Opportunity recognition by growing SMEs: a managerial or entrepreneurial function?

Abstract

This paper identifies different ways in which growth-minded SME owner-managers can recognize realistic opportunities for their companies. The entrepreneurship and marketing fields of study are investigated to create an understanding of the opportunity recognition process of owner-managers. Research using a qualitative methodology consisting of in-depth interviews with owner-managers of 20 SME's that had clearly demonstrated a desire to grow was carried out. This study found that management of opportunity recognition in owner-managed SME's is as much a management function as an entrepreneurial one. Opportunity recognition in SME's requires innovative individuals, but this does not mean that they are necessarily entrepreneurs; it requires marketing skills in the strategic sense but does not need professional marketers or functional marketing expertise. Opportunities can best be recognized by owner-managers with relevant market knowledge, and can be gained through experience or analysis and needs a trigger or motivating propensity.