creators_name: Ale Ebrahim, Nader
creators_name: Ahmed, S.
creators_name: Taha, Zahari
creators_id: aleebrahim@siswa.um.edu.my
type: journalp
datestamp: 2011-12-16 00:00:45
lastmod: 2011-12-16 00:00:45
metadata_visibility: show
title: Virtual R&D teams in small and medium enterprises: a literature review
ispublished: pub
subjects: JOURNALS
subjects: comp-sci-hci
subjects: peer-review
full_text_status: public
keywords: Virtual teams, small and medium enterprises, literature review
abstract: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D team and SMEs has been examined. It concludes with the identification of the gaps in the existing literature's and calls for future research. It is argued that setting-up an infrastructure for virtual R & D team in SMEs still requires a large amount of engineering efforts and deserves consideration at top level management.
date: 2009-12
date_type: published
publication: Scientific Research and Essays
volume: 4
number: 13
publisher: Academic Journals
pagerange: 1575-1590
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: ALE EBRAHIM, N., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2010. SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review International Journal of the Physical Sciences, 5, 916–930.
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See the rest of references on the main article.
citation:   Ale Ebrahim, Nader and Ahmed, S. and Taha, Zahari  (2009) Virtual R&D teams in small and medium enterprises: a literature review.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/7804/1/MPRA_paper_26989.pdf