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The words – “strategic”, “scanning” – have to be redefined when applied to small business firms. Indeed, the specific nature of the entrepreneurial firms requires challenging managerial definitions of SME. That specificity is primarily due to the central role of the entrepreneur. Thus, researchers on the small entrepreneur must refer to pragmatic topics. Scanning practices are based on percepts, inside and outside the firm. They comprise a large span of environmental data, always evolving and changing with the time. Pragmatic links between percepts and concepts are achieved by the way of typologies and systemic grids. Several examples, with actual cases, set out, firstly, the use of entrepreneurial typologies related to scanning practices, and, secondly, one systemic grid to appraise environmental risks on markets (dependency and vulnerability).