Abstract:
Purpose: Successful small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are important
contributors to a country’s economic success and job creation. Numerous studies
have attempted to understand SME growth, but holistic models for explaining and
supporting SME growth are lacking. The purpose of this study is to contribute
towards the support of SME growth with enterprise architecture (EA) concepts and
frameworks as basis. This study aims to position EA as a basis for understanding
SME growth, use EA principles to identify patterns of focus on organisational
elements and concepts during growth and, based on the patterns of focus, identify
EA framework elements and concepts for a conceptual support framework for SME
growth. The study continues to construct a conceptual support framework and
execution methodology for SME growth.
Main methodology: A qualitative empirical study with a multiple case study
approach.
Findings: As representation of the holistic organisation and all its underlying
elements, EA serves as suitable platform to model how organisations grow and to
model the impact of various existing growth theories on the organisation. Across
participating SMEs, the study indicates patterns of focus on EA-related organisational
elements and concepts during growth. Based on these patterns of focus, support
programmes and guidance to other organisations are possible. An understanding of
the complete organisation, the underlying elements and the interaction of the
elements is relevant for SME growth, and EA is a feasible platform from which to
construct a conceptual support framework and implementation methodology for SME
growth. EA as a discipline, represented through a proposed support framework,
provides a platform from which to direct support and guide execution towards
organisational success.
