Narrow Results

This study examines the dynamics of sustainable economic growth in 15 developing Asian economies spanning from 2005 to 2020, utilizing the Cross-Sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag technique. It highlights the significant role played by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in promoting green growth and emphasizes their crucial contribution to fostering environmentally conscious development. The findings indicate a positive relationship between SMEs’ numbers, revenues and green growth, underscoring their essential role in advancing environmental sustainability. The study also notes the limited impact of government-provided SME loans on green growth, suggesting a reassessment of loan programs. In contrast, the effects of Foreign Direct Investment absorption, electricity consumption and digital transformation on green growth vary, providing valuable policy insights. Particularly noteworthy is the significant influence of SMEs’ revenues, highlighting the importance of their financial success in promoting sustainable development. Recommendations include incentivizing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to strengthen SMEs’ commitment to sustainability and formulating policies that incorporate emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency to enhance environmental responsibility.

This study examines the factors influencing environmental investment in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) within the Chinese art industry, using data from 50 listed companies between 2015 and 2021. It analyzes the effects of carbon emissions, stock prices, workforce expansion and energy expenditure on environmental investment decisions. The results show a positive correlation between carbon emissions and environmental investment, where a 1% increase leads to short-term gains of 0.18% and long-term gains of 0.34%. Stock prices also have a significant impact, with a 1% increase resulting in short-term gains of 0.43% and long-term gains of 0.67%. In contrast, workforce expansion has a negative effect, with a 1% increase causing short-term reductions of 0.07% and long-term decreases of 0.12%. Higher energy expenditure encourages environmental investment, leading to short-term gains of 0.25% and long-term gains of 0.48%. Based on these findings, the study proposes practical policies for promoting green growth in China’s art industry SMEs, such as tax credits or subsidies for eco-friendly practices and technologies, and programs to raise awareness and provide training on sustainable practices.

This paper investigates the impact of digitalization on entrepreneurship capacity in developing economies using a sample of 20 countries from 2009 to 2021. Findings reveal a significant positive correlation between digitalization indicators, such as internet and mobile phone users, and entrepreneurship capacity, emphasizing digitalization’s role in enhancing communication, information dissemination and market access for entrepreneurs. However, factors like patent applications and trade liberalization show insignificant correlations with entrepreneurship empowerment. Additionally, higher inflation rates are associated with decreased entrepreneurship capacity, while urbanization emerges as a significant motivator. To foster entrepreneurship capacity for SMEs, governments should prioritize digitalization and ICT diffusion policies, promote digital literacy, support patent registration and develop smart cities to create conducive environments for entrepreneurial activities.

In the current digital age, technological innovation is rapidly transforming work methods and employee expectations for work–family balance. This study aims to explore how digital innovation, through Green Human Resource Practices (GHRPs) and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX), promotes sustainable transformation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while effectively supporting employees’ work–family balance. Using empirical analysis on 357 employees from 10 digitized SMEs, the study constructs a comprehensive model based on Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Planned Change Theory (PCT). The findings reveal that digital innovation plays a critical role in adjusting work–family boundaries and enhancing employee satisfaction and organizational performance, with GHRPs and LMX serving as important mediators in this process. Additionally, the study emphasizes the key role of effective change management strategies in achieving sustainable organizational growth. This research provides a framework and strategies for SMEs to implement GHRPs in the digital context, helping to improve organizational performance and facilitate sustainable organizational transformation.

The goal of this paper is to identify the factors that precede and may cause sudden changes in the pace of growth of high-growth SMEs or gazelles. A retrospective longitudinal case study of seven high growth SMEs that had undergone a total of 14 sudden shifts in growth reveals that a number of events caused the changes of pace. Some were triggered by the entrepreneur's decisions while others resulted from events beyond his/her control. Management's motivation for growth was an important element and this motivation changed over time, being influenced by both success and problems associated with actual growth. The success of growth strategies also appears to depend on the firm's proximity to its client base and its ability to obtain the information required for sound decision-making. Lastly, the availability of tangible and intangible resources was found essential in allowing the company to seize growth opportunities and proximity to the business milieu may help accessing these resources.

In this paper is we attempt to construct and validate a typology of innovation strategies among family SMEs applying the Miles and Snow's configurational model. We also try to extend the scope of the model testing the fit between entrepreneurial, managerial and governance characteristics and innovative posture of the firm. Research has been carried out on a representative sample of small and medium family firms of the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia. Results indicate that significant differences in the mentioned contextual variables exist among different strategic typologies of family firms, however some questions remain unanswered and more effort is needed to develop the configurational approach in the field of family business.

