Performance drivers of young high-tech SMEs

Since Total Quality Management (TQM) has been introduced, much has changed in the way business-es are managed. Both small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large corporations have adopt-ed the principles of TQM and Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a performance management tool based on its principles became broadly accepted. In the competitive environment of today, few middle-sized and large companies can imagine surviving without at least rudimentary degree of strategic planning and performance measurement (PM). However, the new economy is to an increasing extent being shaped by small high-tech companies, which come with innovations in areas, which are too uninterest-ing or risky for large companies. The environment in which these high-technology companies operate is very different from what we have known decades ago. This paper summarises the traditional princi-ples of TQM and performance management, looks at the ways they were translated into the SME con-text, and whether they provide a viable solution for the high-tech companies of today. The research analyses the performance drivers of these companies, sums up those, that are considered for most im-portant, and fills a gap, which currently exists in the existing research about young technology SMEs.