The organisational weakness of SMEs and their propensity to die prematurely, suffering from their environment and being constrained by their context, is no longer in question. Today, we observe the emergence of a new type of SME, in mutation, evolving in a grey zone and adapting to its context in a constant way. The objective of this paper is to examine the managerial practices of these SMEs and to explore the institutional contingencies of the context of action, in order to understand the conditions of their viability, in the Gabonese context. Our theoretical anchor is the theory of contingency. We used a mixed methodology, quali-quanti, backed by the technique of comparative qualitative analysis QCA from 50 SME cases. The results show that taking into account the value of HR does not affect the viability or non-viability of a SME; the viability of a SME depends on two sufficient conditions, the management of operational risk and the existence of a Accounting Information System (AIS); the non-viability of a SME depends on two sufficient conditions, non-compliance with regulations and the non-existence of a AIS; the AIS therefore remains an essential condition for the viability of a SME Interesting managerial contributions follow from this.