Utilizing a case study methodology, this study investigates ways in which fast growth small-to-medium enterprises (FGSMEs) measure firm performance. This investigation, involving 21 interviews with 18 companies, revealed that FGSMEs seem to adopt a multi-level approach involving different sources and contexts to performance measurement. Apart from the application of standard financial performance measures such as profits and growth, FGSMEs also utilize measures of customer satisfaction, attainment of industry awards, receipt of client reports, website popularity, number and quality of successful innovations adopted, objective employee performance indices, and staff retention. Founders highlight the importance of providing employees with flexible environments and career opportunities as a way to reduce churn. These organizational characteristics signal non-financial benefits and incentives of working in these firms to potential employees and customers. These findings are in accord with extant literature and the balanced scorecard perspective, advocating associations between performance measurement systems and management strategies.

The rationale of this study was to gain meaningful insights into SME awareness, practices and the assumed impacts associated with environmental issues. Supported by the theoretic interpretation of stakeholder theory, the study employed a mailed survey to gain data from SMEs operating nationally across Australia. The findings flag a diversity of results across industry groups and also firm size, particularly in relation to their awareness of environmental and social issues. The results also identified the areas of business activity where firms focus their efforts to be environmentally responsible, together with the types of environmental costs they incorporate into their internal information system. The results also revealed their view on the impact flowing from adopting environmental responsibility.

Currently, innovation is a major challenge in emerging economies such as Tunisia. Although the influence of leadership seems evident in the implementation of innovations, few studies have investigated this impact; especially for SMEs in the ICT sector. For this purpose, we propose to highlight the impact of leadership on the implementation of innovations in SMEs through exploratory qualitative study of five small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the high-tech sector in Tunisia, to understand the management styles of the chief executive officers (CEOs) and their motivations towards innovative activities. The results of this investigation show that the style of leadership in the ICT sector is both participative and transformational. Only organizational innovation has been detected. Collaborative work and group cohesion are the major cultural aspects of innovation. Items from this exploration allows us to clarify aspects of three basic concepts that make up our conceptual model (leadership, culture of innovation, and innovations) for testing later under a quantitative study by the method of structural equation modeling.

Substantial research exists on quality management practices in context to large organisations with plethora of studies in manufacturing organisations while exiguously aiming service sector SMEs. As more and more organisations strive to remain competitive, the concepts and practices of quality management have received increased attention by Indian industry. The contribution of service sector in Indian economy has increased at a faster rate in comparison with other sectors. Considering the pressing need this research explores the literature for a near exhaustive list of practices in quality management by deploying qualitative and descriptive approach. Thereafter, twenty service organizations were surveyed for comprehending their adoption of the type of quality management practices. On the basis of their prioritization or apportioning weight to those practices, a descriptive pattern analysis has been deployed to detect perceived level of adoption/implementation of quality management practices. The findings represent that out of twenty one quality management practices; thirteen practices substantially have been ranked on priority while others require phenomenal acclimatization towards implementation in the Indian scenario. Analysis also reflects that the strength of service SMEs lies with customer focus, management leadership and customer feedback. Further with the integration of contextual factors, as supported by theory, a conceptual framework has been proposed exhibiting relationship between quality management practices with performance and growth. The methodological approach led to the emergence of unique dimensions culminating into new findings with both managerial and entrepreneurial implications. Directions for future scope of research and suggestions for improvement have also been recommended.

This study increases knowledge on SMEs as extended enterprises, particularly from the viewpoint of stakeholder involvement in firms’ R&D activity. Previous research holds that stakeholder involvement benefits firms’ R&D performance, but tends to approach stakeholder involvement by focusing on one or two stakeholder groups at a time. This paper explores the roles and intensity of involvement of different stakeholders in the R&D processes of SMEs and presents a 360-degree model based on prior research to empirically profile the SMEs to see where their gaps in the stakeholder potential are. The study was conducted with multiple qualitative case studies and contributes to the debates on SMEs’ R&D processes and stakeholder perspective on business. This research offers a synthetizing view of the involvement of different stakeholders’ in R&D, an approach that enables to consider SMEs as extended enterprises.

This paper explores different Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions that may be adopted by SMEs in Mauritius. The Mauritian government has the ambition of increasing the contribution of SMEs to the overall GDP of Mauritius from 40 to 65% by year 2025. CRM is about building and enhancing relationships so as to increase long term profitability of the company. The aim of the research is to consider different Social CRM strategies that may be adopted by SMEs to achieve the national exports strategy. This research shows that SMEs consider websites and social media marketing more important as compared to other digital tools. In addition, SMEs are careful about some negative aspects of social media marketing such as negative comments and lack of social metrics. However, most SMEs believe that Social CRM is of great importance for being successful. The research ontology that has been adopted is that the use of CRM may be of great use for SMEs to improve their overall marketing capability.

