ABSTRACT
As Thomson et al. (2001) and Iles and Yolles (Chapter 8 in this book) point out, a prevailing view of HRD in SMEs is that such firms do not face any specific HRD issues separate from large firms; all they require is formal ‘enterprise training’ in business and commercial skills to assist their successful growth into large firms, with all their benefits in terms of employment opportunities. Such a view is often held by government, with a plethora of initiatives launched to upgrade skills in SMEs. However, as Iles and Yolles point out, such a view suffers from an over-homogenous, undifferentiated view of SMEs (SMEs are not just scaled-down large firms, and are not just different from large firms, but also differ among themselves). Such a view also suffers from a limited view of appropriate HRD interventions, confined to formal training solutions.
