Mapping and Analysing the Scottish SME Landscape to Support Change Management Initiatives

TY - GEN

T1 - Mapping and Analysing the Scottish SME Landscape to Support Change Management Initiatives

AU - Sier, Elsa

AU - Bruce, F-S

AU - Hawari-Latter, Sharifa

AU - Aitchinson, Iain

AU - Geddes, Iona

N1 - Copyright (c) 2025 Elsa Sier, Fraser Bruce, Sharifa Hawari-Latter, Iain Aitchinson, Iona Geddes

PY - 2025/9/19

Y1 - 2025/9/19

N2 - Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are recognised as key drivers of economic growth. Despite their significant contributions, Scottish SMEs face many challenges and barriers when transitioning from a start-up to scale-up, including, for example, adapting to organisational structures, securing funding, and having limited time to develop innovation strategies. This study aims to understand the change management needs of Scottish SMEs in the scale-up phase and map the current business support landscape while exploring how these needs are perceived by support consultants. The paper begins by setting the context of the SME landscape across Scotland before describing how the data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with business support and change management consultants to determine the strategic barriers that SMEs face. The technique of empathy mapping was used to initially visualise and document SME needs, followed by a Thematic Analysis (TA) to uncover deeper research themes and insights. The findings reveal specific challenges related to mindset, leadership, and cultural factors that impact growth and change management for SMEs. The research also highlights the importance of business community engagement, the necessity of open-mindedness and receptiveness to external advice in enabling SME founders to grow and change. The paper concludes by discussing trends and gaps in the SME support landscape and emergent opportunities for intervention, laying the groundwork for a broader conversation on the systemic conditions shaping SME success in Scotland and underscoring the need for further research into how support for SMEs is designed and implemented in an ever-evolving landscape of small business growth.

AB - Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are recognised as key drivers of economic growth. Despite their significant contributions, Scottish SMEs face many challenges and barriers when transitioning from a start-up to scale-up, including, for example, adapting to organisational structures, securing funding, and having limited time to develop innovation strategies. This study aims to understand the change management needs of Scottish SMEs in the scale-up phase and map the current business support landscape while exploring how these needs are perceived by support consultants. The paper begins by setting the context of the SME landscape across Scotland before describing how the data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with business support and change management consultants to determine the strategic barriers that SMEs face. The technique of empathy mapping was used to initially visualise and document SME needs, followed by a Thematic Analysis (TA) to uncover deeper research themes and insights. The findings reveal specific challenges related to mindset, leadership, and cultural factors that impact growth and change management for SMEs. The research also highlights the importance of business community engagement, the necessity of open-mindedness and receptiveness to external advice in enabling SME founders to grow and change. The paper concludes by discussing trends and gaps in the SME support landscape and emergent opportunities for intervention, laying the groundwork for a broader conversation on the systemic conditions shaping SME success in Scotland and underscoring the need for further research into how support for SMEs is designed and implemented in an ever-evolving landscape of small business growth.

KW - SMEs

KW - Change Management

KW - Growth Aims

KW - Scaling-up

KW - Mindset

KW - Leadership and Culture

U2 - 10.34190/ecie.20.1.3913

DO - 10.34190/ecie.20.1.3913

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9781917204538

VL - 20

T3 - European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Conference Proceedings

SP - 684

EP - 693

BT - The Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

A2 - Lupa-Wójcik, Iwona

A2 - Murzyn, Dorota

PB - Academic Conferences International Limited

CY - Krakow

ER -