Despite a growing scholarly interest in performance measurement systems (PMS) for collaborative networks, the literature highlights the success of co-operation from the buyer’s perspective, with far less attention given to the supplier’s perspective (Yeniyurt et al., 2014). In addition, only limited empirical research has been conducted on PMS in small and medium-sized enterprise networks (Bititci et al., 2012). This study investigates how information sharing and supplier integration in a buyer-supplier relationship (BSR) affect suppliers’ performance in the context of small firms. Information sharing includes both providing information (to a buyer) and receiving information (from a buyer). According to the results, neither BSR integration nor information sharing are associated with suppliers’ overall or financial performance. However, BSR integration showed a positive association with suppliers’ non-financial performance. Moreover, information sharing (both providing and receiving) in the innovation perspective showed a positive association with suppliers’ non-financial performance.

The aim of this article is to assess the current state of research on open innovation in SMEs to understand why and how SMEs do open innovation. Stemming from a systematic literature review of 73 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, from 1983 to 2017, we identify five main research focuses on open innovation in SMEs. Directions for future studies on open innovation in SMEs are provided in this article.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors that affect the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create innovations that promote firm growth. Studies regarding the relationship between research intensity and growth have typically produced mixed results, revealing a modest or non-existent influence of innovations on sales growth. These studies have typically used patents as indicators of innovation. We directly asked firms whether their innovations had affected their growth, and we regressed the results over several variables, covering a wide range of dimensions related to (1) personal factors, (2) firm-related factors (including questions that reflect a firm’s innovation strategies), and (3) regional factors. Our analyses of Finnish SMEs revealed that trust, innovation activities and networking are essential components of firms’ ability to create innovations that contribute to high firm growth. A multinomial logistic regression analysis also provided support for the assumption that age, technological level and firm location affect firm performance.

In today’s competitive business environment, family and non-family small and medium enterprises (SMEs) strive to survive despite many challenges. Market knowledge and marketing efforts are crucial for them to sustain and enhance business with limited resources. In this paper, we examined three constructs (i) market orientation, (ii) marketing capabilities and (iii) marketing practices impact on the SMEs’ service sector performance. The interaction effect of ownership type (family and non-family firms) was also observed in the model. Data was collected from 240 SMEs in three major metropolitan cities. This study found positive relationships of each construct (market orientation, (ii) marketing capabilities and (iii) marketing practices) on firm performance as hypothesised. The interaction effect of ownership type i.e. family and non-family, evident on marketing capabilities and SMEs’ performance. Non-family businesses are open for adopting new ideas and personnel into decision making. Family firms should be more adaptable to compete with non-family firms. The managerial and theoretical implications discussed in family and non-family firms’ perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the psychological profile of the Tunisian SMEs founder amid the COVID-19 crisis. The results of this research demonstrated that their psychological profile in times of COVID-19 crisis is quadridimensional and that each of these four dimensions (tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty, attitude towards risk, self-confidence and locus of control) are unidimensional. This research was conducted in three Tunisian industries (textiles and clothing industries, agro-food industries and industries of ceramic and glass building materials) via the administration of a questionnaire via LinkedIn (between March, 15 and May, 15 2020) to more than 400 SMEs’ founders. The critical contributions of this research are the clarification of the role of psychological factors in the field of entrepreneurship, which remains unclear, by enriching previous research on entrepreneurial personality. The main findings of this study: (1) the four key psychological traits correspond to the “specific traits” of an entrepreneur; (2) these “specific traits” are more suitable to study the profile of the SME’s founder profile at the time of crisis than the more “stable traits” — the Big Five traits; (3) the psychological profile of the SME’s founder in a hyper-turbulent environment (namely the COVID-19 crisis) correspond to the psychological entrepreneurial profile.

There is fair consensus regarding the importance of creating a supportive internal environment within organizations to encourage entrepreneurial mindsets and behavior. The majority of extant studies have involved large-sized organizations in the Western context. This study aims to extend the understanding of well-established antecedents of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the Indian context, propose a new variable, and test its influence on CE. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to a sample of 185 respondents belonging to various managerial levels across different Indian SMEs. The results show a positive and significant relationship between management support, rewards and recognition and organizational values for fostering CE in Indian SMEs. SMEs play a significant role in socio-economic development, and this study can help understand how the benefits of CE can be leveraged to increase SMEs’ innovativeness and competitive advantage.

