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This study aims to examine the causes of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) disinclination towards subcontracting in public sector markets. Previous studies have revealed that UK SMEs are reluctant to do business with the public sector through the subcontracting route, but the reasons for this lack of enthusiasm have not been widely researched.

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with SMEs competing for public contracts in North West England, a qualitative study was performed, from which several themes emerged.

The findings were synthesised into a framework underpinned by attribution theory, to portray situationally and dispositionally caused factors that were used to interpret SMEs’ behaviour.

The findings can guide policy development and government interventions in developed and developing countries, aimed at using public procurement as a policy tool to develop the small business sector.

This paper contributes in a unique way to an emerging discourse on how subcontracting can facilitate the access of SMEs to government procurement spending. It adds to knowledge regarding the explanatory power of attribution theory – from its base in social psychology.

Despite the potential of SMEs in economic development, their activities have remained largely unsustainable in Nigeria. These enterprises are constrained by a number of challenges- high cost of production, poor power supply, high infrastructural deficit etc. which have made there operations largely unproductive. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of production subcontracting forms on the sustenance of small and medium enterprises as a panacea for achieving the targets of goal 8 of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The paper adopted a number of methods comprising of field observations, a reference to relevant literature and a questionnaire survey of 96 SMEs. The paper also adopted a quantitative approach comprising of simple descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation as well as regression analysis to analyze the data.

This paper found that the three forms of production subcontracting (supplier, specialized and capacity subcontracting) identified in the paper were used by SMEs to achieve sustenance (cost reduction, risk reduction and access to resources) in their operations. The paper suggests that the sustenance of SMEs through the utilisation of the different forms of subcontracting can become a strategy towards achieving the targets of SDG 8 in Nigeria.

This paper has shown that the prevalent high cost of production and ever-increasing production risks, which are the common features of SMEs in Nigeria, can be mitigated through the various forms of production subcontracting analysed in this paper. SMEs, through seminars, workshops, entrepreneurship and business fares, can be encouraged to take up this strategy, considering its ability to address their various operational bottlenecks.

This study adds to the limited available evidence concerning the effects of subcontracting forms on the sustenance of SMEs in Nigeria. This study is the first to consider subcontracting forms and how they have led to sustenance SMEs in Nigeria.

This study aims to focus on the subcontracting relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and business group buyers and analyze the effect of the level of buyer dependency on R&D intensity. The primary prediction is that buyer dependency and R&D intensity have a non-linear relationship, showing an inverted U-shaped relationship. Furthermore, the moderating effect of founder CEOs and internationalization is explored.

A sample of 546 firm-level survey responses were collected from Korean subcontracting SMEs provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Venture Business Association.

A lower level of dependency on business group buyers promotes R&D investment, while excessive dependence reduces R&D investment. Moreover, founder CEOs and internationalization decrease the effect of buyer dependency on R&D investment, implying that both firm characteristics are associated with a long-term focus and promote R&D investment.

This research contributes to the literature on the special form of the buyer–supplier relationship, that is, subcontracting. Subcontracting has a contradictory effect on R&D investment based on large group buyer dependency, and this relationship is moderated by the founder CEO and internationalization.

This study provides insights to managers and practitioners governing SME subcontracting by showing that the level of buyer dependency is better managed in promoting innovation, and the long-term perspective allows SMEs to be less affected by buyer dependency.

This study extends the literature by focusing on the non-linear relationship between buyer dependency and R&D intensity of subcontracting SMEs. This approach addresses the contradicting results suggested by prior supply chain management literature and suggests that the level of buyer dependency should be considered when analyzing the subcontracting relationship.

This paper aims to trace the evolution of industrial subcontracting in Japan, over a period of time. Subsequently, the transition in the spread and depth of subcontracting along with relative performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Japanese industry over a period of time are to be analyzed.

First, a historical over view of the evolution of industrial subcontracting in Japan is discussed based on literature and discussion with experts. Secondly, based on secondary data, the industry‐wise trends of subcontracting and performance of small, medium and large enterprises are analyzed.

Japanese industrial subcontracting and structure evolved over the period, particularly after World War II, represents integration and mutual coordination among small, medium and large enterprises across industries. Along with the growth of multi‐layered subcontracting, labour productivities of SMEs have improved as that of large though value added/value of output has remained more or less at the same level. Overall, there is reason to argue that SMEs have benefited from the system of subcontracting in Japanese manufacturing towards its overall competitiveness.

It would be worthwhile to promote multi‐layered industrial subcontracting, particularly with locally based/newly entered TNCs at the helm of the pyramid, in industrializing countries like India, to enhance the competitiveness of local SMEs.

This paper provides the reader with an understanding of evolution of industrial subcontracting in Japan since World War I and its recent trends and throws light on how SMEs have improved their performance over a period of time.

U.S. and E.U. public and defense procurement rules require large prime contractors to promote subcontracts to small businesses, a.k.a. small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Under the U.S. Small Business Act, large firms encourage subcontracting through publicity, subcontracting plans, and “good faith” efforts to achieve subcontracting goals. However, processoriented measures failed to guarantee definitive results. In contrast, E.U. and member governments can hold large firms accountable to stricter subcontracting standards (often sweetened by incentives). With the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the U.S. is trying accountability measures now. Therefore, large contractors must plan for definitive subcontracting commitments in both markets.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the scope and dimensions of global opportunities that emerge in the era of globalization through the rapid growth of transnational corporations (TNCs), which Indian small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) could exploit. The backdrop to the discussion is the growth of small‐scale industries (SSIs) in the era of globalization relative to the pre‐globalization era, with a particular focus on their export performance.

