11.1. SMEs and Standardisation

Compared to large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are constantly struggling to compete on an equal footing and achieve sustained success in the global economy (Tosic & Mijatovic, 2021). The specificities of small enterprises have been extensively explored by the literature, thereby suggesting that the “ultimate power of control lies usually in the hands of owners or managers'' (Wong & Aspinwall, 2004). Most owners or managers of SMEs ''usually do not know how to delegate'' or there are no qualified employees that are ready or eager to assume some of the authority and responsibility (see Haksever, 1996). This might be the reason why owners or managers of SMEs usually end up making most of the decisions, even the ones about areas, such as finance, operation, or knowledge management (KM) − ''that are usually the responsibility of an expert professional in large firms'' (Haksever, 1996). Considering that owners or managers of SMEs often seem to be too busy with ''fire-fighting − dealing with urgent tasks for the day-to-day survival of the enterprise'' (Wong & Aspinwall, 2004) – it may be reasonable to expect that they will have little time to deal with standardisation, or any other strategic issue that may be relevant (De Vries et al., 2009). SMEs usually have “a short-term view of their business” which is why they may see standards “as a necessary evil” and not “the powerful tool to achieve their business objectives” (Stroyan & Brown, 2012). Without a clear standardisation-policy and an organizational structure to fulfil this policy, standardisation will not yield results (Slob & De Vries, 2002). The same authors argue that company standardisation can be seen as a form of KM, where tacit knowledge is being transformed into explicit knowledge (Slob & De Vries, 2002). The external world usually burdens SMEs ''to show the depth of their expertise and ability to manage such expertise'' (Desouza & Awazu, 2006). Assuming that owners and managers of SMEs must have had some level of expertise that enabled them to start their business activities in the first place (and carry them forward), given their lack of resources or capabilities, it might not be expertise in standardisation (Tosic & Mijatovic, 2021). Due to the mostly negative perception of standards/standardisation, SMEs are more likely to use the services of consultants as the fastest and the easiest solution that is available on the market (Mijatović et al., 2019). SMEs simply do not have the time, competent employees, or money to get involved in standards development, … they evaluate the time spent on creating standards as too long, and they face higher costs (compared to their larger counterparts) of getting involved in technical committees (De Vries et al., 2009). Contrary to the conventional thinking that formal education about standardisation (alone) shall be enough for acquiring knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience in standardisation matters – when it comes to the small business community – the focus shall unanimously be on lifelong learning (Tosic & Mijatovic, 2021).