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The SMEs' limited capacity to acquire information and use sources is a major factor explaining their low level of involvement and performance on export markets. Nonetheless, a small amount of applied research has been undertaken on this subject. We present the results of an inquiry into the impact of information search and competencies on the competitive strategy and export performance of 346 exporting manufacturing SMEs. The research model postulates that the performance of these SMEs is determined by their general competitive strategy, which in turn is explained by the ability of the business to acquire and manage foreign market information. The results of an analysis using a PLS method confirm three of the four hypotheses.

This article is based on a long consideration of the concept of small business after 30 years of conceptual development. Most, if not all, researchers in small business have accepted the idea that small business is specific (the preponderant role of the owner-manager, low level of functional breakdown, intuitive strategy, etc.). However, the somewhat excessive assertion of this idea may suggest that all small firms adopt a specific management method, with the result that management specificity becomes a universal principle. If we allow that small business management can be specific, we must also allow the corollary of this statement, namely the possibility of denaturing (loss of specificity). In other words, a small-sized firm does not necessarily have to adhere to the classical management method. The authors of this article advocate a contingency approach to small business managerial specificity that would allow for the definition of a validity framework for the thesis of small business managerial specificity.

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The SMEs' limited capacity to acquire information and use sources is a major factor explaining their low level of involvement and performance on export markets. Nonetheless, a small amount of applied research has been undertaken on this subject. We present the results of an inquiry into the impact of information search and competencies on the competitive strategy and export performance of 346 exporting manufacturing SMEs. The research model postulates that the performance of these SMEs is determined by their general competitive strategy, which in turn is explained by the ability of the business to acquire and manage foreign market information. The results of an analysis using a PLS method confirm three of the four hypotheses.

Given that in many industries new production and information technologies have fundamentally changed the way in which firms must operate and compete, the technological aspect of environmental scanning has become a critical success factor for many small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. As little is presently known about how technological scanning manifests itself in these organizations and about what determines the nature and level of this activity, a survey study of 324 Canadian firms was done. Testing a research model resulted in identifying four interrelated dimensions of scanning activity, namely scanning objectives, type of information, information sources, and management practices. Key determinants of this activity were also identified, including the firms' strategy, environmental uncertainty, production technology, level of R&D, information networks, and the ownermanager's education level.

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