Search results for: Kuwait SMEs

Authors: Badriya Almutairi, Ashraf El-Hamalawi

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Wind energy technologies are considered to be among the most promising types of renewable energy sources due to the growing concerns over climate change and energy security. Kuwait is amongst the countries that began realising the consequences of climate change and the long-term economic and energy security situation, considering options when oil runs out. Added to this are the fluctuating oil prices, rapid increase in population, high electricity consumption and protection of the environment It began to make efforts in the direction of greener solutions for energy needs by looking for alternative forms of energy and assessing potential renewable energy resources, including wind and solar. The aim of this paper is to examine wind energy as an alternative renewable energy source in Kuwait, due to its availability and low cost, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels compared to other forms of renewable energy. This paper will present a life cycle assessment of onshore wind turbine systems in Kuwait, comprising 4 stages; goal and scope of the analysis, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation of the results. It will also provide an assessment of potential renewable energy resources and technologies applied for power generation and the environmental benefits for Kuwait. An optimum location for a site (Shagaya) will be recommended for reasons such as high wind speeds, land availability and distance to the next grid connection, and be the focus of this study. The potential environmental impacts and resources used throughout the wind turbine system’s life-cycle are then analysed using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results show the total carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission for a turbine with steel pile foundations is greater than emissions from a turbine with concrete foundations by 18 %. The analysis also shows the average CO₂ emissions from electricity generated using crude oil is 645gCO₂/kWh and the carbon footprint per functional unit for a wind turbine ranges between 6.6 g/kWh to 10 g/kWh, an increase of 98%, thus providing cost and environmental benefits by creating a wind farm in Kuwait. Using a cost-benefit analysis, it was also found that the electricity produced from wind energy in Kuwait would cost 17.6fils/kWh (0.05834 $/kWh), which is less than the cost of electricity currently being produced using conventional methods at 22 fils/kW (0.07$/kWh), i.e., a reduction of 20%.

Keywords: CO₂ emissions, Kuwait, life cycle assessment, renewable energy, wind energy

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Authors: Ali Dashti

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Recycling materials within the realms of theatrical costume design and production is important. When a Kuwaiti play finishes its run, costumes are thrown away and new ones are designed when necessary. This practice indicates a lack of awareness of recycling strategies. This is a serious matter; tons of textile materials are being wasted rather than recycled. The current process of producing costumes for Kuwait theatre productions involves the conception and sketching of costumes, the purchase of new fabrics, and the employment of tailors for production. Since tailoring is outsourced, there is a shortage of designers who can make costumes autonomously. The current process does not incorporate any methods for recycling costumes. This combined with high levels of textile waste, results in significant ecological issues that demand immediate attention. However, data collected for this research paper, from a series of semi-structured interviews, have indicated that a lack of recycling facilities and increased textile waste do not present an area of concern within the Kuwaiti theatrical costume industry. This paper will review the findings of this research project and investigate the production processes used by costume designers in Kuwait. It will indicate how their behaviors, coupled with their lack of knowledge with using recycling strategies to create costumes, had increased textile waste and negatively affected Kuwait theatre costume design industry.

Keywords: costume, recycle, reuse, theatre

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Authors: Naser Alenezi, Ibrahim Alsakkaf, Osama Eid

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The main objective of this study is to develop an independent reliability based code for reinforced concrete (R/C) structural components and elements solely for the State of Kuwait and its neighboring countries. The proposed code will take into account the harsh Kuwait’s harsh environment, loading conditions and material strengths. The method for developing such a code is based on structural reliability theory that takes into accounts the specific geographical and the various prescribed societal environment of the Kuwait region. These methods were developed according to the following four components: (1) loads, (2) structural strength, (3) reliability analysis, and (4) achieving target reliability levels (reliability index ’s ). The final product from this study will be a design code for R/C structural elements that include beams and columns, and some other structural members. This reliability-based LRFD design code will provide appropriate, easy, fast, and economical approach for designing R/C structural elements such as, beams and columns, for both houses and bridges, and other concrete structures. In addition, this reliability-based codified design of R/C beams, columns, and, possibly, concrete slabs will improve the design and serviceability of R/C bridge and building systems in Kuwait and neighboring GCC countries. Also, it has the potential to reduce the cost of new concrete structures, as fewer materials are used with more design efficiency.

Keywords: live laod, design, evaluation, structural building

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Authors: Joanna K. Konstantinou

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The aim of this study is to explore the need of small and medium-sized businesses in tourism and hospitality industry to adopt technology and enhance their degree of digitalization, along with the main benefits enjoyed by technology and the main challenges that hinder its adoption. Within a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three hotel owners and the focus was to identify the main reasons of adoption of technology, enablers and barriers. The findings were grouped with the goal of identifying typology of business practices in using and adopting technology.

