Building blocks for strong communities : Profile of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Canada

A Profile of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Canada Preface This report is one of four produced by Imagine Canada and the Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) as part of a study of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small- and medium-sized community organizations (SMOs) in Canada. [...] See also Ayyagari, Beck and Demirguc-Kunt for data and analysis of the importance of SMEs in the economies of a large number of countries, using comparative data and a variety of definitions of SMEs. [...] Imagine Canada and Canadian Policy Research Networks 5 A Profile of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Canada Success Factors for SMEs Research on SMEs in Canada and internationally has identified a number of important factors and determinants for their growth and development. [...] Imagine Canada and Canadian Policy Research Networks 9 A Profile of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Canada As discussed above in the context of SMEs’ lifecycle, the management skills and competencies needed by firms vary considerably depending on the stage of development of the enterprise:. [...] The path from here (the idea) to there (the realization) is full of information assembly, segmentation and evaluation, of future reference points, of intuition, feedback loops and reassessment, of sustaining existing contacts and finding and incorporating new ones into an expanding network, of searching out and acquiring an appropriate resource bundle, of improvisation, of timing and of the abilit