Search results for: very small enterprise

Authors: Lemuel David

Abstract:

The importance of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises sector is well recognized for its legitimate contribution to the Macroeconomic objectives of the Republic of Liberia, like generation of employment, input t, exports, and enhancing entrepreneurship. Right now, Medium and Small enterprises accounts for about 99 percent of the industrial units in the country, contributing 60 percent of the manufacturing sector output and approximately one-third of the nation’s exports. The role of various financial institutions like ECO bank and Non-financial Institutions like Bearch Limited support promoting the growth of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises is unique. A small enterprise or entrepreneur gets many types of assistance from different institutions for varied purposes in the course of his entrepreneurial journey. This paper focuses on the factors related to financial institutional support and non-financial institutional support entrepreneurs to the growth of Medium and Small enterprises in the Republic of Liberia. The significance of this paper is to support Policy and Institutional Support for Medium and Small enterprises to know the views of entrepreneurs about financial and non-financial support systems in the Republic of Liberia. This study was carried out through a survey method, with the use of questionnaires. The population for this study consisted of all registered Medium and Small enterprises which have been registered during the years 2004-2014 in the republic of Liberia. The sampling method employed for this study was a simple random technique and determined a sample size of 400. Data for the study was collected using a standard questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: the first part consisted of questions on the profile of the respondents. The second part covers (1) financial, promotional factors and (2) non-financial promotional factors. The results of the study are based on financial and non-financial supporting activities provided by institutions to Medium and Small enterprises. After investigation, it has been found that there is no difference in the support given by Financial Institutions and non-financial Institutions. Entrepreneurs perceived “collateral-free schemes and physical infrastructure support factors are highest contributing to entry and growth of Medium and Small enterprises.

Keywords: micro, small, and medium enterprises financial institutions, entrepreneurship

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Oualid Kherbach, Marian Liviu Mocan, Amine Ghoumrassi, Cristian Dumitrache

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The Globalization system and the development of economy, e-business, and introduction of new technologies formation create new challenges to all organizations particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Many studies on supply chain management (SCM) focus on large companies with universal operations employing high-stage information technology. These make a gap in the knowing of how SMEs use and practice supply chain management. In this screenplay, successful practices of supply chain management (SCM) can give SMEs an edge over their competitors. However, SMEs in Romania and Balkan countries face problems in SCM implementation and practices due to lack of resources and direction. The objectives of this research highlight the supply chain management practices of the small and medium enterprise strip in Romania and understand how SMEs manage and use SCM. This study Checks the potential existence of systematic differences between small businesses and medium-sized businesses with regard to supply chain management practices and the application of supply management has contributed to the improvement performance and increase the profitability of companies such as increasing the market share and improving the level of clients.

Keywords: globalization, small and medium enterprises, supply chain management, practices

Procedia PDF Downloads 370

Authors: Koko Iwan Agus Kurniawan, Dwi Purnomo, Anas Bunyamin, Arif Rahman Jaya

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Fruters model is a concept of technopreneurship-based on empowerment, in which technology research results were designed to create high value-added products and implemented as a locomotive of collaborative empowerment; thereby, the impact was widely spread. This model still needs to be inventoried and validated concerning the influenced variables in the business growth process. Model validation accompanied by mapping was required to be applicable to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) agro-industry based on sustainable social business and existing real cases. This research explained the empowerment model of Yourgood, an SME, which emphasized on empowering the farmers/ breeders in farmers in rural areas, Cipageran, Cimahi, to housewives in urban areas, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. This research reviewed some works of literature discussing the agro-industrial development associated with the empowerment and social business process and gained a unique business model picture with the social business platform as well. Through the mapped business model, there were several advantages such as technology acquisition, independence, capital generation, good investment growth, strengthening of collaboration, and improvement of social impacts that can be replicated on other businesses. This research used analytical-descriptive research method consisting of qualitative analysis with design thinking approach and that of quantitative with the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process). Based on the results, the development of the enterprise’s process was highly affected by supplying farmers with the score of 0.248 out of 1, being the most valuable for the existence of the enterprise. It was followed by university (0.178), supplying farmers (0.153), business actors (0.128), government (0.100), distributor (0.092), techno-preneurship laboratory (0.069), banking (0.033), and Non-Government Organization (NGO) (0.031).

