SMEs and Competitiveness: The Role of Information Systems

In this introductory article for the special issue on “SMEs and Competitiveness — The Role of Information Systems,” we provide a review of the current state of research on information systems and SMEs. A framework is provided that illustrates where the research has been concentrated and which areas are just beginning to be explored. The six articles that constitute this special issue are described in terms of this framework. A brief review of the articles is provided in which we indicate the question addressed, the factors taken into account, the nature of the research, and the dominant theory and perspective used in the article. We conclude by suggesting some future research directions.