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world engage in e-commerce and e-business to support business operations as well as to enhance revenue generation from nontraditional sources. Internet and e-business technologies (IEBT) are the pillars of e-commerce and e-business. Despite the universal appeal of IEBT, it has been reported that the adoption of such technologies by SMEs is influenced by contextual imperatives. The objective of this research is to investigate factors impacting the adoption of IEBT in SMEs based in the Maritime region of Canada. A research model based on the diffusion of innovation (DIT) and the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) frameworks was used to guide the discourse. Such factors as relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, management support, organizational readiness, external pressure, and government support were used to develop relevant hypotheses. Questionnaires were mailed to key informants in SMEs. Data analysis was performed using the partial least squares (PLS) technique. Predictions related to relative advantage, management support, and competition's pressure were confirmed. The study did not support the constructs of compatibility, complexity, government support, customers' and partners' pressures as significant predictors of IEBT adoption by the SMEs in the region.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the spine of the European economy and play a key role in adding value in all sectors of the economy. However, due to a lack of methodology and time, SME entrepreneurs struggle to formalize their strategies and too often remain ill-prepared to face today’s potential crises. This paper aims to propose a Risk Management (RM) tool to identify and assess the impact of risks on specific business strategic dimensions. The hypotheses and robustness of the model are tested using Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis shows that a reduced strategic risk matrix (size $4\times 4$) could provide the same quality of information as a full strategic risk matrix (size $20\times 10$) in about 80% of the cases, regardless of the weight of each criterion and the values of each risk factor. The results extend the limited use of RM tool in the field of SME Risk Management.

Knowledge management as traditionally espoused has two main strands: dealing with the aggregation of knowledge, and the transfer of knowledge. However, this official discourse and its key concepts grew out of the experience of large, mature, highly structured and dispersed enterprises. A look at the environment in which small enterprises work suggests a different set of key concepts, considering the notions of experience and structural capital as key knowledge manipulation tools. These tools are particularly relevant to environments of high uncertainty, volatility and risk — and so also have a significant contribution to make to the direction of knowledge management for larger enterprises, where adaptiveness and ignorance management tools are becoming increasingly important.

Information systems cannot improve organisational performance if they are not used (Davis et al., 1989, as cited by (Merono-Cerdan et al., 2008). In addition, (Devaraj and Kohli, 2003) showed that actual use may be an important link to information technology (IT) value. Under this approach lies the idea that the simple presence of collaborative technologies (CTs) is not enough to evaluate their real influence on organisational performance. Therefore, the researchers adopted the view that CTs impacts on organisational performance should be considered as a multistage process which starts at adoption and extends to use. Therefore, this paper analyses the impact of intranet CTs on organisational performance not directly, by measures such as adoption versus non-adoption, but through an intermediary variable (intranet use orientations). Different intranet use orientations (e-information, e-communication and e-transaction) represent actual CTs use. Hence the impact of each orientation on organisational performance is empirically evaluated. In order to achieve the research objectives, data were collected through a postal survey, from 71 small- and medium-sized (SMEs) located in a developing country such as Saudi Arabia. Research hypotheses were tested through ANOVA and hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that different CTs are associated with distinct intranet use orientations. The results further demonstrated that there are positive relationships between the intranet use orientations and organisational performance. Finally, the results confirmed the existence of complementarities between the intranet use orientations.

Studies on organisations have indicated the significance of acknowledging subcultures across an organisation. It is therefore important to consider dedicated Knowledge Management (KM) strategies for different "entities" within each ontology level to suit their unique characteristics. However, a review of the literature indicates that this concept so far appears to have only been applied down to departmental level. There is little research exploring the next level down, to whether or not different "teams" require different KM strategies to remain competitive. In order to answer this question, this research explores what differences there are between teams in the context of KM by using a case study of a medium-sized high-tech manufacturer in New Zealand. Different KM practices between homogeneous teams of design engineers from different technical disciplines within the same department were investigated. The findings confirmed that in the context of KM, teams within a department do not always behave homogeneously. Four factors that caused different tacit knowledge sharing practices between the functional teams in the Engineering Department of the case company were identified: The nature of the technical discipline, team resources, departmental structure design and team culture. Based on these findings, a KM approach defining a specific KM strategy for each team was then proposed. This approach provides managers with an alternative perspective on KM implementation, which may help mitigate the high failure rate of KM among businesses reported in the literature.

This paper presents an analysis of intermediate impacts from knowledge management between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial action. Results from data for 110 small and medium-sized enterprises in Gulf countries show the presence of a partial mediation from knowledge management linking entrepreneurial intention with the transition to action. Moreover, following the approaches of previous authors, the results show the presence of a moderating influence from knowledge management on the relation between entrepreneurial intention and the transition to entrepreneurial action. The originality of this research lies in its attempt to apprehend the relationship between entrepreneurial intent and action by using a knowledge-based model.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are now growing rapidly and playing an important role in the development of the national economy. As the economy grows, the contradiction between the credit risk of SMEs and the credit risk early warning mechanism of traditional supply chain financing has become increasingly important. In response to the issues of a single source of business information, the high investment cost of the existing early risk early warning mechanism, etc., from a commercial bank credit risk management perspective, this paper proposes to build an SMEs credit risk early warning system based on reliable blockchain data. The reliability of the data obtained is assessed utilising a hierarchical analysis and a vague overall judgement method. The results show that the use of blockchain technology can enhance the credibility and accuracy of the data, which provides a data guarantee for more rapid risk alert.

Research shows that data-driven decision making using business analytics can create competitive advantages for organisations. However, this can only happen if the organisations successfully accept and use the business analytics effectively. Many studies reported business analytics implementation in large organisations, and fewer studies focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, SMEs are scoring lower scores in technology absorption. Therefore, it is essential to examine the business analytics adoption among SMEs. Previous research has reported that relative advantage and compatibility were the most highlighted factors under the technology dimension in adopting innovative technologies. However, the literature reported inconsistent findings on the significance of relative advantage and compatibility in adopting various technologies. Therefore, this research conducted a quantitative survey-based study to examine the significance of relative advantage and compatibility in predicting business analytics adoption among SMEs. The sample was selected using systematic random sampling from a Malaysian national entrepreneurs database. There were 241 SMEs that responded to the online survey sent by email. The analysis using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) informed that relative advantage was significantly related to business analytics adoption; however, compatibility did not influence the business analytics adoption by SMEs in Malaysia. This finding shows that the better the relative advantage of business analytics SMEs know, the higher the possibility of adoption. In addition, less compatibility of the SMEs in Malaysia hindered the business analytics adoption. This study contributes to the theoretical aspect, which statistically informed the finding out of inconsistent gaps in technology adoption. Furthermore, this study also contributes to the practical aspect, in which managers, owners, vendors, and policy-makers can use these findings to spur and facilitate business analytics adoption among SMEs in developing countries.

The increasing recognition of the negative impact of knowledge risks on the operations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has led to a need for effective methods to evaluate and manage these risks. SMEs often adopt a reactive approach to risk management, which may not be sufficient to address the complex and evolving nature of knowledge risks. This study aims to use the grey-DEMATEL technique to evaluate operational knowledge risks in SMEs, with a focus on identifying the most critical risks and their potential causes and effects. The results revealed 11 operational knowledge risks, and found that outsourcing risks are the most critical among them. Communication risks and improper knowledge application were also found to be significant. Additionally, these risks were successfully categorised into effect risks (including relational risk, espionage, knowledge waste, and continuity risk) and causal risks (including knowledge waste, risks related to knowledge gaps, and the risk of using obsolete or unreliable knowledge). These categories provide a framework for understanding the potential causes and effects of operational knowledge risks and may be useful for designing risk management strategies. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to use the grey-DEMATEL technique to evaluate operational knowledge risks in SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical approach of prioritizing the most critical success factors influencing the supply chain performance in SMEs by using an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach. The MICMAC analysis has been also considered for identifying the factors having a high influential power. Our findings show that, on the one hand, the production system, flexibility, communication and planning tools, process strategy, environmental uncertainty and innovation are the major factors influencing the supply chain performance. On the other hand, relationships with customers and suppliers, marketing and quality are seen as unfavorable outcomes to the supply chain managers and practitioners. These findings may help the policy makers, managers, and practitioners in formulating the strategies and policies for implementation of effectiveness supply chain.

The reduction of wastes, improved industrial performance, and the SME environment are very important topics for the image of the organization. Recently, several business managers have implemented lean manufacturing in order to improve and optimize productivity and quality of production, some of them have achieved significant results while others have not yet succeeded in setting up lean manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the implementation of lean manufacturing in SMEs worldwide, to identify and present the critical difficulties and obstacles that impact the implementation, and to highlight the success factors of manufacturing firms. The bibliographic study findings allowed us to collect a list of the difficulties that we classified according to the amount of occurrences which showed that five difficulties represent 77, 78% of the discontent causes, from what we note: the lack of leadership and the lack of commitment of top management; lack of financial resources; resistance to change; lack of training and knowledge about lean tools; and lack of know-how, skills and expertise. We noticed that these difficulties are extremely identical whether in Morocco or elsewhere in the world. In the same way, we have pointed out that the commitment of top management is a key factor that determines the success of the implementation and the success of the company. Finally, the novelty of our paper lies in the preliminary proposal of a model that explains the impact of the management commitment on the performance of the company, and on its customers and employees.

