Strategic entrepreneurship as a concept of small and medium enterprises development

Strategic entrepreneurship (SE) is an idea that refers to the entrepreneurial process and strategic management. It can be considered as a concept of enterprise development that combines the identification and use of opportunities with the development of a competitive advantage. The monograph focuses on SE in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), aiming to conceptualize SE as a development process for this group of enterprises. SMEs are often identified with entrepreneurship as an economic phenomenon and a set of activities consisting in the ability to identify and use opportunities in the environment. However, the literature on the subject points to the insufficient capacity of SMEs to transform opportunities into a competitive advantage that would lead to development and strengthening their position in the long term. On the other hand, large companies are shown as aware of the needs and capable of shaping a competitive advantage, but with a weaker ability to identify and take advantage of opportunities in the environment. A thesis can be formulated that SMEs should implement the SE model, taking advantage of opportunities in the environment for development, in the sense of quantitative and qualitative progress. However, there are gaps in the existing state of knowledge that limit the possibilities of using SE as a concept for SMEs development and formulating normative conclusions in this area. The monograph responds to research gaps as to the essence and manifestations of SE and the process perspective of SMEs development and the importance of context in this development. In response to the indicated research gaps, two goals were formulated. The theoretical goal is to conceptualize SE as an SMEs development process. The normative goal is the identification and characterization of SE as a process, i.e. a set of decisions and actions ensuring the development of SMEs, in terms of quantitative and qualitative progress. The implementation of the indicated objectives and the answer to the research questions enable the achievement of cognitive, methodological and normative effects, constituting a contribution to the science of management and quality, especially in the research area of entrepreneurship and management of small and medium-sized enterprises.