Keywords: digitization, SMEs, tourism and hospitality, challenges, benefits

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Authors: Mais Khader, Xingjie Wei

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This research sheds light on female entrepreneurs by providing new insights on the survival predictions of companies led by females in the UK. This study aims to build a predictive machine learning model of the survival of female-led & co-led small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK over the period 2000-2020. The predictive model built utilised a combination of financial and non-financial features related to both companies and their directors to predict SMEs' survival. These features were studied in terms of their contribution to the resultant predictive model. Five machine learning models are used in the modelling: Decision tree, AdaBoost, Naïve Bayes, Logistic regression and SVM. The AdaBoost model had the highest performance of the five models, with an accuracy of 73% and an AUC of 80%. The results show high feature importance in predicting companies' survival for company size, management experience, financial performance, industry, region, and females' percentage in management.

Keywords: company survival, entrepreneurship, females, machine learning, SMEs

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Authors: Mohsen Shirani, Micaela Demichela

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Food supply chain is one of the most complex supply chain networks due to its perishable nature and customer oriented products, and food safety is the major concern for this industry. IT system could help to minimize the production and consumption of unsafe food by controlling and monitoring the entire system. However, there have been many issues in adoption of IT system in this industry specifically within SMEs sector. With this regard, this study presents a novel approach to use IT and tractability systems in the food supply chain, using application of RFID and central database.

Keywords: food supply chain, IT system, safety, SME

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Authors: Mohamad H. Atyeh, Ahmad Khaldi

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The main objective of this research is to measure the relationship between the Kuwait stock Exchange (KSE) index and its two marketing sectors after the new market classification. The findings of this research are important for Public economic policy makers as they need to know if the new system (new classification) is efficient and to what level, to monitor the markets and intervene with appropriate measures. The data used are the daily index of the whole Kuwaiti market and the daily closing price, number of deals and volume of shares traded of two marketing sectors (consumer goods and consumer services) for the period from the 13th of May 2012 till the 12th of December 2016. The results indicate a positive direct impact of the closing price, volume and deals indexes of the consumer goods and the consumer services companies on the overall KSE index, volume and deals of the Kuwaiti stock market (KSE).

Keywords: correlation, market capitalization, Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), marketing sectors, stock performance

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Authors: L. Spencer, S. O’ Donohoe

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Much of the research to date on internationalisation relates to large firms with much less known about how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage in internationalisation. Given the crucial role of SMEs in contributing to economic growth, there is now an emphasis on the need for SMEs internationalise. Yet little is known about how SMEs undertake and finance such expansion and whether or not internationalisation actually hinders or helps them in securing finance. The purpose of this research is to explore the internationalisation process for SMEs, the sources of funding used in financing this expansion and support received from the state agencies in assisting their overseas expansion. A conceptual framework has been devised which marries the two strands of literature together (internationalisation and financing the firm). The exploratory nature of this research dictates that the most appropriate methodology was to use semi-structured interviews with SME owners; bank representatives and support agencies. In essence, a triangulated approach to the research problem facilitates assessment of the perceptions and experiences from firms, the state and the financial institutions. Our sample is drawn from SMEs operating in Ireland and Scotland, two small but very open economies where SMEs are the dominant form of organisation. The sample includes a range of industry sectors. Key findings to date suggest some SMEs are born global; others are born again global whilst a significant cohort can be classed as traditional internationalisers. Unsurprisingly there is a strong industry effect with firms in the high tech sector more likely to be faster internationalisers in contrast to those in the traditional manufacturing sectors. Owner manager’s own funds are deemed key to financing initial internationalisation lending support for the financial growth life cycle model albeit more important for the faster internationalisers in contrast to the slower cohort who are more likely to deploy external sources especially bank finance. Retained earnings remain the predominant source of on-going financing for internationalising firms but trade credit is often used and invoice discounting is utilised quite frequently. In terms of lending, asset based lending backed by personal guarantees appears paramount for securing bank finance. Whilst the lack of diversified sources of funding for internationalising SMEs was found in both jurisdictions there appears no evidence to suggest that internationalisation impedes firms in securing finance. Finally state supports were cited as important to the internationalisation process, in particular those provided by Enterprise Ireland were deemed very valuable. Considering the paucity of studies to date on SME internationalisation and in particular the funding mechanisms deployed by them; this study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge in both the international business and finance disciplines.

