SMALL- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) today evolve in a profoundly changing business environment, characterised by globalisation, the internationalisation of markets, the complexity of customer needs, the processes of deregulation and the competitiveness and innovation founded on knowledge and intellectual capital.
The emergence of these trends leaves lesser space and time for SMEs to adapt to the vagaries of the external environment. The problem is that most SMEs are not prepared for the transition.