The SME and Entrepreneurship Global Conference was initiated in 2005 and held its maiden meeting the following year. Since then, the conference has continued to grow in reputation and participation. The conference aims to bring together researchers from around the globe and (local) industry practitioners together to discuss developments within the sector and to share knowledge from research and practice. Till now, the conference has been held in Malaysia. In 2008, the conference moved overseas for the first time. The SME Entrepreneurship Global Conference 2008 was held at the Novotel in Melbourne on the 3rd-4th July 2008 and jointly organised by the FSBRU, Monash Gippsland and the SERU, Monash University Sunway Campus. The conference was opened by Professor Stephanie Fayeh, Deputy Vice Chancellor (International), Monash University, and had a special keynote address by the Minister of Small Business, Mr. Joe Helper. There were also two keynote addresses by Professor Richard Fletcher from the University of Western Sydney and Professor Rowena Barrett from DeMontford University, UK. Papers were presented on areas as diverse as Human Resource Management, Information Technology, Marketing, Knowledge Management, Government policy, Gender and Minority issues, and internationalization of SMEs. Papers originated from Africa, Asia, Europe, UK, and US to join SME researchers and practitioners in Australia. The next SME & Entrepreneurship Global Conference will be held in Penang, Malaysia in July, 2009.

We would like to express our gratitude to the government of Victoria and the Dean of Business and Economics for supporting the conference. We would also like to express our thanks to Lian Ping Chen, the referees and our colleagues from the Sunway and Gippsland campuses who have worked tirelessly to make this conference a success.

Nelson Oly Ndubisi, Co-Chair

Donna Buttigieg, Co-Chair