Keywords: funding, government support, international pathways, modes of entry

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Authors: Abu Salim Mustafa

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Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease endemic in Kuwait. Human brucellosis can be caused by several Brucella species with Brucella melitensis causing the most severe and Brucella abortus the least severe disease. Furthermore, relapses are common after successful chemotherapy of patients. The classical biochemical methods of culture and serology for identification of Brucellae provide information about the species and serotypes only. However, to differentiate between relapse and reinfection/epidemiological investigations, the identification of genotypes using molecular methods is essential. In this study, four molecular methods [16S rRNA gene sequencing, real-time PCR, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR and multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA)-16] were evaluated for the identification and typing of 75 strains of Brucella isolated in Kuwait. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing suggested that all the strains were B. melitensis and real-time PCR confirmed their species identity as B. melitensis. The ERIC-PCR band profiles produced a dendrogram of 75 branches suggesting each strain to be of a unique type. The cluster classification, based on ~ 80% similarity, divided all the ERIC genotypes into two clusters, A and B. Cluster A consisted of 9 ERIC genotypes (A1-A9) corresponding to 9 individual strains. Cluster B comprised of 13 ERIC genotypes (B1-B13) with B5 forming the largest cluster of 51 strains. MLVA-16 identified all isolates as B. melitensis and divided them into 71 MLVA-types. The cluster analysis of MLVA-16-types suggested that most of the strains in Kuwait originated from the East Mediterranean Region, a few from the African group and one new genotype closely matched with the West Mediterranean region. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that B. melitensis, the most pathogenic species of Brucella, is prevalent in Kuwait. Furthermore, MLVA-16 is the best molecular method, which can identify the Brucella species and genotypes as well as determine their origin in the global context. Supported by Kuwait University Research Sector grants MI04/15 and SRUL02/13.

Keywords: Brucella, ERIC-PCR, MLVA-16, RT-PCR, 16S rRNA gene sequencing

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Authors: Majeda Hammoud

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Background: Anemia during pregnancy increases the risk of delivery by cesarean section, low birth weight, preterm birth, perinatal mortality, stillbirth, and maternal mortality. In this study, we aimed to assess the prevalence of anemia in pregnant women and its associated factors in the Kuwait birth cohort study. Methods: The Kuwait birth cohort (N=1108) was a prospective cohort study in which pregnant women were recruited in the third trimester. Data were collected through personal interviews with mothers who attend antenatal care visits, including data on socio-economic status and lifestyle factors. Blood samples were taken after the recruitment to measure multiple laboratory indicators. Clinical data were extracted from the medical records by a clinician including data on comorbidities. Anemia was defined as having Hemoglobin (Hb) <110 g/L with further classification as mild (100-109 g/L), moderate (70-99 g/L), or severe (<70 g/L). Predictors of anemia were classified as underlying or direct factors, and logistic regression was used to investigate their association with anemia. Results: The mean Hb level in the study group was 115.21 g/L (95%CI: 114.56- 115.87 g/L), with significant differences between age groups (p=0.034). The prevalence of anemia was 28.16% (95%CI: 25.53-30.91%), with no significant difference by age group (p=0.164). Of all 1108 pregnant women, 8.75% had moderate anemia, and 19.40% had mild anemia, but no pregnant women had severe anemia. In multivariable analysis, getting pregnant while using contraception, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.73(95%CI:1.01-2.96); p=0.046 and current use of supplements, AOR 0.50 (95%CI: 0.26-0.95); p=0.035 were significantly associated with anemia (underlying factors). From the direct factors group, only iron and ferritin levels were significantly associated with anemia (P<0.001). Conclusion: Although the severe form of anemia is low among pregnant women in Kuwait, mild and moderate anemia remains a significant health problem despite free access to antenatal care.

Keywords: anemia, pregnancy, hemoglobin, ferritin

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Authors: Muhammed Auwal Umar, M. Saleh

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The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, risk-taking propensity, and proactiveness) and SME's growth in Bauchi metropolis. The study is quantitative in nature using a cross-sectional survey. The population of the study was 364 SMEs. Using simple random sampling, 183 questionnaires were personally distributed, out of which 165 (90%) were found valid for the analysis. Kregcie and Morgan (1970) table was used to determine the sample size. Pearson correlation was used to test the hypotheses. The analysis was conducted with the aid of IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results established that innovativeness, risk-taking propensity, and proactiveness have significant positive relationship with SME's growth. It is therefore recommended that SMEs’ owners/managers should change their attitude by changing their product and mode of operation in line with customer demand, being proactive ahead of other competitors in trying a better way of doing things, and taking calculated risks in anticipation of high return in order for their businesses to survive and grow.

