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Introduction
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), have been described as catalysts for the future economy. There is a special need to accelerate SMEs' growth and to improve their competitiveness. Under the circumstances of increasing market pressure, enterprises try to improve their competitive position by development efforts, and a business development project, further abbreviated to BDP, is one tool for that. At the same time several international studies have reported on problems in implementing development projects, and on alarming low success rates (see [2] Beer and Nohria, 2000; [4] Buchanan and Boddy, 1992; [20] Kotter, 1995).
Current literature suggests that SMEs may differ from larger companies by a number of key characteristics, e.g. resource and knowledge limitations, lack of money, reliance on a small number of customers and need for multi-skilled employees. Some of the above-mentioned characteristics are putting a greater strain on the SMEs inducing that the successful implementation of BDP may be more challenging in this context.
The issue in this research is the BDP success of SMEs. The main objective is to structure and model the success dimensions that contribute to and can be used in evaluating the BDP success of SMEs. This study aims at deepening the knowledge in the problem area by offering both theoretical and empirical insights. The theoretical foundation for the BDP success dimensions was created from the literature. The features of the business environment in SMEs were studied through literature and in practice with two pilot cases. The framework of the BDP success dimensions was evaluated in practice with four case companies and the focus was on successful and unsuccessful projects implemented in SMEs.
The paradigm advocated in this paper is a qualitative one culminating in two assumptions: The reality is subjective and multiple, and the participants in the study may see it in different ways. Further, the world can be understood best from the point of view of the individuals directly involved in the activities in question. That is why people involved in projects are regarded as the most appropriate informants.
The current body of knowledge
Business development in SMEs
The typical characteristics of SMEs have been connected to small scale, personality and independence. [30] Nooteboom (1994) writes that the high number of SMEs distributed in...