Journal of Information Technology and Application in Education Vol. 3 Iss. 2, June 2014 www.jitae.org doi: 10.14355/jitae.2014.0302.04 77 Using Strategic Learning for Achieving Growth in SMEs Ileana Hamburg *1 , Emma O Brien *2 *1 IAT, WH Gelsenkirchen, Germany *2 Univ. of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland *1 hamburg@iat.eu; *2 emma.obrien@ul.ie Received 28 December 2013; Accepted 14 January 2014; Published 27 May 2014 © 2014 Science and Engineering Publishing Company Abstract It is important that small and medium sized companies (SMEs) survive/remain successful and achieve grow but they should find new, innovative ways of doing business to allow them to access new markets. Often they have limited resources, managers do not have time to learn new skills but the industry in which they operate has moved on. The use of new technologies for business and learning requires costs and other resources which are often missing. This paper will examine the use of E‐learning and social approaches to learning such as Communities of Practice, So‐ cial media and mentoring in managerial learning at a stra‐ tegic level. Finally some examples of on‐going developments in European projects that the authors have worked on are given. Keywords Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises (SMEs); E‐Learning; CoP; Mentoring Introduction SMEs represent about 99% of the European companies and the number has dramatically increased as a result of the expansion of EU. It is important to remain successful, and SMEs should find new, innovative ways of doing business to allow them to access new markets. It is essential that they cut costs by streamlining operations to allow them operate on a global scale (ECORYS 2012). A crucial success factor for them is to fill existing knowledge gaps and expand the competences of their human resources. It is even more important for SMEs to do this than larger companies, as larger companies have more staff and as a result a bigger pool of skills, which can be difficult to compete with. Within an SME, managers are expected to take on several roles, thus training is even more significant for them. However, results of studies show that less than 25% of SMEs staff participates in vocational training courses and less than 60% of employers provide any type of training for their staff (www.oecd‐library.org). It is assumed that managers of SMEs immediately re‐ cognise the problem of addressing continuous training needs of their staff and the potential role of e‐Learning and other forms like social and mobile learning in meeting these needs (Ileana Hamburg et al. 2013). However, managers in SMEs are often concerned with the daily running of the business and survival rather than the strategic needs of the company. Strategic knowledge is key to growth and thus sustain‐ ing the competitive advantage of an organisation. Strategic knowledge is the ‘know how’ management use when making key decisions about a company’s future direction. Strategic knowledge has to be specific and to the point and may come from a wide range of external sources as often a company’s future depends on the market they operate in and events that take place within the industry. These events are often hinging on external parties such as competitors, politicians, customers, suppliers and occurrences beyond the companies control such as natural disasters, economic stability and political and human issues. In 2004, George Grunewald stated that strategic knowledge is a fusion of problem orientated and action guided knowledge in which societal learning is a pre requisite. However, managers do not have the luxury of taking time out to learn new skills and often if they do not take this time, the skills will be obsolete and the industry in which they operate has moved on. There are several tools for strategic planning, namely