Researchers have examined innovation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), identified factors that contribute to innovation, and concluded that SMEs tend to be innovative and innovation improves performance. Do these findings hold for high-technology SMEs that are located in a newly industrialized economy? Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, and literature from entrepreneurship and innovation studies, we develop and test hypotheses using quantitative data collected from a survey. While the results of the study generally support prior research conclusions, there is a surprising finding: top management experience negatively moderates the effect of innovation on performance. Qualitative data from follow-up interviews with CEOs of SMEs helped us understand this finding.

Innovations have acquired a key role in the growth and competition strategies of firms today. They are regarded as an essential tool for stimulating growth and enabling firms to master the competition brought about by the forces of globalization. However, in particular, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Western countries are facing insurmaintable barriers to innovation. To what extent might the concept of global innovation and, more specifically, the internationalization of research and development (R&D) be an answer to deal with these problems, is discussed in this paper. Based on empirical studies conducted by the authors in Germany, the paper presents results from research-in-progress and proposes a reference model for chances and challenges of global innovation activities.

Inventory management (IM) plays a decisive role in the enhancement of efficiency and competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises. Therefore, major manufacturing enterprises are following IM practices as a strategy to improve their efficiency and achieve competitiveness. However, the spread of IM culture among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is limited due to lack of initiative and expertise as well as financial limitations in developed countries, let alone developing countries. Against this backdrop, this paper makes an attempt to ascertain the role and importance of IM practices and performance of SMEs in the machine tool industry in the city of Bangalore, India. The relationship between IM practices and inventory cost is probed based on primary data gathered from 91 SMEs. The paper brings out the fact that formal IM practices have a positive impact on the inventory cost and therefore, the IM performance of SMEs.

This paper investigates the distinctive technology protection strategies of entrepreneurial technology firms. In contrast with much popular opinion, it is reported that intellectual property features more prominently in the business of small entrepreneurial firms than it does in the business of large, established mature firms. The intellectual property portfolios of technology firms of all sizes and ages exhibit a rich array of instruments in addition to patents for protecting technology, including trade secrets, trademarks and copyright, together with licenses to externally sourced technology. The intellectual property profiles of technology firms appear to be influenced by their context, organizational profiles and corporate goals and by the character of their technology.

This paper explores the effects of firm characteristics on the commercialization management and anticipated innovation returns within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our results suggest that young and small firms tend to be more innovative and have higher expectation for anticipated returns despite their less systematic management. By contrast, medium-sized firms are more likely to formalize their management, yet they have lower anticipated returns. Small equity-financed firms tend to approach a more systematic management of commercialization and anticipate high returns. Mature firms pursue a less systematic approach and anticipate lower returns. Overall, our findings show that firm characteristics such as size, age, R&D level, type of financing, innovation novelty and protection of intellectual properties play a significant role in the commercialization process. Employing an updated typology, this study provides additional insights into the firms' commercialization management and sheds some light on the owner-managers' anticipated returns from innovation.

Research into product innovation and financial orientation in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is burgeoning, yet our understanding of the finance product innovation and performance remains unclear. Given the lack of empirical research on the role of financial orientation on innovation performance in the SMEs, especially in an Asian context, the current study addresses the relationships between financial orientation, product innovation and business performance in the Japanese SMEs, because it has a long established record on product innovation. Data were generated from 189 Japanese businesses and the results were analyzed using multiple regression. Results confirm the study hypotheses. Implications for management are discussed, along with suggestions for further research.

During the last few decades, research and development (R&D) have always been regarded as the most important or even the only factor in the attempt to explain the innovation capability and performance of enterprises, industries and economies, while to a large extent, those heterogeneous innovation activities beyond formal R&D are ignored or underestimated. Some research has shown that non-R&D innovation activities contribute to make full use of resources beyond R&D to promote performance, especially to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with weak R&D capability. However, non-R&D innovators’ behavior is still a black box by far, and especially few empirical research have been conducted in China context. This paper first explores the heterogeneous innovation patterns of non-R&D innovation by survey among Chinese SMEs in Zhejiang Province. It shows that, product and service customization, imitation and design, technology adoption and incremental modification, organizational innovation and marketing innovation are the main patterns of non-R&D innovation in China. Then, a case study is followed to cross-validate the patterns and relationships between non-R&D innovation and growth of SMEs in China. Generally, this study has implications for both academia and policy-makers. As it demonstrates, non-R&D innovation is an effective way for SMEs to quickly grow and sustain competitiveness in competition. On the other hand, this study helps to optimize some of current innovation policies for SMEs in China, where policy incentives are mainly R&D-focused. It also likely sheds light on the SMEs in other emerging economies.

