SME in IMP research: a missing actor?

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are perceived as a core category in management and business literature. In terms of research agenda, the existing academic literature increasingly addresses themes - such as networks, networking, innovation, marketing, purchasing - which represent relevant topics in IMP tradition. This leads to a related question: which is currently the place of SMEs in IMP research? This paper aims to explore whether and how the category of SMEs has been analyzed in IMP research. To achieve this goal the paper provides a literature review of 183 papers published in the Annual IMP Conferences from 1999 to 2014. Preliminary results show that the majority of papers concern the SME category, while there is growing interest on new business (spin-off, new ventures, start-up), cluster firms and entrepreneurs. With respect to research themes, this review shows that the main emphasis has been placed on internationalization paths and on marketing activities, and that most of the papers specifically focus on SMEs’ involvement in relationships and networks. Under a theoretical point of view a “distance” emerges between established IMP research and research streams in small business management and entrepreneurship. Even though many papers have been presented at the IMP conference, thus providing interesting empirical contributions, within an IMP perspective SMEs have yet to be fully unveiled. It is argued that IMP framework and concepts could be very useful for a more comprehensive understanding of SMEs processes, thus providing an effective contribution to the current management and policy debate.