The Management of Small and Medium Enterprises

Due to the vital importance of SMEs in developed economies worldwide, this book aims to provide a unique and much-needed investigation into the underlying mechanisms and practices of management within these companies by collecting a wide range of original conceptual and empirical research in the topical area of management in SMEs and new ventures.

Collecting work from dozens of leading scholars in fields ranging from management and entrepeneurship to human resource management and strategy, this book aims to supply readers with an overview of the field of research in management of SMEs and new ventures as well as in depth knowledge on a variety of related topics. The essays collected here are focused and practical, offering a variety of explicit and pragmatic recommendations for action and developing new tools and strategies useful to scholars and students as well as practitioners working in the field of SME and new venture management and consulting.

Matthias Fink is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship at the Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration, Austria. His research is funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (APART - Austrian Program for Advanced Research and Technology). Furthermore, he is Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for Co-operation and Co-operatives (RiCC) and Asc. Member of the Strategy, Networks and Enterprise Research Group at the University of Vaasa, Finland. Besides, Prof. Fink is Executive Vice-President of the Institute for Management Research Cologne (IMFK e.V.), a German-based research institute.

Sascha Kraus is Assistant Professor for Entrepreneurship at the University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein. He is also Extraordinary Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, Associate Senior Researcher at the Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration (RiCC), Austria and Associate Member at the Newcastle University's Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology & Enterprise, UK. Before his current positions, he was Evald and Hilda Nissi Foundation International Fellow at the University of Vaasa, Finland and Substitute Professor at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Professor Kraus is also Executive Vice-President of the Institute for Management Research Cologne (IMFK e.V.), a research institute based in Germany.