Title: SME Management - What Can We Learn from Entrepreneurship Theory?
Abstract: Small business is often regarded as entrepreneurship-driven. There are many reasons for this, e.g.: (1) The entrepreneur as a person plays a much more vital role than in large firms and (2) entrepreneurial spirit is not weakened by considerable hierarchies and can more easily pervade the firm. Welsh & White's (1981) statement on the differences between small and big business seems to apply. Management research, in particular in the area of small business, is by now not sufficiently linked with entrepreneurship theory. However, entrepreneurship theory offers a lot regarding the evolutionary management of SMEs. It is the intention of this conceptual and theory-based paper to scrutinize this linkage and to identify useful insights for the management of SMEs. Entrepreneurship theory is not a homogenous body. We can find research streams in economic theory and in other disciplines as well (e.g. Baum et al., 2007). For the purpose of delineation, this paper deals with the economic theory of entrepreneurship which builds on a long tradition (e.g. the seminal work of Cantillon 1755, for a historical overview: Hébert & Link 1988). This paper intends to identify those parts of entrepreneurship research which help to recognize those entrepreneurial functions being relevant to understand and structure the managerial challenges of the small business and to develop a managerial framework rooted in entrepreneurship theory.