Ensuring Competitive Advantage in SMEs

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My thanks go out to all who have helped me complete this study and with whom this project may have not been possible. In particular, my gratitude goes out to friends, facilitator and family for extensive and helpful comments on early drafts. I am also deeply indebted to the authors who have shared my interest and preceded me. Their works provided me with a host of information to learn from and build upon, also served as examples to emulate.

DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

Signature: _______________________________

Date: __________________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW1

Porter's Competitive Strategy3

Critique on Porter's Competitive Strategy3

Small and Medium Enterprises5

Competitive Advantage and Firm Performance5

Further Strategies of Competitive Advantage in SMEs6

Ensuring Competitive Advantage in Small and Medium Enterprises8

Strategy concentration on corporation rather than SMEs9

The importance of SMEs in a global economy10

Porter's Research Legacy12

Conclusion of the Literature Review14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY16

Search Technique17

Literature Search18

Inclusion and exclusion criteria20

Search terms - key terms20

Additional Online searches21

Management21

Search rationale21

Critical Appraisal tool22

Appraisal limitations22

Data Analysis Methods23

Scope of the Research23

Possible alternative to your proposed methods24

Any difficulties and uncertainties24

Explanation of the rationale for your proposed methods24

REFERENCES25

APPENDIX37

Interview Questionnaire37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Research Study

The Small and Medium sized enterprises, or SMEs, are widely recognised as being the major contributors to economic growth, job creation and economic activity in most developed nation countries. In the globalization integration era, the business environment is becoming fierce than before; organizations of all types and sizes are facing continually changing situation externally and internally. Companies have to take appropriate actions to deal with these challenges. Geopolitical risk has increased substantially in the number of countries due to rising food prices. The area is especially sensitive to the global economy. Its energy resources (concentrates more than 60% of total reserves of oil and nearly 50% gas) and the increase in volatility are impacting significantly on oil prices. The social upheavals have caused the fall of autocratic regimes in many Arab countries. Gulf countries, like other oil exporters, will face a decline in oil revenues, for it is certain that oil prices will drop to levels lower than it was before the crisis. But the majority of these countries will be able to balance their budgets with the price of oil in the range of 60 to 70 dollars a barrel. Small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom are strongly toward recovery from the effects of the global financial crisis, which shows the abundance of economic activities across the entire region, and in such a climate, the positive active, as we see a significant increase in the volume of spending on enterprise applications software, which enjoys a wide range of strategic importance, especially in the number of countries.

In particular, large amounts of the state aid that ...