The literature review on collaborative environment implementations has revealed a number of issues that need to be considered with respect to failure of IT related implementations and collaborative working. These were mainly related to how it is introduced to large organisations. In an attempt to improve SMEs performance in collaboration initiatives, fifteen of the issues that are said to likely influence the success of implementing collaborative environments have been identified for further discussion. Five of these focus on organisational dimension and are interlinkedm, namely: process vision development, strategic planning, team working, decision making and perception in relation to change, risk management. Seven are socio-cultural in nature, namely: relationship, communication, empowerment, commitment, trust, mutuality and work attitudes. The other three are related to the legal aspect. These fifteen factors are classified into three alternative though complementary categories, namely: organisational, socio-cultural, and legal.