Keywords: SMEs growth, innovativeness, risk-taking propensity, proactiveness

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Authors: Najla Alhkalaf

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The focus of this study is answering the following question: How do e-government services in Bahrain support the productivity of SMEs? This study examines the current E-government function in enhancing SME productivity in Bahrain through analysing the efficiency of e- government by viewing its facilitators and barriers from the perspective of different stakeholders. The study aims to identify and develop best practice guidelines with the end-goal of creating a standardised channel of communication between e-government and SMEs that fulfil the requirement of SME owners, and thus achieve the prime objective of e-government. E-government services for SMEs have been offered in Bahrain since 2005. However, the current services lack the required mechanism for SMEs to fully take advantage of these services because of lagging communication between service provider and end-user. E-government employees believe that a lack of awareness and trust are the main stumbling block, whereas the SME owners believe that there is a lack of sufficiency in the content and efficiency provided through e- services. A questionnaire has been created based on a pilot study that highlighted the main indicators of e-government efficiency and SMEs productivity as well as previous studies conducted on this subject. This allowed for quantitative data to be extracted. Also interviews were conducted with SME owners and government employees from both case studies, which formed the qualitative data for this study. The findings portray that both the service provider and service receiver largely agree on the existence of most of the technical and administrative barriers. However, the data reflects a level of dissatisfaction from the SME side, which contradicts with the perceived level of satisfaction from the government employees. Therefore, the data supports the argument that assures the existence of a communication gap between stakeholders. To this effect, this research would help build channels of communication between stakeholders, and then induces a plan unlocking the potential of e-government application. The conclusions of this study will help devise an optimised E-government strategy for Bahrain.

Keywords: e-government, SME, e-services, G2B, government employees' perspective, entrepreneurs' perspective, enterprise

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Authors: Brahim Ouzaka, Said Ouhadi

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Family businesses (FB) represent the oldest and most resilient form of organization. However, they are weakened by problems of entrepreneurial discontinuity. The objective of this paper is to analyze the problem of the succession of FBs created by senior entrepreneurs. This study analyzes and explores the constructs of senior entrepreneurship and the strategy and takeover policies of the Moroccan Family owned Small and Medium-Sized Businesses. Our main research question is formulated as follows: how does senior entrepreneurship promote the takeover of Moroccan family SMEs? So we aim through this study to analyze the challenge of the takeover of the FB created by senior entrepreneurs in order to explore and understand the specificities, choices and strategies as well as the reality of the takeover process among this category of senior entrepreneurs. After a review of the literature on the relationship between the constructs of senior entrepreneurship and the takeover of FBs, the empirical study will consist of an exploratory qualitative approach of 3 family SMEs created by senior entrepreneurs and subsequently transmitted to their descendants. This qualitative research serves to explore the choices, the strategies as well as the specificities of the entrepreneurial acts and processes of this category of entrepreneurs. The interviews were conducted with senior entrepreneurs and successors of three Moroccan family SMEs, focusing on the specificity of entrepreneurial actions and strategies in the case of SMEs launched by senior entrepreneurs and on the reality of the conduct and preparation of the takeover process, the methods of socialization and training of buyers in the context of these companies.

Keywords: senior entrepreneurship, family SME, family business, takeover

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Authors: Waleed Alanzi

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to add to the existing literature and provide a more detailed understanding of the individual experiences and perceptions of 15 Deans at the University of Kuwait regarding their first year of planning, developing, and implementing crisis distance education (CDE) in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. An interpretative phenomenological approach was applied, using the thematic analysis of interview transcripts to describe the challenging journeys taken by each of the Deans from the first-person point of view. There was objective evidence, manifested by four primary themes (“Obstacles to the implementation of CDE”; “Planning for CDE”; “Training for CDE,” and “Future Directions”) to conclude that the faculty members, technical staff, administrative staff, and students generally helped each other to overcome the obstacles associated with planning and implementing CDE. The idea that CDE may turn homes into schools and parents into teachers was supported. The planning and implementation of CDE were inevitably associated with a certain amount of confusion, as well as disruptions in the daily routines of staff and students, as well as significant changes in their responsibilities. There were contradictory ideas about the future directions of distance education after the pandemic. Previous qualitative research on the implementation of CDE at higher education institutions in the Arab world has focused mainly on the experiences and perceptions of students; however, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of the students at the University of Kuwait during the COVID19 pandemic, providing a rationale and direction for future research.

