Strategies Used by Small Business Leaders to Obtain Government Contracts and Subcontracts

Small business leaders (SBLs) underutilize billions of dollars of US government funding for small business subcontracting. The role of small business in the United States is important to local economies as well as a major contributor to the US economy. Using the resource-based view as the conceptual framework for this study, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies five government support sector SBLs in the mid-Atlantic region used to obtain US government subcontract awards to remain sustainable. The selection criteria for this study consisted of small businesses in the mid-Atlantic region that have obtained subcontracts on prime government contracts. The data-collection process included a review of the small business documents and participants’ responses to semistructured interviews. The data analysis process included case study analysis and cross-case comparisons using methodological triangulation. Based on the data analysis, themes that emerged from the results of this study included education, experience, and networking related to strategy creation and implementation by the SBLs to obtain subcontracts on prime contracts. The findings of this study may contribute to social change by providing SBLs an opportunity to learn strategies to obtain subcontracts, which could increase organizational opportunities, promote job creation, and help to improve local economies through increases in tax revenues that could help the elderly, children, and others within the community.