Keywords: agro-industry, small medium enterprises, empowerment, design thinking, AHP, business model canvas, social business

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Xiao Chen, Alice Ho, Mabel Tie, Xiaoheng Xu

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Background and Significance of the Study: School-enterprise cooperation has been the cornerstone of vocational education in China and many other countries. Researchers and policymakers have paid much attention to ensuring the implementation and improving the quality of school-enterprise cooperation. However, many problems still exist on the implementation level of the cooperation. On the one hand, the enterprises lack the motivation to participate in the cooperation. On the other hand, there is a lack of effective guidance and management during the cooperation. Furthermore, the current literature focuses greatly on policy recommendations on the national level while failing to provide a detailed practical understanding of how school-enterprise cooperation is carried out on the ground level. With emerging social problems, such as the aging population in China, there is an increasing need for diverse nursing services and better nursing quality. Methodology: To gain a deeper understanding of the influencing factors of the implementation of school-enterprise cooperation, this work conducted 37 exploratory interviews in four Chinese cities spanning first-tier to fourth-tier cities with hospital department directors, vocational school deans, nurses, and vocational students. Multiple critical policy documents that founded the current vocational education system in China were analyzed, along with the data collected from the interviews. Major Findings: Based on the policy and interview analyses, this work reveals a set of influencing factors for school-enterprise cooperation implementation. Findings from each region contribute to an overall model of influencing factors for implementing school-enterprise cooperation in vocational nursing education in China, which leads to practical insights for policy recommendation. The key influencing factors are found based on the policy, hospital, school, and social levels. Following practical policy recommendations were presented. Moving forward, further research on the implementation of school-enterprise cooperation in specific industries will become increasingly critical to improving the effectiveness of educational policies and the quality of vocational education.

Keywords: nursing, policy recommendation, school-enterprise cooperation, vocational education

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Ruchi Agarwal, Jake Ansell

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Austerity impacts on all aspects of society. Companies into the future will have to be more capable of dealing with the risks they face. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has widely been accepted in recent years as an approach to manage risks within businesses. ERM attempts to tackle risk holistically with gains from opportunities in a managing risk and reduction in the risk of failure. The paper reviews merits and demerits of approaches to risk management in regard to antifragility. A qualitative study has investigated current practices and the problems with ERM implementation by interviewing over 25 chief risk officers and senior management. The findings indicate the gap in ERM description, understanding, and implementation. The paper suggests risk learning and expertise knowledge supports development of effective enterprise risk management by designing systems with inherent resilience.

Keywords: risk management, interviews, antifragility, failure

Procedia PDF Downloads 562

Authors: Ya-Hui Lee, Ching-Yi Lu, Chien Hung, Hsieh

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The purpose of this study is to explore the difference between state-owned-enterprise employees and the civil servants regarding their future-oriented thinking and retirement planning. The researchers investigated 687 middle age and older adults (345 state-owned-enterprise employees and 342 civil servants) through survey research, to understand the relevance between and the prediction of their future-oriented thinking and retirement planning. The findings of this study are: 1.There are significant differences between these two professions regarding future-oriented thinking but not retirement planning. The results of the future-oriented thinking of civil servants are overall higher than that of the state-owned-enterprise employees. 2. There are significant differences both in the aspects of future-oriented thinking and retirement planning among civil servants of different ages. The future-oriented thinking and retirement planning of ages 55 and above are more significant than those of ages 45 or under. For the state-owned-enterprise employees, however, there is no significance found in their future-oriented thinking, but in their retirement planning. Moreover, retirement planning is higher at ages 55 or above than at other ages. 3. With regard to education, there is no correlation to future-oriented thinking or retirement planning for civil servants. For state-owned-enterprise employees, however, their levels of education directly affect their future-oriented thinking. Those with a master degree or above have greater future-oriented thinking than those with other educational degrees. As for retirement planning, there is no correlation. 4. Self-assessment of economic status significantly affects the future-oriented thinking and retirement planning of both civil servants and state-owned-enterprise employees. Those who assess themselves more affluently are more inclined to future-oriented thinking and retirement planning. 5. For civil servants, there are significant differences between their monthly income and retirement planning, but none with future-oriented thinking. As for state-owned-enterprise employees, there are significant differences between their monthly income and retirement planning as well as future-oriented thinking. State-owned-enterprise employees who have significantly higher monthly incomes (1,960 euros and above) have more significant future-oriented thinking and retirement planning than those with lower monthly incomes (1,469 euros and below). 6. The middle age and older adults of both professions have positive correlations with future-oriented thinking and retirement planning. Through stepwise multiple regression analysis, the results indicate that future-oriented thinking and retirement planning have positive predictions. The authors then present the findings of this study for state-owned-enterprises, public authorities, and older adult educational program designs in Taiwan as references.

