Abstract
The European economy relies on SMEs to foster its economic development and progress. SMEs are critical to Europe’s economic model as they represent 99.8 percent of European businesses and 64.4 percent of employment capacity. However, SMEs are vulnerable to uncertainty and face significant barriers to secure their financial needs. We argue that the development of human talent through strategic learning and support of cohesive teamwork emerges as a critical element to support SMEs’ success as we navigate the needs and demands of Industry 4.0 and the transition towards Industry 5.0 enhanced by the challenges posed by the needs of sustainable economic growth and development. We argue that team learning can help SMEs foster their productivity as we consider enabling smart growth. Through team learning, employees and business owners can develop the necessary competencies to address economic challenges, environmental threats, and responsible ways of doing business. Learning in entrepreneurial teams can help small companies transform all received knowledge into organisational memory as we take into consideration explicit and tacit knowledge as part of the knowledge-sharing process and contribute to building the legacy among the team members to mitigate the possible loss of a team member. Team learning and proactive teamwork differ from individual learning, as teams are not simply the sum of their members. A synergistic effect occurs, enabling a positive spillover effect within the organisation that supports its long-term development. To gain a better understanding on the value of team learning, this research paper presents a structured literature review (SLR) to identify the similarities and distinctions in the learning and development of management and entrepreneurial teams to promote sustainable growth based on SME progress and social stability and in alignment with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.