SME entrepreneurs in dialogue with outsiders
Authors:   , Postema Jan 
Published: January 2024

Summary

With questions moving from practice to science

The author’s own observations in practice as a "paid outsider to SME entrepreneurs" prompted a desire to explore the subject of "SME entrepreneurs' being in dialogue with outsiders" as a tool for SME entrepreneurs to, if desirable or necessary, quickly achieve major revenue growth for their businesses.

Introduction

The overarching research question is: Does being engaged in dialogue with outsiders by entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lead to their firms’ revenue growth? This thesis aims to provide insight into the impact of SME entrepreneurs who are in dialogue with outsiders on both the expected and realized revenue growth of the SMEs under study.

For the individual SME, the entrepreneur’s perspective on revenue growth also is important. For example, revenue growth can be a prerequisite for the continuity of an SME. In addition to the need for revenue growth, wanting to increase their revenue is often an ambition of SME entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs see their firms’ revenue growth as an indicator of their success. Achieving revenue growth is also important for the self-confidence of SME entrepreneurs who always want to work towards a good future for their firms. Finally, seeing revenue growth in an SME is important for the confidence of SME financiers.

The topic “revenue growth expected by SME entrepreneurs” was introduced in this study as a new concept in the literature on how SME entrepreneurs can engage with outsiders to achieve revenue growth. Of course, what matters for SMEs is the amount of revenue growth achieved. From this, the entrepreneurs must make a profit after all expenses are considered, so they can invest in their firms. Moreover, being aware of the perspective for revenue growth serves the entrepreneurs as a motivator to achieve revenue growth.

Conclusions:
1. The expected revenue growth in Chapters 3 and 4 as a performance measure is new to SME research. The research question for regarding the effects on expected revenue growth came from practical experience. It was found that when SME entrepreneurs are engaged in dialogue with outsiders there is higher expected revenue growth. When entrepreneurs step out of the business of everyday life and take time and consider and identify the scope for improving the quality of their companies’ revenue-related business processes, this leads to the revenue growth they expect. That is, if they want or need revenue growth, they can act and achieve revenue growth. While expected revenue growth is not a "hard" number like realized growth, the results of the study confirm its value to actually realize revenue growth. SME entrepreneurs who are engaged in dialogue with outsiders expect higher revenue growth.
2. The intervention in Chapter 2 consists of 8 structured interviews per SME entrepreneur. This intervention led to revenue growth. As revealed in Chapter 5 engaging in dialogue with an outsider also contributes to the revenue growth achieved. Knowledge transfer plays a role in this. Interestingly, this revenue growth is still significantly lower than the revenue growth due to the intervention, even though no knowledge transfer occurs. Therefore, the assumption is that, if the entrepreneur is willing to be professional in dialogue with knowledge transfer, this will lead to greater revenue growth.
3. In the chapters where personnel performance is discussed, positive effects on expected and realized revenue growth is found on this topic. This means that if SME entrepreneurs are in a dialogue with outsiders about this personnel issue, which is often complex and difficult for entrepreneurs to manage, this leads to revenue growth in their SMEs.