Keywords: state-owned-enterprise employees, civil servants, future-oriented thinking, retirement planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Jumin Zhao, Na Li, Dengao Li, Yujuan Yan

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As the rapid rise of the networking industry, the shortage of Internet of Things (IoT) talented people greatly stimulates the majority of colleges to speed up the pace of professional networking reform. Caused by the construction of the original specialty, many problems appear such as the vague specialty, the mixed theoretical, the poor practical ability and the different goal. To solve the issues above, we build a ‘theory-practice-theory-improvement’ four-step model of school-enterprise integration of personnel training. Besides, we integrate the advanced teaching philosophy: flip class and Mu class, making IoT teaching more professional and the ability of students more comprehensive.

Keywords: IoT, theory-practice-theory-promotion, major construction, school-enterprise cooperation

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Lorryn Williams

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This study will explore how the introduction of the for-profit social enterprise model affects the real lives of the individuals and communities that this model aims to help in South Africa. The congruence between organisational need construction and the real needs of beneficiaries, and whether the adoption of a profit driven model, such as social entrepreneurship, supports or discards these needs is key to answering the former question. By making use of qualitative methods, the study aims to collect empirical evidence that either supports the social entrepreneurship approach when compared to other programs such as vocational training programs or rejects it as less beneficial. It is the objective of this research to provide an answer to the question of whether the social enterprise model of conducting charity leaves the beneficiaries of non-profit organisations in a generally better or worse off position. The study will specifically explore the underlying assumptions the social entrepreneurship model makes, since the assumptions made concerning the uplifting effects it has on its beneficiaries may produce either real or assumed change for beneficiaries. The meaning of social cohesion and social capital for these organisations, the construction of beneficiary dependence and independence, the consideration of formal and informal economies beneficiaries engage in, and the extent to which sustainability is used as a brand, will be investigated. Through engaging the relevant literature, experts in the field of non-profit donorship and need implementation, organisations who have both adopted social enterprise programs and not, and most importantly, the beneficiaries themselves, it will be possible to provide answers to questions this study aims to answer.

Keywords: social enterprise, beneficiaries, profit driven model, non-profit organizations

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Jianxin Zhu, Na Liu

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Entry strategies play a vital role in the development of new enterprises in the catering industry. Different entry strategies will have different effects on the development of new enterprise. Based on the research of scholars at home and abroad, and combining the characteristics of the catering industry, the entry strategies are divided into low-price entry strategies and high-quality entry strategies. Facing the entry of new enterprise, the strategies of incumbent enterprises are divided into response strategies and non-response strategies. This paper uses evolutionary game theory to study the strategic interaction mechanism between incumbent companies and new enterprises. When different initial values and parameter values are set, which strategy will the two-game subjects choose, respectively? Using matlab2016 for numerical simulation, the results show that the choice of strategies for new enterprise and incumbent enterprise is influenced by more than one factor, and the system has different evolution trends under different circumstances. When the parameters were set, the choice of two subjects' strategies mainly depends on the net profit between the strategies.

Keywords: catering industry, entry strategy, evolutionary game, strategic interaction mechanism

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawas

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The objectives of this study are to examine the relationship between the competitive advantage of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their overall performance. A mixed method has been applied to identify the effect of determinants toward competitive advantage. The sample is composed of SMEs in product and service businesses. The study has been tested at an organizational level with samples of SME entrepreneurs, business successors, and board of directors or management team. Quantitative analysis has been conducted through multiple regression analysis with 400 samples. The findings illustrate that each aspect of competitive advantage needs a different set of driving factors to explain either the direct or the indirect effect on firm performance. Interestingly, technological capability is a perfect mediator and interorganizational cooperation toward competitive advantage. In addition, differentiation is difficult to be perceived by customers, as well as difficult to manage; however, it is considered important to develop an SMEs product or service for firm sustainably.

Keywords: competitive advantage, firm performance, technological capability, Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs)

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Vedat Acar, Osman Eralp Çolakoğlu

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In this research, with reference to specialization of travel agencies being an important part of tourism industry, a project has been presented about a small-scale enterprise, called as Zeytinseli, contributing actively from the beginning to the end of the production process of olive and olive oil within the context of rural tourism. For this purpose in the research done, firstly, conceptual framework has been formed about travel agency, tour operatorship, specialized travel agency and rural tourism and the necessity of specialization on tourism has been emphasized in today's world. Afterwards, "olive", having an important role in both mythology and divine religions, has been handled within the scope of rural tourism. The cost of accommodation units about Zeytinseli operating in Didim, being a district of Aydın, has been calculated within the context of the project and a fifteen-day's tour to this enterprise has been presented at the end of this project. The research may be said to be an original research on account of embodying not only ecotourism, agro tourism but also cultural tourism and special interest tourism.