Research on innovative technological methods in SMEs’ production processes is progressively receiving attention. However, little is known about the emerging phenomenon of additive manufacturing (AM), which may represent a significant strategic lever for fostering a company’s competitiveness and performance, especially for SMEs. Our aim is to investigate the effects of AM on SMEs’ production process, in order to better understand the relative outcomes of such an innovative technique. We used latent content analysis for empirically analyzing SMEs present in one of the most important Italian gold jewelry districts. Our findings suggest that the AM introduction in a company’s production process effectively results in many positive outcomes, such as process innovation, customer satisfaction, costs, revenues, profits, and competitive advantage. Specifically, there is a positive linkage between AM and a company’s performance. Hence, such an innovative technique may be interpreted as a viable growth strategy for SMEs. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate how combining internal and external knowledge sources (KS) may influence product and process innovation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from developing economies in order to improve their financial performances (FPs). Previous research mostly supported that internal KS influence innovation directly as well as indirectly, moderating the relationship between external KS and innovation performance (IP), with this moderation being more prominent in the case of high-technology firms. These studies also supported that innovation influences FP more strongly in this type of firm. The present study proposes that, in developing countries, the opposite occurs. The moderation relationship of internal KS on the relationship between external KS and IP would be stronger in low-technology firms, as well as the positive effect of innovation on FP. We tested our propositions using a sample of 1551 Brazilian manufacturing SMEs controlling by the technological intensity of the industry and confirmed a good part of the proposed hypotheses.

This study explores how training of facilitators and coordinators can promote the creation of high-performing innovation teams in SMEs, and analyzes why some trained teams are successful and others are not. Within a participatory action research framework, eight innovation teams were newly created in six SMEs in the Spanish service sector and were followed up over six months. Facilitators and coordinators underwent 12 h of training prior to creating new innovation teams in their own organizations, whose work was followed up over six months. Team processes and results were analyzed based on both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interviews, incident diaries, and open questions) data that were gathered longitudinally across the study period. Our results showed that, despite complaints about poor management of face-to-face meetings, difficulties in the use of information and communication technologies and work overload are surmountable. The greatest barrier for innovation teams is a lack of commitment on the part of top managers and low involvement and participation by team members. Reflexivity, both inside and outside the team (i.e. in follow up sessions), was one of the most valued and useful strategies for innovation teams. Our findings highlight the importance of training programs that can provide both technical and emotional support to team facilitators and coordinators and enable SMEs to create high-performing innovation teams despite their limited financial and human resources.

The gastronomy sector was one of the industries most fundamentally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the subsequent disruption of demand. Entrepreneurs were challenged to secure their survival. This study aims to analyze how COVID-19 has accelerated digital technologies in the hospitality industry. The study assumes that due to lockdowns successful restaurants in Baden–Wuerttemberg have developed new digital business models. Data for the quantitative study were collected through a survey among randomly selected restaurants carried out between December 2020 and February 2021. A cluster analysis is used to identify different types of restaurants concerning their propensity to innovate and their success. Results of the study show that the level of digitization is one important factor regarding the range of entrepreneurial success.

The advent of social media allows SMEs to use marketing information gleaned from social media to develop functions that enable them to serve their customers better. Small businesses can improve their communication with customers through social media to understand their ideas and thereby increase their profits. Small businesses can gain brand awareness on social media at a lower cost, as consumers can spread word of mouth to more potential customers on social media. SMEs can get information about changing customer preferences for products and services by communicating with customers on social media. Marketing insights gained from social media can support innovative strategies to improve retailer performance. SMEs can use information obtained from customers via social media to make accurate and timely brand innovation decisions. This research uses the PLS-SEM method to study the relationship between social factors in information processing and customer relationship performance. Data collection using interviews and distributing questionnaires to SME merchants. This study aims to influence customer relationship performance by studying the impact of social customer relationship management (s-CRM) and customer relationship store positioning on customer engagement and social information processes.

Digital transformation has transformed the business processes and operations of firms worldwide. Companies need to adopt new technologies capable of automating and boosting the business to maintain competitiveness in a global market. This study aims to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that impact Cloud ERP implementation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A systematic literature review was conducted with the support of the PRISMA-P. The identified factors were classified following the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework. The CSFs that stood out most were system compatibility with the organization’s needs, data security, and senior management commitment support. This study contributes to the literature by identifying and grouping the CSFs that most impact the implementation of Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) in SMEs and to the practice by serving as a guide for managers and decision-makers of SMEs.

