Maintaining Agile Businesses: Identifying and Using Opportunities for Success

This manual on Maintaining Agile Businesses: Identifying and Using Opportunities for Success is published by the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF). It is one in a series of three manuals which forms part of the regional strategy to stimulate growth and improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the CARICOM Less Developed Countries (LDCs) of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The other manuals are on Mobilizing Financial and Technical Assistance from Non-Traditional Development Partners: (including non-profit international foundations) and Legal and Administrative Arrangements & Quality Guidelines for Exporting Agricultural and Food Products to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) More Developed Countries (MDCs.)

The main target groups for this manual are owners and operators of SMEs as well as other stakeholders in the sector in the OECS countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. For the purposes of this publication micro, small and medium- sized enterprises (MSMEs) are defined as follows:

• Micro Enterprise: Enterprise owner-managed, with less than five employees and less than US$25,000 invested in equipment.
• Small Enterprise: Enterprise with less than 25 employees, less than US$50,000 invested in equipment, less than 4,000 square feet of manufacturing space, or less than US$25,000 in annual sales.
• Medium-sized Enterprise: Enterprise with 25–50 employees, with US$50,000- US$200,000 invested in equipment, 4,000–5,000 square feet of manufacturing space or US$25,000–US$250,000 in annual sales.

The objective of providing these manuals is for SMEs to be profitable businesses, creating employment and contributing to development in their respective countries.

It is anticipated that this manual, Maintaining Agile Businesses: Identifying and Using Opportunities for Success, will assist key decision makers in SMEs in addressing constraints, bottlenecks and potential impediments to their development at the operational level and to exploit opportunities that exist in the More Developed Countries (MDCs) in CARICOM, such as Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as in other countries.