Özet:

Although small and medium enterprises (SME) are a very important part of world economics, an established knowledge regarding specificity of SME and its managerial work are still obfuscated. For a long time, the reigning paradigm dictated the idea of small business just as a “little big business”, simplifying the subject on growth or mortality. Considerable effort was dedicated in research and development of managerial work in large enterprises. Therefore, the purpose of the article concerns understanding the work of SME manager and searching for evidences that relates its work and SME specificities, contrasting them with managerial work in large enterprises. For the attainment of this study – a theoretical essay – a literature review was conducted focusing in the SME specificities and highlighting the work of SME manager. Several databases were used to collect and choose the articles. Literature review showed great heterogeneity in the discussion. Overall conclusion indicates a better understanding of the work of SME manager explained by the specificities of SME, such as: organic and flat administrative structure with absence of bureaucratic procedures, non-standardized decision making, acting near the production line, preference for the informal and direct communication, entrepreneurial orientation and responsibility for several business tasks at once. These findings present an insightful review of most relevant academic studies concerning SME and its management. For further studies additional methods should be performed, using a systematic review and other relevant databases to improve and provide more comprehensiveness of the subject.

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