Keywords: agro tourism, rural tourism, specialization of travel agency, special interest tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 463

Authors: Sohail Ahmed, Ke Xing

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This research theoretically explored the evolution mechanism of enterprise technological innovation capability system (ETICS) from the perspective of complex adaptive systems (CAS). This research proposed an analytical framework for ETICS, its concepts, and theory by integrating CAS methodology into the management of the technological innovation capability of enterprises and discusses how to use the principles of complexity to analyze the composition, evolution, and realization of the technological innovation capabilities in complex dynamic environments. This paper introduces the concept and interaction of multi-agent, the theoretical background of CAS, and summarizes the sources of technological innovation, the elements of each subject, and the main clusters of adaptive interactions and innovation activities. The concept of multi-agents is applied through the linkages of enterprises, research institutions, and government agencies with the leading enterprises in industrial settings. The study was exploratory and based on CAS theory. Theoretical model is built by considering technological and innovation literature from foundational to state of the art projects of technological enterprises. On this basis, the theoretical model is developed to measure the evolution mechanism of the enterprise's technological innovation capability system. This paper concludes that the main characteristics for evolution in technological systems are based on the enterprise’s research and development personnel, investments in technological processes, and innovation resources are responsible for the evolution of enterprise technological innovation performance. The research specifically enriched the application process of technological innovation in institutional networks related to enterprises.

Keywords: complex adaptive system, echo model, enterprise technological innovation capability system, research institutions, multi-agents

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Woosik Jang, Seung H. Han, Seung Won Baek, Chan Young Park

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Natural gas (NG) is a local energy resource that exists in certain countries, and most NG producers operate within unstable governments. Moreover, about 90% of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market is governed by a small number of international oil companies (IOCs) and national oil companies (NOCs), market entry of second movers is extremely limited. To overcome these barriers, project viability should be assessed based on limited information at the project screening perspective. However, there have been difficulties at the early stages of projects as follows: (1) What factors should be considered? (2) How many experts are needed to make a decision? and (3) How to make an optimal decision with limited information? To answer these questions, this research suggests a LNG project viability assessment model based on the Dempster-Shafer theory (DST). Total of 11 indices for the gas field analysis and 23 indices for the market environment analysis are identified that reflect unique characteristics of LNG industry. Moreover, the proposed model evaluates LNG projects based on questionnaire survey and it provides not only quantified results but also uncertainty level of results based on DST. Consequently, the proposed model as a systematic framework can support the decision-making process from the gas field projects using quantitative results, and it is developed to a stand-alone system to enhance the practical usability. It is expected to improve the decision-making quality and opportunity in LNG projects for enterprise through informed decision.

Keywords: project viability, LNG project, enterprise information system, Dempster-Shafer Theory, strategic decision-making

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Sohail Ahmed, Ke Xing

Abstract:

This research theoretically explored the evolution mechanism of enterprise technological innovation capability system (ETICS) from the perspective of complex adaptive systems (CAS). Starting from CAS theory, this study proposed an analytical framework for ETICS, its concepts and theory by integrating CAS methodology into the management of technological innovation capability of enterprises and discusses how to use the principles of complexity to analyze the composition, evolution and realization of the technological innovation capabilities in complex dynamic environment. This paper introduces the concept and interaction of multi-agent, the theoretical background of CAS and summarizes the sources of technological innovation, the elements of each subject and the main clusters of adaptive interactions and innovation activities. The concept of multi-agents is applied through the linkages of enterprises, research institutions and government agencies with the leading enterprises in industrial settings. The study was exploratory based on CAS theory. Theoretical model is built by considering technological and innovation literature from foundational to state of the art projects of technological enterprises. On this basis, the theoretical model is developed to measure the evolution mechanism of enterprise technological innovation capability system. This paper concludes that the main characteristics for evolution in technological systems are based on enterprise’s research and development personal, investments in technological processes and innovation resources are responsible for the evolution of enterprise technological innovation performance. The research specifically enriched the application process of technological innovation in institutional networks related to enterprises.

Keywords: complex adaptive system, echo model, enterprise knowledge system, research institutions, multi-agents.

