The success of a project can be measured in different dimensions, the most familiar and well proven ones being time, cost and quality. Completion of scheduled project activities and delivery of the total project in time are very important from the perspective of both the customer and developing organization, while the same done within budget is important from the perspective of the developer. All these accomplishments along with embedding quality into the project lead to the overall success of a project. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) take up most assignments as projects and strive to complete them to the satisfaction of customers in order to maintain a competitive edge. The paper focuses on the criteria to complete the projects within time and budget by surveying and studying national and international projects of a manufacturing SME in Hyderabad, India. The findings provide support for proper utilization of project management tools and control of projects that are lagging behind time and cost in those SMEs which may not be in a position to procure expensive project management tools.

Globally, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are becoming the pillars of the manufacturing sector and stable monetary growth in different countries. Flexibility and quick adaptability to the changing market demand and supply conditions are the significant characteristics of SMEs (Elasrag, 2013). According to Sharma (2012), approximately 70% of growth in employment opportunities comes from the SMEs in the Asian region. Currently, SMEs have been aggressively competing with large organizations by focusing on innovative processes and their competitive spirit. Since the number of employees in SMEs is quite less as compared to other organizations, they can make quick decisions on changes to be made to the processes or products and they do not face issues like change resistance and management like others. Even with all such capabilities and flexibility, SMEs may experience failure in the market because of other reasons like improper standardization and maintenance of processes, lack of benchmarking to measure the efficiency of processes and products and lack of networking with business partners and competitors. According to Boughton and Arokiam (2000), SMEs typically are adaptive and innovative not only in terms of their products but also their manufacturing practices. To maintain their competitive advantage, they are becoming increasingly proactive in improving their business operations.

Operations Management Journal, Project Success Issues, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), project management methodology, tools, techniques, Indian Sub-Continent, Manufacturing SME, .