Based on secondary data, the growth of SSIs is analyzed and the scope of global opportunities for Indian SMEs is explored.

Although the growth of the SSIs segment of the SME sector in India has slowed in terms of the number of enterprises, level of people employed and production, SSI export performance has been impressive in the globalization period. The SSI sector has grown more towards the international market than the domestic market in the globalization era. Globalization has offered new markets to SMEs primarily through two major developments: the adoption of a complex integration strategy by TNCs for their production network, and the global procurement strategies and global expansion of TNC supermarket chains.

The paper prescribes a dual strategy of vertical integration of local SMEs with global TNCs for the production of intermediate goods and horizontal cooperation through networking among local SMEs to link up with global TNCs for the production and marketing of consumer goods. The role of Indian policymakers as a facilitator in the process is emphasized.

This paper throws light on recent growth performance of small‐scale enterprises in India and provides insight on the emerging global opportunities to Indian SMEs, which need to be given due consideration by Indian policymakers for exploitation.

Presents work that addresses the issue of decision support for the operational management of subcontract manufacture. Theoretical study has been combined with empirical research and practical industrial investigation with regard to distributed manufacturing systems which incorporate subcontract manufacturing arrangements. There has been a particular focus on the study of resource planning and scheduling for subcontract manufacture in SMEs in the UK electronics assembly industry. This work led to the analysis, modelling, implementation and test of an object‐oriented advisory system to assist with scheduling for this domain which demonstrated the utility of a proposed concept of captivity‐based scheduling. Contemporary research in this area and existing commercial decision support solutions for manufacturing planning, scheduling and control in SMEs have been explored. Concludes that current commercial software systems for subcontract manufacture are underdeveloped. Further argues that software development tools and platforms are increasingly available to facilitate the creation of practical decision support systems for distributed organizational forms of manufacture.

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which R&D subsidy can affect the innovation process of manufacturing venture firms by examining the output additionality measured as both proximal indicators of innovation and distal indicators of growth. Further, the differences in output additionality between the clusters in the subcontracting regime were examined to investigate whether the effect of R&D subsidy can vary depending on subcontracting practices and structure among large enterprises and venture firms.

This study uses survey data of the Korea Venture Business Association conducted in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 respectively, which selects a random sample from venture firms by stratified random sampling method based on the industry sector, size and location for each survey year. This study analyzed the data using an endogenous treatment effects model to estimate the average treatment effect of R&D subsidy, yielding more accurate estimates than a traditional treatment effects model by controlling the unobserved endogenous components.

This research found that R&D subsidy may not facilitate the process of transformation of innovation into financial growth even though R&D subsidy can facilitate the innovation process and contribute to producing new and improved products. This research also reveals that the relationship between R&D subsidy and innovation performance for firms heavily dependent on subcontracting is generally much weaker than those for independent subcontractors. Further, the present study exhibits that public R&D subsidy for independently subcontracting venture firms is more effective for the growth in both employment and sales than those for subcontracting with large enterprises or other subcontractors.

R&D subsidy for venture firms does not relieve the burden of liability of newness and smallness of venture firms, especially the disadvantage in market penetration and competition. In addition, venture firms subcontracting with large enterprises or other prime subcontractors tend to achieve incremental innovation with the help of the technology and competence of large companies and run stable businesses through a predetermined market.

R&D subsidy for venture firms does not relieve the burden of liability of newness and smallness of venture firms, especially the disadvantage in market penetration and competition. Further policy measures should be implemented so as to identify and eliminate barriers to market acceptance for new products of venture firms.

This research verifies that the effect of R&D subsidy may harmful to the sales growth of venture firms and the output additionality differs with the degree of dependency on subcontracting practices and structure.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the cooperation between firms as an important phenomenon, particularly within entrepreneurial strategies. This paper describes the results of an empirical study about SMEs (small and medium‐sized enterprises) in the textile and clothing sector in Portugal. The results show that the level of cooperation between SMEs is limited in extent. When cooperation exists between the firms, the empirical results obtained reveal a great number of agreements in the production area so that subcontracting is the form of collaboration most commonly adopted. The SMEs prefer to cooperate with local firms because they know each other and share the same cultural background. The empirical results also allow us to conclude that the cooperative agreements are mainly informal; and that their stability is ensured and guaranteed by trust and communication between the partners.

The authors investigate the impact of standards compliance on the participation in the global value chain and labour value-added of Vietnam’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The authors use a three-period panel dataset of SMEs combined with Vietnam’s Provincial Competitiveness Index. The authors also use multiple econometric models; and with each model, the authors include all independent variables that are available from the study's data and that are suggested by the literature.

The authors find that standards compliance by Vietnam’s SMEs improved their participation in the global value chain via subcontracts with FDI multinational firms. The authors also find that standards compliance improved the value-added of labour in Vietnam’s SMEs, which is robust to the choice of econometric models.

The study's results suggest that better outcomes for firms and society will be possible if standards are recognised and respected.

This paper complements scant literature on the impact of standards compliance on global value chain participation via subcontracting work and labour value-added, especially in developing countries.