Keywords: distance learning, qualitative research, COVID-19 epidemic, Kuwait university

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Authors: Khaled Abu Awwad, Abdussalam Shibani, Michel Ghostin

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In the last few years, building information modelling (BIM) has been acknowledged as a new technology capable of transforming the construction sector to a collaborated industry. The implementation of BIM in the United Kingdom (UK) construction sector has increased significantly in the last decade, particularly after the UK government mandated the use of BIM in all public projects by 2016. Despite this, there are many indicators that BIM implementation is the main concern for large companies, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are lagging behind in adopting and implementing this new technology. This slow adoption of BIM leads to an uncompetitive disadvantage in public projects and possible private projects. On the other hand, there is limited research focusing on the implementation of BIM Level 2 within SMEs. Therefore, the aim of this study is to bridge this gap and provide a conceptual framework to aid SMEs in implementing BIM Level 2. This framework is a result of interpreting qualitative data obtained by conducting semi-structured interviews with BIM experts in the UK construction industry.

Keywords: building information modelling, critical success factors, small and medium-sized enterprises, United Kingdom

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Authors: Craig M. Allen

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Twenty two African entrepreneurs with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a single social network centered around a non-Muslim population in a smaller African country, selected an Islamic financing structure, a form of Murabaha, based solely on market rationale. These entrepreneurs had all won procurement contracts from major purchasers of goods within their country and faced difficulty arranging traditional bank financing to support their supply-chain needs. The Murabaha-based structure satisfied their market-driven demand and provided an attractive alternative to the traditional bank-offered lending products. The Murabaha-styled trade-financing structure was not promoted with any religious implications, but solely as a market solution to the existing problems associated with bank-related financing. This indicates the strong market forces that draw SMEs to financing structures that are traditionally considered within the framework of Islamic finance.

Keywords: Africa, entrepreneurs, Islamic finance, market acceptance, Murabaha, SMEs

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Authors: Jeremiah Madzimure

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In order to stay competitive in business and improve performance, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need to make use of business networking and logistics integration. Strategic networking and logistics integration in business companies have become critical as they allow supplier partnering, exchange of vital information/ access to valuable resources allowing innovation, gaining access to additional resources, sharing risks and costs which is required for enhancing company performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of strategic networks and logistics integration on company performance: the case of small and medium enterprises in South Africa. A quantitative research design was adopted in this study, and 137 SMEs owners and managers completed and returned the survey questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted using the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS), version 24.0 to assess psychometric properties of the measurement scales. Path modelling techniques were used to test the proposed hypothesis. Three research hypotheses were postulated. The results indicate that strategic networks had a positive and significant influence on logistics integration and company performance. As well logistics integration had a strong positive and significant influence on company performance. This study provides a useful model for analysing the relationship between strategic networks and logistics integration on company performance. Moreover, the findings of the study provide useful insights into how SMEs should benefit from business networking and logistics integration so as to improve their performance. The implications of the study are discussed, and finally, limitations and recommendations are indicated.

Keywords: strategic networking, logistics integration, company performance, SMEs

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Authors: Beata Ślusarczyk, Sebastian Kot

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In subjective terms, Polish SME sector occupies a prominent position in the national economic development, in which planning of the management strategies should be primarily based on identifying and meeting the innovation needs. As a research sample, there is chosen a printing sector of industry. SMEs share in printing sector in Poland is estimated at the level of 81% of all enterprises. In recent years, the printing industry achieved one of the highest levels of EU support in Poland. There is a relatively high increase in the development of technological innovations in equipment and the associated significant increase in production capacity. It can be also noticed that on average, every third enterprise belonging to the printing industry has implemented innovations, but not all of them effected in better economic results. Therefore, the aim of this article is to evaluate the impact of the implementation of innovation projects financed from the EU funds for performance of SMEs in the printing industry. As the results of research of EU funds co-financing effects on the development of innovation in the printing industry, it was specified that examined SMEs prefer to implement product innovation to receive a grant to the project at a level between 40% to 60%, the remaining part of the investment is usually covered with equity. The most common type of innovation had indicated a single implementation, related only to the change in process, technology, or organization. The relationship between variables of the EU funds and management of innovative activities was verified. It has been observed that the identified variables arising from the support in a form of the EU funds had a positive effect on the level of earned revenue, the increase in margin and in increase in employment as well. It was confirmed that the implemented innovations supported by the European funds have a positive impact on the performance of the printing companies. Although there is a risk that due to the decreasing demand for printing services such a high level of funding the companies in this sector will significantly increase competition in the long term, that may also contribute to the economic problems of the enterprises belonging to the analyzed branch.

