Learning from the USA

This article reports on a visit by a small group of SME managers from Barnsley and Doncaster in the UK to the USA. The aim of the project, entitled Networking USA, was to learn from US managers’ experiences of recovery and regeneration. Details of the preparation for the visit and the overall objectives are given, as well as a description of the main activities. Apart from business benefits which were recorded in the evaluation, the main benefit has been the construction of a learning network among the managers with continued links to US companies. The paper concludes with some issues and implications for SME management development research and policy.