Introduction:

The main purpose of this research is to establish which factors can contribute to SME performance while coping with turbulent and dynamic environments, and also to identify if due to the environmental change there are frontier knowledge factors. In order to determine what the most frequently cited articles regarding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from 2008 to March 2018 are, a bibliometric analysis was applied to the Scopus database. In addition, the evolution, tendencies and current state (frontier knowledge) of CSF were reviewed.

Method:

The research is based on the Elsevier Scopus database. One hundred eight articles were found between 2008 to 2017, and also between 2008 and March 2018. Furthermore, those articles represent around 70% of the entire results using the key words CSF and SMEs. Duplicates that were generated by using similar combinations in the search criteria were removed. In order to assure the articles were still valid; they had to have been cited at least once during 2017. Analytics were used to observe and examine the identified factors’ evolution and tendencies.

Results:

In this study, it was found that 16 articles include 71% of the total citations about critical success factors for SMEs, which are quality, knowledge management and software. Governmental support is encountered as a current factor. It was also observed that the identified factors steadily remained in their order of importance both from 2008 to 2017 as it was for 2008 to March 2018.

Discussion or Conclusion:

Through this bibliometric analysis, it was been determined that the most studied critical success factors are quality (specially regarding Six Sigma technique), knowledge management, and software (particularly Enterprise Resource Planning). Governmental support was found to be a current factor (frontier knowledge); therefore, further study is suggested.

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