Collaborative e-Learning and ICT Tools to Develop SME Managers: An Italian Case

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) create a dynamic and successful European economy. Existing skill deficiencies in sales, management and administrative staff are adversely affecting competitiveness in almost a third of those small firms surveyed (Bolden, 2001, 2007). Additionally, attending face-to-face and classroom-based development courses is problematic for time-poor SME managers. Thanks to the development of new technologies online learning is becoming commonplace due to wireless and mobile devices, together with the Internet boom, are providing the infrastructure necessary to support the development of new learning forms. Collaborative learning, especially as represented by an action learning approach, would seem ideal for SME managers. But can collaborative learning be adopted as a blanket approach in the case of SME managers? Or should one first take into account the contextual influences on learning, networking and collaboration?