Exploring organisational agility in SMEs

SMEs are facing unanticipated and rapid changes in their business environment. With a view to improve the sustainability and survival of SMEs, this study investigates the application of organisational agility in terms of innovation, flexibility, responsiveness, adaptability and resilience. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 53 furniture manufacturing SMEs in Jordan, the study finds that SMEs do not adopt agility in comparison to larger organisations. They face several resource constraints and financial frictions represent a severe obstacle for the development of SMEs' agility. In terms of increasing their agility, the results show that manufacturing SMEs can leverage their employees' skills and capabilities in an efficient and effective manner, which will in turn offer a significant and simultaneous effect on the organisational agility. The results also indicate that customer orientation, service provision and strategic collaboration have a substantial effect on the development of the SMEs agility.