Future Readiness of SMEs: Mobilizing the SME Sector to Drive Widespread Sustainability and Prosperity

The report defines 'future readiness' for SMEs as the ability to respond to shocks and seize opportunities through sustainable growth, societal impact, and adaptive capacity. Based on a survey of over 300 executives and 200 peer-reviewed articles, it finds that future readiness is not significantly determined by geography or industry, but rather by internal orientation, business model flexibility, and networks. Key challenges for SMEs include talent acquisition (52.5%) and funding (35.7%). The report argues that while SMEs are often more agile than large corporations, they lack the financial resilience to absorb shocks, making digital infrastructure and strategic networks critical accelerators for their growth and sustainability.

• Future readiness is defined as a combination of three core characteristics: sustainable growth (lasting financial strength via innovation), societal impact (positive outcomes aligned with ESG goals), and adaptive capacity (resilience and agility in volatile markets).
• A global assessment of SMEs across nine regions and 22 industries revealed no significant differences in future readiness based on geographical location or industry sector.
• The most prominent challenges facing SME executives are talent acquisition and retention (52.5%), survival and expansion (43.8%), and funding and access to capital (35.7%).
• Internal organizational orientation—comprising autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, and competitive aggressiveness—is a more pivotal driver of sustainable growth and adaptive capacity than external factors as a company grows.
• Digital infrastructure acts as a significant accelerator; while networks alone may not drive long-term financial growth, the combination of networks and digital infrastructure does.
• SMEs generally possess higher agility than large corporations due to leaner communication channels and closer proximity between leadership and operations, but they lack the 'slack resources' (financial and social) required for high resilience against external shocks.
• Networks are particularly critical for small companies to drive societal impact and adaptive capacity, whereas medium and mid-sized companies rely more on internal orientation and business model flexibility.
• Many SMEs do not explicitly strategize for societal impact because they are focused on survival or because such impacts are organic by-products of their existing business models.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Future Readiness of SMEs: Mobilizing the SME Sector to Drive Widespread Sustainability and Prosperity. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_Readiness_of_SMEs_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Future Readiness of SMEs: Mobilizing the SME Sector to Drive Widespread Sustainability and Prosperity. 2021. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_Readiness_of_SMEs_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Future Readiness of SMEs: Mobilizing the SME Sector to Drive Widespread Sustainability and Prosperity |date=November 2021 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_Readiness_of_SMEs_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021future, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Future Readiness of SMEs: Mobilizing the SME Sector to Drive Widespread Sustainability and Prosperity}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_Readiness_of_SMEs_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }