Problematization and conceptualization of 'entrepreneurial SME Management' as a field of research: overcoming the size-based approach

The aim of this paper is to position the field of small-and-medium-sized-enterprise Management (SME Management). For this purpose, we define a core principle that provides the identity of the field of SME Management and delineates it from other disciplines. In developing this principle, we apply a prescriptive approach which delineates an object of cognition with its native problems by defining an identity principle. This involves the claim to be able to generate statements that apply to all companies of this type on the one hand, but not to all types of SMEs on the other. This makes it possible to effectively achieve progress in knowledge within the meaning of gradual conceptual convergence in SME Management Research. The resulting conceptualization turns SME Management into “entrepreneurial SME Management”: Within the field of entrepreneurial SME Management, decisions and processes in companies regardless of their size and age are of interest as long as they have not become routine yet. These innovative development processes involve qualitative change and require developmental competences (e.g. dynamic capabilities), namely an organizational entrepreneurial mindset, organizational learning competences and organizational implementation competences. This conceptualization of an entrepreneurial SME Management also helps reconnect SME Management and Entrepreneurship and make overlapping areas visible.