Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a contemporary resource-based taxonomy of manufacturing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and to relate the findings to other small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) taxonomies and to resource-based theory.
Design/methodology/approach – Cluster analysis of 186 Swedish manufacturing MSMEs. The cluster analysis is based on resources and capabilities. The cluster variables were identified through case studies and a literature review of contemporary studies in resource-based theory.
Findings – The cluster analysis resulted in identification of six different clusters: Ikeas, conservatives, technocrats, marketeers, craftsmen, and nomads. The results are related to other SME taxonomies and the usefulness of going beyond the one-dimensional scale of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs is discussed.
Originality/value – Classifications of firms, for example the Miles and Snow typology, have been used successfully in numerous studies. Also, the resource-based view of the firm has had a great impact on business research and there has been increasing interest in MSMEs. However, there are very few contemporary resource-based taxonomies of MSMEs.