SMEs and entrepreneurship in the era of globalization: advances and theoretical approaches

Scholars have long studied small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and recognize the need for SMEs to postulate strategies to compete and succeed in the global market. In the current ultra-competitive business environment, SMEs face several internal and external challenges. In this introduction to the special issue (SI), we review the theoretical models and frameworks in this stream of research and outline some research questions that could be potentially used in future research in this era of globalization. The six papers selected for inclusion in this SI analyze this field from different angles, offering interesting overviews on the present situation of research in the field, as well as relevant new findings and perspectives for future research.

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Acknowledgments

The editorial process for this Special Issue has been intense and exciting. It has involved the processing and evaluation of 60 initial proposals. All of them were highly interesting. Therefore, we are very grateful to all scholars and researchers who submitted their proposals to this special issue. Through a very competitive selection process, the final accepted papers have gone through three rounds of reviews. This would not have been possible without the excellent and altruistic work of several highly qualified reviewers (in alphabetical order): Levent Altinay (Oxford Brooks University), Indri Apriliyanti (University of Agder), Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya), Giorgio Fazio (Newcastle University), José Fernández-Serrano (University of Seville), Tamara Galkina (University of Vaasa), Andreja Jaklic (University of Ljubljana), Rara Jeon (Y & PEOPLE), Paul Jones (Coventry University), Olli Kuivalainen (Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology), Melih Madanoglu (Florida Atlantic University), Giovanna Magnani (University of Pavia), Juan A. Martínez (University of Seville), Ulrike Mayrhofer (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), Jane Menzies (Deakin University), Øystein Moen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Nitin Pangarkar (National University of Singapore), José Carlos Pinho (University of Minho), Vincenzo Pisano (University of Catania), Francisco Puig (University of Valencia), S. M. Riad Shams (Ural Federal University), Stephen Roper (University of Warwick), Mitza Ruzzier, Sreevas Sahasranamam (University of Strathclyde), Karim Said, Maeyta Selli (Erasmus University), Susan Sissay (Birmingham City University), Tiia Vissak (University of Tartu), Zahid Yousaf (Hazara University), Florian Zapkau (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), and Antonella Zucchella (University of Pavia). We want to thank them and acknowledge their work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain Francisco Liñán
2. Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK Francisco Liñán
3. Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, USA Justin Paul
4. University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, USA Justin Paul
5. Entrepreneurship Distinguished Professor, Emlyon Business School, 69130, Écully, France Alain Fayolle

1. Francisco Liñán