Management development in SMEs : Practical insights from a university programme

Purpose – The paper aims to examine a management development programme provided for local small businesses by a West Midlands university in order to evaluate how successful the course had been in meeting its goals, to ascertain the extent to which the participants had benefited from the course, and to establish whether any common themes could be found which might contribute to the success of teaching managerial skills to small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/ approach – Data were collected by means of two questionnaires and one group discussion at the end of each course. They were analysed very simply by averaging scores to give a broad picture of participants' views. Findings – The participants saw the course as very worthwhile, claiming that it had met their training needs and improved their performance in the workplace. Originality/value – The research has indicated that, by using innovative programmes such as the one described here, higher education institutions can contribute to the empowerment and to self‐management among the employees of small companies.