Exploring Talent Management Practices in Emerging Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract

Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) often face dynamic environments that require them to balance growth with resource constraints, necessitating strategic adaptability in their talent management (TM) practices. This study employs an in‐depth analysis of multiple cases to explore TM practices in startups and SMEs operating in Norway, a country that fosters cooperation and innovation among its small businesses. The leaders of 11 Norwegian startups and SMEs were interviewed to understand their definitions and standpoints on TM and to explore how SMEs can adapt TM practices as they grow. This study also involved nine experts from the external ecosystem surrounding the companies to obtain their perspectives on this topic and to support the findings. The results underscore that TM definitions and practices evolve through three stages of SME growth—startup, transition, and scale‐up—shifting from informal to formal approaches throughout the growth process. Further abductive thematic analysis reveals firms' criteria for talent, the challenges of implementing TM, and the strategic importance of TM, interpreted through the lenses of the resource‐based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT). While leaders and experts agree that TM is strategically crucial, especially for leadership development, financial constraints emerge as the primary challenge. Based on these findings, a theoretical framework is proposed, encouraging further studies to investigate the TM dynamics in growing SMEs in more depth, while also considering perspectives from multiple stakeholders.