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Natcha Wattanaprapa, Alongkorn Taengtong, Phachaya Chaiwchan

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This study investigates and promotes the distribution of community enterprise products of Samut Songkhram province by using e-commerce web technology to help distribute the products. This study also aims to develop the information system to be able to operate on multiple platforms and promote the easy usability on smartphones to increase the efficiency and promote the distribution of community enterprise products of Samut Songkhram province in three areas including Baan Saraphi learning center, the learning center of Bang Noi Floating market as well as Bang Nang Li learning center. The main structure consists of spreading the knowledge regarding the tourist attraction in the area of community enterprise, e-commerce system of community enterprise products, and Chatbot. The researcher developed the system into an application form using the software package to create and manage the content on the internet. Connect management system (CMS) word press was used for managing web pages. Add-on CMS word press was used for creating the system of Chatbot, and the database of PHP My Admin was used as the database management system. The evaluation by the experts and users in 5 aspects, including the system efficiency, the accuracy in the operation of the system, the convenience and ease of use of the system, the design, and the promotion of product distribution in Samut Songkhram province by using questionnaires revealed that the result of evaluation in the promotion of product distribution in Samut Songkhram province was the highest with the mean of 4.20. When evaluating the efficiency of the developed system, it was found that the result of system efficiency was the highest level with a mean of 4.10.

Keywords: community enterprise, digital commerce, promotion of product distribution, Samut Songkhram province

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Gulnara Galeeva, Yulia Kasperskaya

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The study deals with the relevant problem related to the formation of the efficient investment portfolio of an enterprise. The structure of the investment portfolio is connected to the degree of influence of intangible assets on the enterprise’s income. This determines the importance of research on the content of intangible assets. However, intangible assets studies do not take into consideration how the enterprise state can affect the content and the importance of intangible assets for the enterprise`s income. This affects accurateness of the calculations. In order to study this problem, the research was divided into several stages. In the first stage, intangible assets were classified based on their synergies as the underlying intangibles and the additional intangibles. In the second stage, this classification was applied. It showed that the lifecycle model and the theory of abrupt development of the enterprise, that are taken into account while designing investment projects, constitute limit cases of a more general theory of bifurcations. The research identified that the qualitative content of intangible assets significant depends on how close the enterprise is to being in crisis. In the third stage, the author developed and applied the Wide Pairwise Comparison Matrix method. This allowed to establish that using the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean value of the elements of the vector of priority of intangible assets makes it possible to estimate the probability of a full-blown crisis of the enterprise. The author has identified a criterion, which allows making fundamental decisions on investment feasibility. The study also developed an additional rapid method of assessing the enterprise overall status based on using the questionnaire survey with its Director. The questionnaire consists only of two questions. The research specifically focused on the fundamental role of stochastic resonance in the emergence of bifurcation (crisis) in the economic development of the enterprise. The synergetic approach made it possible to describe the mechanism of the crisis start in details and also to identify a range of universal ways of overcoming the crisis. It was outlined that the structure of intangible assets transforms into a more organized state with the strengthened synchronization of all processes as a result of the impact of the sporadic (white) noise. Obtained results offer managers and business owners a simple and an affordable method of investment portfolio optimization, which takes into account how close the enterprise is to a state of a full-blown crisis.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, bifurcation, investment portfolio, intangible assets, wide matrix

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Authors: Gholamreza Momenzadeh, Forough Nematolahi

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The Extended Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPII) system usually requires massive amounts of storage space, powerful servers, and large upfront and ongoing investments to purchase and manage the software and the related hardware which are not affordable for organizations. In recent decades, organizations prefer to adapt their business structures with new technologies for remaining competitive in the world economy. Therefore, cloud computing (which is one of the tools of information technology (IT)) is a modern system that reveals the next-generation application architecture. Also, cloud computing has had some advantages that reduce costs in many ways such as: lower upfront costs for all computing infrastructure and lower cost of maintaining and supporting. On the other hand, traditional ERPII is not responding for huge amounts of data and relations between the organizations. In this study, based on a literature study, ERPII is investigated in the context of cloud computing where the organizations operate more efficiently. Also, ERPII conditions have a response to needs of organizations in large amounts of data and relations between the organizations.

Keywords: extended enterprise resource planning, cloud computing, business process, enterprise information integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 222

Authors: A. Capodieci, G. Del Fiore, L. Mainetti

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Recently, the use of web 2.0 tools has increased in companies and public administration organizations. This phenomenon, known as "Enterprise 2.0", has, de facto, modified common organizational and operative practices. This has led “knowledge workers” to change their working practices through the use of Web 2.0 communication tools. Unfortunately, these tools have not been integrated with existing enterprise information systems, a situation that could potentially lead to a loss of information. This is an important problem in an organizational context, because knowledge of information exchanged within the organization is needed to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of the organization. In this article we demonstrate that it is possible to capture this knowledge using collaboration processes, which are processes of abstraction created in accordance with design patterns and applied to new organizational operative practices.

