The need for talented and skilled managers at all management levels is growing because managerial efficiency is definitely amongst an organisation's success factors, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). More often than not, SMEs have to be quick on their feet in response to increasing competition. Hence, researchers have paid much attention to managerial competencies in SMEs. However, there are many competencies that any chief executive would benefit from, regardless of the size of organisation he or she leads, so what is specific about SMEs? Which managerial competencies are and should be dominant in SMEs, and which ones still need to be elaborated? Most importantly, how can the deficient competencies be built and developed? The paper aims to reveal the strongest and weakest managerial competencies in SMEs and to propose the means to build and develop the deficient ones. Finding answers to the aforementioned questions becomes even more relevant in the context of SMEs in small open economies, where the impact of external factors on SME performance is typically felt immediately and intensively. Hence, the empirical study was carried out in a geographical region of a small open economy where SMEs exceed 99.5% in the total business taxonomy. In addition, managerial competencies of medium-sized, small and very small enterprises were compared. The comparison highlighted the learning pattern that most entrepreneurs undergo from managing very small to managing medium-sized firms. Ultimately, the paper proposes the means to build and develop the most deficient managerial competencies in SMEs.
