SMEs are important not because of their economic characteristics, but also because of how they position the economic progression of a country in relation to other country in the international community (Brouther, Nakos, & Dimitratos, 2015). Their roles and contributions vary from employment creation, taxes contribution to the national economy, and innovativeness for strategic competitive advantage (Karami & Tang, 2019). According to the work of Shumpeter (1934) cited in Ortega-Argilés, Vivarelli, and Voigt, (2009), in the theory of economic development, the emphasis was laid more on the role of entrepreneur as an ignition to nations’ development. This type of development is also focused on the role of the entrepreneur in driving a firm level performance towards achieving both the institutional and organizational goals.
The challenges faced by economies around the world are such that various economic models have failed, and this has led many countries to recession. However, according to Audretsch (2000), the past decades have positioned countries and businesses for competitive and innovative activities which have led to job creation around the globe. Although many researchers and practitioners did not anticipate this economic fortune, what sprout the surprise more was that the turn round was not sourced from big corporations but from small firms (Ortega-Argilés et al., 2009). Based on these antecedents, it can be posited that if there are variations in the handling of economic crises in past decades which experienced a surge as a result of small firms, this can still happen again in this critical period.
Focusing on the contribution of SMEs, Steenkamp and Kashyap (2010) stated that their roles are important not because they because they contribute significantly to the gross domestic product (GDP) of a state or country, but also because they form, they are the highest contributor to firm development within a country. The advent of sustainable development which was brought about by the Brundtland Commission (1987) has impacted economic, social, and environmental development. This has led to consensus that drives the implementation of the sustainable development that has driven governments as well as non-state actors to focus on the integration on how to integrate economic, social, economic, and environmental models and goals into driving a sustainable industry (United Nations, 1988).