Keywords: business practices, business process patterns, collaboration tools, enterprise 2.0, knowledge workers

Procedia PDF Downloads 362

Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Samuel Iweriebor

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The primary link between financial institutions and economic performance is the provision of resources by these institutions to businesses in order to drive enterprise expansion, sustainability, and development. In this study, the role of access to finance in driving innovations and productivity in Nigerian SMEs is investigated using the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) dataset. Innovation is defined based on the ES analysis using five compositions including product, method, organisational, use of foreign-licensed technology, and spending on R&D. The study considers finance in terms of source in meeting investment needs and in terms of access. Moreover, finance access is categorized as external and internal to a firm with each having different implications. The research methodology adopted a survey analysis based on the 2014 World Bank Enterprise Survey of 19 states in Nigeria. The survey comprised over 10,000 manufacturing and services firms, both at the small scale and medium scale levels. The logit estimation technique is used to estimate the relationships in the study. The results from the empirical analysis show that in general, access to finance drives SME innovation in Nigeria. In particular, ease of accessing bank loans and credit is shown to be the strongest positive force in driving all types of innovation among SMEs in Nigeria. In the same vein, the type of finance source for investment matters in terms of how it affects innovation: it is shown that both internal and external sources improve investment in product, process, and organisational innovation, but only external financing has effect on R&D spending and use of foreign licensed technology. Overall spending on R&D is only driven by access to external finance by the SMEs. For productivity, the results show that while structure of financing investment improves productivity, increased access to finance may actually lead to productivity decline among SMEs in Nigeria. There is a need for the financial system to evolve structures to increase fund availability to SMEs in Nigeria, especially for the purpose of innovation investment.

Keywords: access to finance, financing investment, innovation, productivity, SMEs

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Authors: Shiva Subhedar, Abhishek Jain, Shivin Mittal

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Icons are not merely decorative elements in enterprise applications but very often used because of their many advantages such as compactness, visual appeal, etc. Despite these potential advantages, icons often cause usability problems when they are designed without consideration for their many potential downsides. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of articulatory distance – the distance between the physical appearance of an interface element and what it actually means. In other words, will the subject find the association of the function and its appearance on the interface natural or is the icon difficult for them to associate with its function. We have calculated response time and quality of identification by varying icon concreteness, the context of usage and subject experience in the enterprise context. The subjects were asked to associate icons (prepared for study purpose) with given function options in context and out of context mode. Response time and their selection were recorded for analysis.

Keywords: HCI, icons, icon concreteness, icon recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Jyh-Yi Shih, Chie-Bein Chen, Kuang-Yi Lin, Yu-Wei Huang

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Because of the trend toward globalization, Taiwanese companies have gradually focused more on overseas market operations. Overseas market performance has gradually increased as a proportion of Taiwanese companies’ total business revenues. Existing international investment theories cannot explain numerous new phenomena in this domain. Opinions are inconsistent, and contradictory positions exist regarding the antecedents of multinational enterprise (MNE) performance. This study applied contemporary internalization theory to establish and extend approaches adopted by previous relevant studies. In the context of the overseas market, the influence that MNE investment in research and development (R&D) and marketing has on enterprise performance was investigated from the firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and country-specific advantages (CSAs) perspectives. CSAs and internationalization speed were addressed as moderators, and hypotheses regarding how internationalization and performance were achieved through MNE overseas market operation were explored to ensure the completeness of the investigation. The list of enterprises was sourced from the Taiwan Economic Journal. After examining the relevant data, the following conclusions were obtained: (a) The relationship between the level of FSAs in R&D and enterprise performance exhibited an S-shaped curve. (b) The relationship between the level of FSAs in marketing and enterprise performance displayed a U-shaped curve. (c) The extent to which potential CFAs were obtained positively moderated the relationship between enterprise investment in R&D to gain FSAs and MNE performance. (d) Internationalization speed positively moderated the relationship between MNEs and enterprise investment in R&D and marketing to gain FSAs.

Keywords: multinational corporation, firm-specific advantages, country-specific advantages, international speed

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Authors: P. Thepnarintra

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Frozen shrimp industry plays an important role in the development of production industry of the country. There has been a continuing development to response the increasing demand; however, there have been some problems in running the enterprises. The purposes of this study are to: 1) investigate problems related to basic factors in operating frozen shrimp industry based on the entrepreneurs’ points of view. The enterprises involved in this study were small and medium industry receiving Thai Frozen Foods Association. 2) Compare the problems of the frozen shrimp industry according to their sizes of operation in 3 provinces of the central region Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 148 managers from 148 frozen shrimp enterprises Thai Frozen Foods Association, of which 77 were small size and 71 were medium size. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and independent sample T-test with the significant hypothesis at .05. The results revealed that the problems of the frozen shrimp industries of both size were in high level. The needs for government supporting were in high level. The comparison of the problems and the basic factors between the small and medium size enterprises showed no statistically significant level. The problems that they mentioned included raw materials, labors, production, marketing, and the need for academic supporting from the government sector.

