The Impact of Research on Manufacturing SMEs

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Abstract
This paper addresses the work of the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) research community as presented at a series of three UK conferences on Stimulating Manufacturing Excellence in SMEs. An important difficulty that emerges is the problem of the translation of research outputs and business advice into formats that are attractive to SMEs. This is briefly illustrated through the differing perceptions of the business scenario as seen by the SME owner/manager and an external change-agent, condensed into five parameters. The role of policy makers and change-agents and their need for high-quality research are examined, leading to a discussion of the contributions to be expected from, and therefore the implications for, the research community. From this, recommendations are developed for the future direction of SME research.

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