recognition and prioritization of effective factors on excellence of smes with swot-ahp approach

the main aim of this study is to recognize and prioritize the effective factors of a sme’s excellence. the research population consists of experts or activists in ceramic and tile industry selected via purposeful conjecture based on judgmental sampling .the required data of this study were collected by two methods of library studies and survey studies.  in order to identify strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the ceramic tile industry in the province of yazd which leads to devising appropriate strategies for excellence of those businesses, data were collected by interviews and questionnaires and ahp techniques then were used to prioritize the obtained factors. the results showed that high technical power and high vat of products are the main internal factors which affect organizational excellence of smes.  access to regional and potential markets of iraq and afghanistan is the most important opportunity and joining the wto is the main threat affecting the excellence of small and medium businesses in the ceramic and tile industry of yazd province. based on these results, the suggested strategy to achieve excellence of smes is wt strategy.