Keywords: frozen shrimp industry, problems, related to the enterprise, operation

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Authors: Renata Hrecska

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This research aims to present today's corporate law reforms in the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise sector. The UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) currently deals with emerging issues in the sector in its Working Group I that has specifically focused on possible company law simplifications, including the creation of a fully unique company, the UNCITRAL Limited Liability Organization. However, beyond the work at the UN, the different states has also been focusing on simplification efforts and demands in the sphere of commercial law. We can observe that e.g. Slovakia, Serbia, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and France are undergoing legal reforms aimed at restructuring the sector through simplification of registration or operation. An important objective of the research is to examine where the boundary is for the legal entity to be more transparent and accountable, while the legislator wants to bring the possibility of establishing a company closer to the citizen. The research material presents the advantages and disadvantages of different initiatives with comparative legal instruments and draws conclusions on the possible future vision. The researcher herself attended some of the meetings of the relevant UNCITRAL working group as a national delegated expert, giving her a personal insight into the UNLLO discourse.

Keywords: commercial law, company formation, MSME, UNCITRAL

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Authors: G. Erkomaishvili

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This paper discusses small entrepreneurship development strategy in Georgia and the tools and regulations that will encourage development of small entrepreneurship. The current situation in the small entrepreneurship sector, as well as factors affecting growth and decline in the sector and the priorities of state support, are studied and analyzed. The objective of this research is to assess the current situation of the sector to highlight opportunities and reveal the gaps. State support of small entrepreneurship should become a key priority in the country’s economic policy, as development of the sector will ensure social, economic and political stability. Based on the research, a small entrepreneurship development strategy is presented; corresponding conclusions are made and recommendations are developed.

Keywords: economic policy for small entrepreneurship development, small entrepreneurship, regulations, small entrepreneurship development strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 477

Authors: Farnaz Farzadnia, Ahmad Alibabaei

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are considered as complicated information systems. Many organizations failed implementing ERP systems because it is a very difficult, time-consuming and expensive process. Enterprise resource planning system is appropriate for organizations in all economic sectors. As banking is currently considered a non-typical area for ERP usage, there are very little studies on ERP implementation in banking. This paper presents a general risks taxonomy. In this research, after identifying implementation risks, a process quality management method has been applied to identify relations between risks of implementation ERP in banking sectors and implementation phases. Oracle application implementation method titled as AIM used in this research for classifying the risks. These findings will help managers to develop better strategies for supervising and controlling ERP implementation projects.

Keywords: AIM implementation, bank, enterprise resource planning, risk, process quality management method

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Authors: D. Songpol, K. Taweesak, T. Sookyuen

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A social enterprise is an organization that operates commercial business as a source of income with the aim of addressing social and environmental issues. Though it is clear that this kind of organization will benefit society and environment but in practice, it is found that most of social enterprises’ goals cannot be achieved. The most success factors of social enterprises usually rely on individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, especially in educational business. This study aims to find out the magnitude of influence from the components of entrepreneur competencies to social enterprises in education. There are developmental models of research demonstrating that knowledge, skills and attributes affect the success of social enterprises in term of sustainability, social opportunities and innovation leadership. The 5-scale questionnaire was used to collect data from the social entrepreneurs in education who operates in the South East Asian region of 135 samples and then processed by the methods of structural equation models. The results show that the competency of entrepreneurs in attributes has the greatest impact on the success of social enterprises while the skills and knowledge have respectively impact on the social enterprises’ success as well. The reason why attributes of entrepreneurs have the greatest impact on social enterprise success is because, social enterprise is an organization that does not motivate or provide attractive financial incentives to the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, who succeed in developing their organizations, therefore need attribute factor higher than normal entrepreneurs, especially those in education sector that have somewhat few human resources to operate their businesses. More importantly, attribute’s traits such as entrepreneurial passion, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial identity and, innovativeness and perseverance will significantly affect the ideology and tolerance of the entrepreneurs once facing the problem in doing business. In conclusion, the education social enterprise would be successful depending on the performance of the entrepreneurs which derives from higher attributes competency.

