DENISE FLETCHER IS SENIOR LECTURER IN the Business School at Nottingham Trent University, England, and Irene Hardill is reader in economics in the Department of Economics and Public Administration at the same university. The paper studies entrepreneurial attitudes and strategies in clothing SMEs in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom and Le Choletais in France. It attempts to identify and evaluate how SMEs achieve competitive performance according to the firm's general aims and objectives, vision and strategic awareness. The survey reveals that sub-contracting arrangements are different, resembling partnerships more in France. The French companies attach more importance to new technology, improving management skills, and access to market information. The overwhelming difference between the French and British companies is the virtual non-use of formal, local institutional networks by the British companies.
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