Smeal Associate Dean Edits Book On SMEs In The Global Economy

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (March 5, 2007) – A new book edited by Gerald I. Susman, associate dean for research and director of the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change (CMTOC) at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, explores the challenges and opportunities that face small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) competing in the world economy.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Global Economy, published by Edward Elgar Publishing Inc., features chapters by leading experts in entrepreneurship, innovation, and international business. Contributors from academia, government, and the private sector address the resource-leverage and innovation challenges that increased global trade represents for SMEs.

The book is based on presentations made at Smeal's Third Klein Symposium, an event that brought together leading academics from North America, Europe, and Asia, and senior executives from U.S. and Canadian companies to discuss the international business strategies of SMEs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises often have difficulty competing in the global economy unless they collaborate with domestic or foreign partners or with public sector organizations. Susman's book explores how SMEs can become more competitive at home and in foreign markets as standalone firms or as members of supplier and customer networks.

SMEs are turning increasingly to innovation as a source of competitive advantage in order to protect their home markets and participate in expanding foreign markets. The contributors to this book provide in-depth coverage of the most compelling issues facing SMEs. These include: innovation as a competitive strategy, network dynamics, ways to leverage technology, internationalization, and the role of the public sector in helping SMEs to overcome resource deficiencies.

The book features sections by, among others, Manuel Rosales, associate administrator, Office of International Trade, Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; Markos I. Tambakeras, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, Kennametal Inc.; and Savvas Chamberlain, CEO and chairman, DALSA Corp.

Among the academic contributors to the book are Terrence Guay, clinical assistant professor of international business at Smeal, and Irene J. Petrick and Carleen Maitland, Penn State assistant professors of information sciences and technology.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Global Economy will be released in April 2007. For more details and ordering information, visit www.e-elgar.com/Bookentry_DESCRIPTION.lasso?id=3992.

About the Editor, Gerald Susman
Susman, the Robert and Judith Klein professor of management at Smeal, has been a consultant to many public and private organizations including the Office of Personnel Management, the National Center for Productivity and Quality of Working Life, and the U.S. Department of Labor. His recent research has been supported by the U.S. Department of State, Carnegie Corporation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Technology and Innovation Management Division of the Academy of Management and on the editorial boards of Management Science, International Journal of Human Factors in Manufacturing, and Managerial Psychology. He holds a Ph.D., master's, and bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

About CMTOC
The Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change strives to help organizations efficiently implement innovations that improve their business practices without greatly disrupting them. As part of that mission, the center hosts the Advanced Manufacturing Forum, which exists to provide managers with a setting that encourages them to share experiences and ideas about advanced manufacturing technology and practices.

For more on CMTOC, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/cmtoc.