Editing Small and medium enterprises (section)

== Overview ==
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SMEs are important for economic and social reasons, given the sector's role in employment. Due to their size, SMEs are heavily influenced by their [[Chief Executive Officer]] (CEOs) or managing director. The CEOs of SMEs are often the founders, owners, and managers of the SMEs. The duties of the CEO in a SME mirror those of the CEO of a large company: the CEO needs to strategically allocate their time, energy, and assets to direct the SMEs. Typically, the CEO is the strategist, champion and leader for developing the SME or the prime reason for the business failing.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

The European Union sees SMEs as playing a crucial role in powering economic growth, innovation and transition to more [[Knowledge-based economy|knowledge-based economic structures]].<ref name=first />{{rp|Section 1}} At the employee level, Petrakis and Kostis (2012) explore the role of [[trust (social science)|interpersonal trust]] and knowledge in the number of small and medium enterprises. They conclude that knowledge positively affects the number of SMEs, which in turn positively affects interpersonal trust. The empirical results indicate that interpersonal trust does not affect the number of SMEs. Therefore, although knowledge development can reinforce SMEs, trust becomes widespread in a society when the number of SMEs is greater.<ref>P.E. Petrakis, P.C. Kostis (2012), "[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13132-012-0115-6 The Role of Knowledge and Trust in SMEs]", Journal of the Knowledge Economy, DOI: 10.1007/s13132-012-0115-6.</ref>

Medium- or mid-sized enterprises which have grown beyond the scale of a "small business" may have different support needs from those of small businesses, and their contribution to the local and national economy where they operate may also be quite distinct from the contribution of a smaller business.<ref>Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (UK), [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/msb-evidence-from-case-studies Mid-Sized Business (MSB) Growth - Evidence from Case Studies], published on 29 November 2011, accessed on 25 November 2024</ref>