Abstract:
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) constitute a large proportion of the overall
business population of industrially developed and developing nations. Despite the
growing importance of SME research during the last decade, very little attention has
been paid to the study of training and development practices in SMEs. This article sets
out to redress this imbalance in current SME research. It outlines the preliminary results
of a recent study that focused on determinants of training & development practices in
manufacturing SMEs in Japan. The results of the analysis indicate that the attitude of
owner/manager and organizational support towards training & development are the key
determinants of training intensity in SMEs in Japan.