In order to achieve successful open innovation partnerships, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to choose very carefully whom they partner with. Open innovation has gained significant attention as a strategy for organizations to leverage external knowledge and resources to foster innovation and competitiveness. However, few studies have examined the dynamics of open innovation partnerships between startups and SMEs. This study adopts a qualitative research approach, employing multiple case studies to gather data. We mapped the reasons German medium-sized enterprises chose to partner with startups, enumerated the benefits and challenges they encountered during the projects, and uncovered the keystones of successful open innovation partnerships. Furthermore, our findings led to the discovery that startups can help SMEs to become more digital. Finally, we suggest future research topics in this field.

The Philippines is among the emerging markets in the world. Along with China, the Philippines attracts international enterprises seeking to establish a presence in Asia. This study examines small/medium enterprises (SMEs) management and employee perceptions of customer service on a number of dimensions. The results suggest that managers and employees in the Philippines behave in similar ways to those in Western countries, but there are differences, probably related to cultural characteristics. As the Philippine market becomes more involved with global business, the importance of service quality increases. The results can be valuable in the formulation of training, sales and marketing, business development, human resources management, and strategic planning. Implications for practice are discussed.

This study investigates the barriers to growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kosova. It is based on a SME survey conducted by Riinvest Institute at the end of 2002 which identified critical business environment barriers perceived by entrepreneurs such as legal environment, administrative burden, external financing, tax burden and unfair competition. First, based on this SME survey, the econometric model is constructed in order to test empirically the validity of Gibrat's Law. Then, in order to identify and measure the impact of current reported business environment barriers on SME growth, the Gibrat's Law is augmented with other business environment variables. The econometric results suggest that firms' growth is negatively linked to firms' size and age, suggesting that Gibrat's Law does not hold for growing SMEs in Kosova. Also, the growth of the SMEs is reduced by the presence of the business environmental barriers such as tax burden, unfair competition and inadequate financing. Econometric results raise important issues and policy implications for the development of the SME sector in Kosova.

Failure among SMEs has been attributed to size, age, location and being part of particular industries and not part of a network. These determinants, if used as surrogates for resources, suggest firms that lack such resources are more susceptible to failure. Using the resource-based view of the firm, this paper aims to do a post-mortem examination on the attributes of failed SMEs by analyzing data of more than 13,000 failed firms in the UK between 1999 and 2009. The findings reveal that failure is not merely a function of lack of resources. Although these findings shed new light on attributes of failed SMEs, there are still some limitations to the work that must be taken into consideration when applying the results.

This study investigates the adoption of technological innovation in a least-developed economy: Lao People's Democratic Republic. World Bank Survey data encompassing nearly 380 enterprises from 2009 and 2012 were used to analyze the effects of collaboration between smaller domestic firms and larger firms, both foreign and domestic. Collaboration with larger firms is statistically significant for adopting new technologies and for adopting new processes, with the former significant for sales. In addition, foreign ownership is statistically significant for sales in one of the OLS estimates. This suggests small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly the latter at this point in Lao PDR, would benefit from membership in global value/supply chains.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are often identified as one of the most important strategies for enhancing the livelihoods of people in Rwanda. This research analyzed the factors influencing the performance of SMEs in the Musanze district in the Northern Province. A survey was conducted with 52 registered SMEs selected from three sectors of Musanze. The sample was obtained by using proportional allocation sampling where the number of SMEs within each sector was considered. Both quantitative and qualitative data from SMEs were collected using structured questionnaires. Factor analysis and bivariate correlation analysis were used to facilitate data analysis. The results of this study showed that starting SMEs incurred a mean annual net income loss of -185,965Rwf (-295US$). However, the average net annual income increased to 970,820Rwf (1540US$). There was a positive correlation between annual net income, business experience and asset size (p < 0.05). Three factors that determined the performance of SMEs are marketing and entrepreneurship skills, working environment and materials and infrastructure availability. Future policy interventions should consider these strategic areas for enhanced visibility of SMEs.

This paper looks at the mediating effect of entrepreneurs' actual behavioral controls on the relationship between psychic distance stimuli and export mode choice of SMEs. Based on a dataset of 84 Vietnamese exporters, we find that: (i) entrepreneurs' actual behavioral controls and organizational factors are determinants of Vietnamese SMEs' export mode choice; (ii) psychic distance (geographic distance and psychic distance stimuli) does not influence Vietnamese SMEs' export mode choice; (iii) entrepreneurs' actual behavioral controls do not play the mediating or moderating role in the relationship between psychic distance and Vietnamese SMEs' export mode choice.