Editorial Introduction: Contextual Evolution of SMEs across Markets, Disciplines and Sectors

SMEs, like most organizations across the typological spectrum, have substantially and visibly been affected by the wider (r)evolution that has transformed the business context internationally. The well-established, albeit undefined and unpredictable combination of forces, such as information and communication technologies, sociocultural and political changes, economic crises and rising consumer bargaining powers, have reshaped the very foundations upon which SMEs traditionally grew and competed. And though change in itself has diachronically been a constant in business contexts, its current extent, nature and pace leave few lessons to be learnt from past experience. SMEs, thus, struggle to find their position and role in this new world, and to do so they first need to understand it. This book presents scholarly and executive readers alike with a collection of independent works that are mutually joined by their contribution to our understanding of these changing conditions that ultimately shape the business context of SMEs, providing, along the way, valuable information of both scientific and practicable worth.