This paper penetrates whether external competence acquisition (strategies, frequency and perceived value of different external competencies) distinguishes SMEs with low and high market performance. The empirical base consists of 51 manufacturing SMEs representing electronic manufacturing, mechanical engineering and wood-processing industries located to different parts of Sweden. The results indicate that high market performance can be related to a complementing (in stead of a compensating) acquisition strategy where suppliers, banks and auditors are perceived as more important. Another result is that firms with high market performance are more market-oriented, and operate on more turbulent markets with broader ranges of internal competencies.