Keywords: innovations, SMEs, performance, results

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Authors: L. Almulla

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Native plants are better adapted to the local environment providing a more natural effect on landscape projects; their use will both conserve natural resources and produce sustainable greenery. Continuation of evaluation of additional native plants is essential to increase diversity of plant resources for greenery projects. Therefore, in this project an effort was made to study the mass multiplication of further native plants for greenery applications. Standardization of vegetative propagation methods is essential for conservation and sustainable utilization of native plants in restoration projects. Moreover, these simple propagation methods can be readily adapted by the local nursery sector in Kuwait. In the present study, various treatments were used to mass multiply selected plants using vegetative parts to secure maximum rooting and initial growth. Soft or semi-hardwood cuttings of selected native plants were collected from mother plants and subjected to different treatments. Pennisetum divisum can be vegetatively propagated by cuttings/off-shoots. However, Tamarix aucheriana showed maximum number of rooted cuttings and stronger vigor seedlings with the lowest growth hormone concentration. Standardizing the propagation techniques for the native plant species will add to the rehabilitation and landscape revegetation projects in Kuwait.

Keywords: Kuwait desert, landscape, rooting percentage, vegetative propagation

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Authors: Ignitia Motjolopane

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in economies by contributing to economic growth and employment. In the fourth industrial revolution, the convergence of technologies and the changing nature of work created pressures on economies globally. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) may support SMEs in exploring, exploiting, and transforming business models to align with their growth aspirations. SMEs' growth aspirations fall into four categories: subsistence, income, growth, and speculative. Subsistence-oriented firms focus on meeting basic financial obligations and show less motivation for business model innovation. SMEs focused on income, growth, and speculation are more likely to pursue business model innovation to support growth strategies. SMEs' strategic goals link to distinct business model innovation paths depending on whether SMEs are starting a new business, pursuing growth, or seeking profitability. Integrating generative artificial intelligence in start-up SME business model innovation enhances value creation, user-oriented innovation, and SMEs' ability to adapt to dynamic changes in the business environment. The existing literature may lack comprehensive frameworks and guidelines for effectively integrating generative AI in start-up reiterative business model innovation paths. This paper examines start-up business model innovation path with generative artificial intelligence. A theoretical approach is used to examine start-up-focused SME reiterative business model innovation path with generative AI. Articulating how generative AI may be used to support SMEs to systematically and cyclically build the business model covering most or all business model components and analyse and test the BM's viability throughout the process. As such, the paper explores generative AI usage in market exploration. Moreover, market exploration poses unique challenges for start-ups compared to established companies due to a lack of extensive customer data, sales history, and market knowledge. Furthermore, the paper examines the use of generative AI in developing and testing viable value propositions and business models. In addition, the paper looks into identifying and selecting partners with generative AI support. Selecting the right partners is crucial for start-ups and may significantly impact success. The paper will examine generative AI usage in choosing the right information technology, funding process, revenue model determination, and stress testing business models. Stress testing business models validate strong and weak points by applying scenarios and evaluating the robustness of individual business model components and the interrelation between components. Thus, the stress testing business model may address these uncertainties, as misalignment between an organisation and its environment has been recognised as the leading cause of company failure. Generative AI may be used to generate business model stress-testing scenarios. The paper is expected to make a theoretical and practical contribution to theory and approaches in crafting a robust business model innovation path with generative artificial intelligence in start-up SMEs.

Keywords: business models, innovation, generative AI, small medium enterprises

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Authors: Satya S. N. Narayana, P. Parthiban, T. Niranjan, N. Kannan

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Enterprises adopt methodologies to increase their business performance and to stay competent in the volatile global market. Lean manufacturing is one such manufacturing paradigm which focuses on reduction of cost by elimination of wastes or non-value added activities. With increased awareness about social responsibility and the necessary to meet the terms of the environmental policy, green manufacturing is becoming increasingly important for industries. Large plants have more resources, have started implementing lean and green practices and they are getting good results. Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are facing problems in implementing lean and green concept. This paper aims to identify the key issues for implementation of lean and green concept in Indian SMEs. The key factors identified based on literature review and expert opinions are grouped into different levels by Modified Interpretive Structural Modeling (MISM) to explore the importance among the factors to implement lean and green manufacturing. Finally, Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) method has been used to determine the extent to which the main principles of lean and green manufacturing have been carried out in the six Indian medium scale manufacturing industries.

Keywords: lean manufacturing, green manufacturing, MISM, FANP

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Authors: Amit Kohli, Pooja Lekhi, Gihan Adel Amin Hafez

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Blockchain is a distributor ledger technology trend that extended to different fields and proved a remarkable success. Blockchain technology is a vital proliferation technique that recuperates the food supply chain traceability process. While tracing is the core of the food supply chain; still, a complex system mitigates the exceptional risk of food contamination, foodborne, food waste, and food fraud. In addition, the upsurge of food supply chain data variance and variety in the traceability system requires complete transparency, a secure, steadfast, sustainable, and efficient approach to face the food supply chain challenges. On the other hand, blockchain technical aspects merged with a detailed implementation plan, the advantages and challenges in food traceability have not been much elucidated for small and medium enterprises (SMEs.) This paper demonstrated the advantages and challenges of applying blockchain in SMEs combined with the success stories of firms implementing blockchain to cover the gap. Moreover, blockchain architecture in SMEs and how technology, organization, and environment frameworks can guarantee the success of blockchain implementation have been revealed.

