The Impact of Management Practices on SME Performance

John Forth and Alex Bryson

No 11399, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine the impact of management practices on firm performance among SMEs in Britain over the period 2011-2014, using a unique dataset which links survey data on management practices with firm performance data from the UK's official business register. We find that SMEs are less likely to use formal management practices than larger firms, but that such practices have demonstrable benefits for those who use them, helping firms to grow and increasing their productivity. The returns are most apparent for those SMEs that invest in human resource management practices, such as training and performance-related pay, and those that set formal performance targets.

Keywords: recession; management practices; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; employment growth; high-growth firms; HRM; productivity; workplace closure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L25 L26 M12 M52 M53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2018-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cse, nep-eff, nep-ent, nep-hrm and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published as 'Management practices and SME performance' in: Scottish Journal of Political Economy , 2019, 66 (4), 527 - 558

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Impact of Management Practices on SME Performance (2018)
Working Paper: The impact of management practices on SME performance (2018)
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