--- 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." altloc: [] chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: - aleebrahim@siswa.um.edu.my - ~ - ~ creators_name: - family: Ale Ebrahim given: Nader honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Ahmed given: S. honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Taha given: Zahari honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2009-12 date_type: published datestamp: 2011-12-16 00:00:45 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/78/04 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: 0 edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 7804 fileinfo: application/pdf;http://cogprints.org/7804/1/MPRA_paper_26989.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: ~ item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'Virtual teams, small and medium enterprises, literature review' lastmod: 2011-12-16 00:00:45 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: 13 pagerange: 1575-1590 pubdom: TRUE publication: Scientific Research and Essays publisher: Academic Journals 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.\r\nAbdul-Nour G, Drolet J, Lambert S (1999). Mixed production, flexibility and SME. Computers and Industrial Engineering, 37: 429-432.\r\n\r\nAcs ZJ, Morck R, Shaver JM, Yeung B (1997). The Internationalization of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Policy Perspective. Small Business Economics, 9: 7–20.\r\n\r\nAcs ZJ, Preston L (1997). Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Technology, and Globalization: Introduction to a Special Issue on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Global Economy. Small Business Economics, 9: 1-6.\r\n\r\nAdams R, Bessant J, Phelps R (2006). Innovation Management Measurement: A Review. Int. J. Manage. Rev., 8: 21-47.\r\n\r\nAhmed S, Hassan M (2003). Survey and case investigations on application of quality management tools and techniques in SMIs. Int. J. Qual. Reliability Manage., 20: 795 - 826.\r\n\r\nAhuja MK, Galletta DF, Carley KM (2003). Individual Centrality and Performance in Virtual R&D Groups: An Empirical Study Management Science, 49: 21-38.\r\n\r\nAkgun AE, Byrne JC, Lynn GS, Keskin H (2007). New product development in turbulent environments: Impact of improvisation and unlearning on new product performance. J. Eng. Technol. Manage., 24: 203–230.\r\n\r\nAkgun AE, Lynn GS, Yilmaz C (2006). Learning process in new product development teams and effects on product success: A sociocognitive perspective. Ind. Marketing Manage., 35: 210 – 224.\r\n\r\nSee the rest of references on the main article." relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 11 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2011-12-16 00:00:45 subjects: - JOURNALS - comp-sci-hci - peer-review succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: 'Virtual R&D teams in small and medium enterprises: a literature review' type: journalp userid: 14981 volume: 4