Keywords: blockchain technology, small and medium enterprises, food traceability, blockchain architecture

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Authors: Homoud Bourisli, Haitham Safar

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Oil is one of main resources of energy in the world. As conventional oil is drying out, oil recovery is crucial to maintain the same level of oil production. Since water injection is one of the commonly used methods to increase and maintain pressure in oil wells, oil-water separation processes of the water associated with oil production for water injection oil recovery is very essential. Therefore, Gas Flotation Units are used for oil-water separation to be able to re-inject the treated water back into the wells to increase pressure.

Keywords: Kuwait oil company, dissolved gas flotation unit, induced gas flotation unit, oil-water separation

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Authors: Madara Apsalone

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Knowledge management and innovation is key to competitive advantage and sustainable business development in advanced economies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have lower capacity and more constrained resources for long-term and high-uncertainty research and development investments. At the same time, SMEs can implement organizational innovation to improve their performance and further foster other types of innovation. The purpose of this study is to analyze, how socio-cultural factors such as shared values, organizational behaviors, work organization and decision making processes can influence knowledge management and help to develop organizational innovation via an empirical study. Surveying 600 SMEs in Latvia, the author explores the contribution of different socio-cultural factors to organizational innovation and the role of knowledge management and organizational learning in this process. A conceptual model, explaining the impact of organizational team, development, result-orientation and structure is created. The study also proposes insights that contribute to theoretical and practical discussions on fostering innovation of small businesses in small economies.

Keywords: knowledge management, organizational innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, socio-cultural factors

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Authors: Gerson E. Cornejo, Luis A. Gamarra, David S. Mauricio

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The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) allows the integration of all the business processes of the functional areas of the companies, in order to automate and standardize the processes, obtain accurate information and improve decision making in time real. In Peru, 79% of medium and small companies (SMEs) do not use any management software, this is because it is believed that ERPs are expensive, complex and difficult to implement. However, for more than 20 years there have been Open Source ERPs, which are more accessible and have the same benefit as proprietary ERPs, but there is little information on the implementation process. In this work is made a case of study, in order to show the implementation process of an Open Source ERP, Odoo, based on the ASAP methodology (Accelerated SAP) and applied to a company of corrective and preventive maintenance services of vehicles. The ERP allowed the SME to standardize its business processes, increase its productivity, reducing up to 40% certain processes. The study of this case shows that it is feasible and profitable to implement an Open Source ERP in SMEs in the Automotive Sector of Peru. In addition, it is shown that the ASAP methodology is adequate to carry out Open Source ERPs implementation projects.

Keywords: ASAP, automotive sector, ERP implementation, open source

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Authors: Amina Oukennou, Zitouni Beidouri, Otmane Bouksour

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Small to Medium-sized enterprises are a very important component of the economy. They are present in the whole industries all over the world. They are considered as the engine for future growth in the economy. Project management is an economical international factor impacting all types of enterprises including the SMEs. This paper has the aim of measuring the weight of using projects and project management in Moroccan SMEs in comparison with the large companies. The study is based on interviews with experts: project managers, managers, directors, and consultants. They were asked questions measuring the weight of using projects, the level of using project management, and the resources employed. Eighteen Moroccan companies from a range of industries and sizes were consulted. All the companies consider projects as a key element in their strategy. Most of them affirm the great usefulness of the approach 'project', especially for the external activities. The main differences lie in the duration and the size of used projects. Despite the commonly shared idea about the importance of the project management, the interviewed persons believe that the project management knowledge has the same importance or less than the technical knowledge. All the companies affirm the need for a simpler version of project management. The content varies from one company to another.