Keywords: education, entrepreneur competencies, social enterprise, South East Asia

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Authors: Gulnara Galeeva

Abstract:

The Analytic Hierarchy Process is widely used in the economic and financial studies, including the formation of investment portfolios. In this study, a generalized method of obtaining a vector of priorities for the case with separate pairwise comparisons of the expert opinion being presented as a set of several equal evaluations on a ratio scale is examined. The author claims that this method allows solving an important and up-to-date problem of excluding vagueness and ambiguity of the expert opinion in the decision making theory. The study describes the authentic wide pairwise comparison matrix. Its application in the formation of the efficient investment portfolio of intangible assets of a small business enterprise with limited funding is considered. The proposed method has been successfully approbated on the practical example of a functioning dental clinic. The result of the study confirms that the wide pairwise comparison matrix can be used as a simple and reliable method for forming the enterprise investment policy. Moreover, a comparison between the method based on the wide pairwise comparison matrix and the classical analytic hierarchy process was conducted. The results of the comparative analysis confirm the correctness of the method based on the wide matrix. The application of a wide pairwise comparison matrix also allows to widely use the statistical methods of experimental data processing for obtaining the vector of priorities. A new method is available for simple users. Its application gives about the same accuracy result as that of the classical hierarchy process. Financial directors of small and medium business enterprises get an opportunity to solve the problem of companies’ investments without resorting to services of analytical agencies specializing in such studies.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, decision processes, investment portfolio, intangible assets

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Authors: Mario Spremic

Abstract:

Despite the financial crisis and ongoing need for cost cutting, companies all around the world heavily invest in information systems (IS) and underlying information technology (IT). Information systems (IS) play very important role in modern business organizations supporting its organizational efficiency or, under certain circumstances, fostering business model innovation and change. IS can influence organization competitiveness in two ways: supporting operational efficiency (IS as a main infrastructure for the current business), or differentiating business through business model innovation and business process change. In either way, IS becomes very important to the business and needs to be aligned with strategic objectives in order to justify massive investments. A number of studies showed that investments in IS and underlying IT resulted in added business value if they are truly connected with strategic business objectives. In that sense proliferation of governance of enterprise IT helps companies manage, or rather, governs IS as a primary business function with executive management involved in making a decision about IS and IT. The quality of IT governance is rising with the large number of decisions about IS made by executive management, not IT departments. The more executive management is engaged in making a decision about IS and IT, the IT governance is of better quality. In this paper, the practice of governing the enterprise IT will be investigated on a sample of the largest 100 Croatian companies. Research questions posed here will reveal if there are some formal IT governance mechanisms, are there any differences in perceived role of IS and IT between CIOs (Chief Information Officers) and CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) of the sampled companies and what are the mechanisms to govern massive investment in enterprise IT.

Keywords: IT governance, governance of enterprise IT, information system auditing, operational efficiency

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Authors: Akriti Chandra, Gourav Dwivedi, Seema Sharma, Shivani

Abstract:

This study investigates the adoption of green business (GB) models within a circular economy framework (CEBM) for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), given the rising importance of sustainable practices. The research begins by exploring the shift from linear business models towards resource-efficient, sustainable models, emphasizing the benefits of the circular economy. The study's literature review identifies 60 influential factors impacting the shift to green businesses, grouped as internal and external drivers. However, there is a research gap in examining these factors' interrelationships and operationalizing them within MSMEs. To address this gap, the study employs Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) to establish a hierarchical structure of factors influencing GB and circular economy business model (CEBM) adoption. Findings reveal that factors like green innovation and market competitiveness are particularly impactful. Using Systems Theory, which views organizations as complex adaptive systems, the study contextualizes these drivers within MSMEs, proposing a framework for a sustainable business model adoption. The study concludes with significant implications for policymakers, suggesting that the identified factors and their hierarchical relationships can guide policy formulation for a broader transition to green business practices. This work also invites further research, recommending larger, quantitative studies to empirically validate these factors and explore practical challenges in implementing CEBMs.

Keywords: green business (GB), circular economy business model (CEBM), micro small and medium enterprise (MSME), total interpretive structural modelling (TISM), systems theory

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Authors: Widjojo Suprapto, Zeplin Jiwa Husada Tarigan, Sautma Ronni Basana

Abstract:

Business process reengineering can be conducted by some procedure rationalization for all related departments in a company so that all data and business processes are connected. The changing of any business process is used to set up the working standard so that it gives an impact to the implementation of ERP and the company performance. After collecting and processing the data from 77 manufacturing companies, it is obtained that BPR (Business Process Reengineering) has no direct impact on the implementation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in the companies and manufacturing performance; however, it influences the implementation of TQM. The implementation of TQM influences directly the implementation of ERP, but it does not influence directly the company performance. The implementation of ERP gives a significant increase in the work performance of the manufacturing companies in East Java.

Keywords: enterprise resources planning, business process reengineering, TQM, company performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 208