Competitive Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction: What Is a “Dynamic SME”

   • Klaus North, Gregorio Varvakis

   Pages 1-17

3. Dynamic Capabilities and Organizational Resilience in Turbulent Environments

   • Diego Jacob Kurtz, Gregorio Varvakis

   Pages 19-37

4. Case: XENON Automation Technology: Cutting Edge Competence as Competitive Strategy

   • Tobias Reissmann, Thomas Hardwig

   Pages 39-44

5. Culture for Organizational Learning in Turbulent Environments

   • Peter Friedrich, Jaqueline Rossato

   Pages 45-76

6. The Innovation Triple Challenge: A Creativity Check for SMES

   • Maurício Manhães, Guillermo Antonio Dávila

   Pages 77-92

7. Intellectual Capital as a Strategic Model to Create Innovation in New Technology Based Firms

   • Eduardo Bueno, Carlos Merino, Cecilia Murcia

   Pages 93-105

8. An Analysis of Micro and Small Enterprises Growth: An Application of the Management Excellence Model (MEG)

   • Marcondes da Silva Cândido, Jackson André da Silva

   Pages 107-116

9. Case: KST Turbine Components: “Qualiyspeedservice” as Competitive Strategy

   • Heiko Dittmer, Thomas Hardwig

   Pages 117-121

10. Argentina: A Chronically Variable Socio-Economic Environment for SMEs

    • Juan Carlos Hiba

    Pages 123-137

11. Surviving and Competing in Times of Crisis: Cases of Strategies by Argentine SMEs

    • Ricardo Detarsio, Klaus North, Maialen Ormaetxea

    Pages 139-151

12. Learning to Cope with Turbulent Situations: A Study of Owner—Managers in Argentine SMEs

    • Peter Friedrich, Juan Carlos Hiba

    Pages 153-179

13. SME Vulnerability Analysis: A Tool for Business Continuity

    • Iñaki Garagorri

    Pages 181-194

14. Knowledge Risk Management in Turbulent Times

    • Susanne Durst, Helio Aisenberg Ferenhof

    Pages 195-209

15. Knowledge Management Tools for SMES

    • Klaus North, Renia Babakhanlou

    Pages 211-222

16. Learning to Grow: A Methodology to Sustain Growth Capabilities of SMES

    • Klaus North, Manfred Bergstermann, Thomas Hardwig

    Pages 223-235

17. Case: Herradep: A Double and Intelligent Strategy to Grow—Improving Worker Knowledge and Competences Through Self-Managed Short Term Projects

    • Pilar Abelli, Juan Carlos Hiba

    Pages 237-240

18. How Brazilian Textile Enterprises Learn to Grow

    • Guillermo Antonio Dávila, Klaus North, Gregorio Varvakis

    Pages 241-254

19. Virtual Enterprises: Strengthening SMES Competitiveness via Flexible Businesses Alliances

    • Ricardo J. Rabelo, Fabiano Baldo, Omir C. Alves-Junior, Christian Dihlmann

    Pages 255-272

20. Back Matter

    Pages 273-281

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This book is a timely guide for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) researchers, policy makers and strategists. SMEs are the most important sources of job creation and local development especially in knowledge-based economies. As turbulence in the globalized economies expands SMEs will have to learn to sustain competitiveness by developing their ‘dynamic capabilities’. Based on the findings of a 4-year European and Latin American research project, this book provides a theoretical framework, practical instruments and cases on how SMEs in diverse economic, social and cultural contexts can develop crisis resilience, increase agility, innovate and thus successfully compete in turbulent times.

• Agility
• Crisis resilience
• Dynamic capabilities
• Innovation
• Latin America
• SME

• Wiesbaden Business School, RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt, Germany

  Klaus North

• Dept. of Engineering and Knowledge Mgmt., Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Trindade, Florianópolis - SC, Brazil

  Gregorio Varvakis

Dr. Klaus North is Professor of International Management at Wiesbaden Business School, Germany. His current research covers knowledge and innovation management in an international context. He has been working for more than 30 years in SME assistance programmes around the world and leads the European-Latin American research project “Dynamic SME - Sustainable competitiveness of SMEs in turbulent economic and social environments.” Together with Gita Kumta (Mumbai) he is the author of the Springer (2014) textbook “Knowledge Management – Creating Value by Organisational Learning”.

Gregório Jean Varvakis Rados, PhD is Professor and Head of postgraduate courses in the Department of Engineering and Knowledge Management at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC, Florianópolis, Brasil. He holds a PhD in Manufacturing Engineering from Loughborough University, England. He has been a consultant at McKINSEY LTDA. His research covers Knowledge and service management with special attention to productivity improvement through BPM. He is co-leader of the Dynamic SME project.

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