Keywords: project dimension, project management, small to medium-sized entreprise, Morocco

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Authors: O. Colot, M. Croquet, L. Cultrera, Y. Fandja Collince

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The objective of our research is to evaluate the impact of the allowance for corporate equity (ACE) on the financial structure of Belgian SME in order to highlight the potential existence of a fiscal leverage. To limit the biases linked to the rationing of the capital further to the financial crisis, we compare first the dynamic evolution of the financial structure of the Belgian firms over the period 2006-2015 by focusing on three sub-periods: 2006-2008, 2009-2012 and 2013-2015. We give then an international size to this comparison by including SMEs from countries adjoining Belgium (France, Germany, Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and within which there is no ACE. This comparison allows better understanding the fiscal advantage linked to the ACE of firms evolving in a relatively unstable economic environment further to the financial crisis of 2008. This research is relevant given the economic and political context in which Belgium operates and the very uncertain future of the Belgian ACE. The originality of this research is twofold: the long study period and the consideration of the effects of the financial and economic crisis on the financing structure of Belgian SMEs. The results of this research, even though they confirm the existence of a positive fiscal leverage for the tax deduction for venture capital on the financing structure of Belgian SMEs, do not allow the extent of this leverage to be clearly quantified. The comparative evolution of financing structures over the period 2006-2015 of Belgian, French, German, Dutch and English SMEs shows a strong similarity in the overall evolution of their financing.

Keywords: allowance for corporate equity, Belgium, financial structure, small and medium sized firms

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: B. M. Arthur-Aidoo, C. O. Aigbavboa, W. D. Thwala

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The performance of construction employees cannot be underestimated if the success of construction projects are to be achieved. This is because the construction industry has been characterised as labour oriented sector, which most of its activities being executed by labour. In the construction sector, employees are driven by incentive schemes which perform encourage and motivate workers for higher efficiency and higher output. The construction sector, however, depends mainly on its labour. In view of the sector's high dependency on its employees, that there must be a significant incentive scheme which must be established to act as a stimulus to drive high performance from employees among the various known incentive packages. This study, therefore, seeks to appraise the incentive packages adopted by construction SMEs. To establish reliable findings that will contribute to knowledge, the study utilised an exploratory approach via semi-structured interviews among sampled construction professionals with the requisite expertise on employees' incentive schemes. The study further established that although incentive schemes are classified in various ways and mediums that act as stimuli to encourage high performance among employees, some are more influential and impacts performance than others. Additionally, the study concludes that medical allowance, holiday with pay, free working tools, and training for employees were ranked the most influential incentives that promote high outputs by workers within the construction SME sector.

Keywords: appraisal, construction, employees, incentive, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs

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Authors: Festus M. Epetimehin

Abstract:

This study was conducted to identify the effect of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) training on the profit of Agricultural-Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and to evaluate the factors that influenced farmers' participation in NDE training, as well as the type and frequency of training farmers and other agro-allied entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Using a multi-stage sampling procedure, a total of 384 respondents were sampled, including 192 beneficiaries and 192 non-beneficiaries in Oyo and Lagos States, respectively. Data were analysed using Binary Logit regression and Propensity Score Matching techniques. According to the binary logit analysis, respondents’ gender, availability to extension services, and the location of respondent’s operation were determinant factors influencing NDE training enrolment. All identified factors are related to the probability of respondents’ involvement in a positive way. Propensity score matching revealed that Agricultural-SMEs who participated in the NDE program boosted their profit by N341,072.18. The positive outcome of the effect implies that NDE training enhances Agri-SME performance in Nigeria. The study concluded that greater funding should be provided for the NDE for performance-enhancing training of the Agri-SMEs.

Keywords: PSM, binary logit model, Agri-SME

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Authors: Nihal Chandratilaka Matara Arachchige, Nishantha Sampath Punichihewa

Abstract:

Intellectual property (IP) assets are the ‘crown-jewels’ of innovation-driven businesses in the knowledge-based economy. In that sense, IP rights such as patents, trademarks and copyrights afford enormous economic opportunities to an enterprise, especially Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). As can be gleaned from the latest statistics, the domestic industries in Sri Lanka are predominantly represented by SMEs. Undeniably, in terms of economic contribution, the SME sector is considered to be the backbone of the country’s ‘real economy’. However, the SME sector in Sri Lanka faces number of challenges. One of the nearly-insurmountable-hurdles for small businesses is the access to credit facilities, due to the lack of collateral. In the eyes of law, the collateral is something pledged as security for repayment in the event of default. Even though the intellectual property rights are used as collateral in order to facilitate obtaining credit for businesses in number of Asian jurisdictions, financial institutions in Sri Lanka are extremely reluctant to accept IP rights as collateral for granting financial resources to SMEs. Against this backdrop, this research investigates from a legal perspective reasons for not accepting IP rights as collateral when granting loans for SMEs. Drawing emerging examples from other jurisdiction, it further examines the inadequacies of existing legal framework in relation to the use of IP rights as collateral. The methodology followed in this paper is qualitative research. Empirical research and analysis concerning the core research question are carried out by conducting in-depth interviews with stakeholders, including leading financial institutions in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: intellectual property assets, SMEs, collaterals financial facilities, credits

Procedia PDF Downloads 250