Business Plan for Small Business Development

Cielom tejto diplomovej prace je navrhnut podnikatelsky plan na rozvoj malej firmy. V prvej casti je teoreticky opisane prostredie malych firiem. Dalej je skumane obchodne prostredie firmy a adopcia praktik riadenia vztahu so zakaznikmi (CRM) v oblasti malych firiem. V poslednej casti autor navrhuje podnikatelsky zamer jednoduchej webovej CRM sluzby Zakaznici.eu a detailnejsie specifikuje projekt rozvoja.The aim of this diploma thesis is to propose a business plan for development of small business. First part introduces small business from a theoretical perspective. Next the company and its business environment is assessed and an adoption of customer relationship management practices (CRM) and software among small businesses is examined. In the last part author proposes new business plan for simple CRM web service Zakaznici.eu and further specifies the development of a project.

End-of-life cycle product management

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-77).Market leadership requires effective management of product life cycle, starting from the launch of a new product until its retirement. In this particular project, an exploratory study of business practices in the management of products in the decline phase and the eventual decision of product abandonment is conducted through surveys and interviews of senior executives from Fortune 500 companies, focusing mainly on food, networking equipment, medical devices, consumer electronics and retail industries. Actual names of the companies are not revealed for confidentiality reasons. Also, the implementations, assumptions and level of acceptance of decision support system (DSS) modules on product lifecycle management are analyzed. Finally, companies' business processes are compared and enhancements to current DSS systems are proposed.by Gokhan Usanmaz.M.Eng

Mirror - Vol. 11, No. 01 - April 02, 1987

The Mirror (sometimes called the Fairfield Mirror) is the official student newspaper of Fairfield University, and is published weekly during the academic year (September - May). It runs from 1977 - the present; current issues are available online.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/archives-mirror/1232/thumbnail.jp

Patterns and practices of contemporary software entrepreneurs

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-109)."When you write a book, you need to have more than an interesting story. You need to have a desire to tell the story. You need to be personally invested in some way. You need to care about it." Malcolm Gladwell Author, "The Tipping Point". "I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out, that is the reason why I compose. " Ludwig van Beethoven. The above quotes answer the basic question that many people have asked me (and I have asked myself): Why are you writing a thesis? The answer is simple: I believe there's a story to be told, and I have a personal passion for the subject. This thesis will analyze the patterns and practices of contemporary software startups. Though much has been written about software companies and much has been written on startups, I'm primarily interested in the intersection: software startups. More specifically, I will explore contemporary software startups that were started after the Internet bubble burst. About The Website: onstartups.comAs part of the thesis writing experience, I started a blog called "OnStartups" (http://onstartups.com) where I have been posting articles on software startups. More information on the onstartups.com site is included at the end of the thesis. My passion for learning more about software startups, the opportunity to work with two exceptional individuals as co-advisors and the overwhelming response to my onstartups.com website are my primary motivations for this thesis. Onward!by Dharmesh Shah.S.M.M.O.T

E-Business assimilation in the context of Saudi Arabia : utilising Habermas' lifeworld and system theory

E-business assimilation in Saudi Arabia becomes critical due to the overarching social issues that the stakeholders encounter. Grounded in Habermas‘ Critical Social Theory (CST), this study applies the theory of lifeworld and system to understand the relevance of the Islamic faith as well as the Arab culture in the conduct of businesses in Saudi Arabia, which in turn, would make e-business assimilation a success. This study seeks to contribute to the IS literature‘s lack of research in which the aim is to emphasise social factors as the main determinants of e-business assimilation. We point out that inherent to the other important factors (e.g., technological, organisational, and cultural), people‘s actions (emancipated or regulated) are most critical to realising business‘ innovation and growth through utilising e-business technology. The sample of the study was composed of 1071 SAP end-users from the three leading Saudi companies, namely, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), and Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed), an affiliate of SABIC. Also, seven consultants contributed their knowledge and expertise regarding e-business adoption, on which they have been working for many years. The necessary data were collected through two methods: (1) distributed survey questionnaire for the SAP end-users; and (2) face – to - face (semi-structured) interview for the consultants. The value of Habermas‘ theory of lifeworld and system is shown by the development of a business model that can be used to achieve e-business assimilation success in the context of Saudi Arabia because it has the ability to distinguish the actions in various social situations – whether the actions reflect emancipation or restriction of the actors‘ way of living; and consequently, whether the actors‘ way of living should remain as it is or should undergo necessary changes. The newly developed ―E-Business Assimilation Model‖ (EAM) includes as its constructs the most important factors relevant to e-business success as well as the concepts of lifeworld and system: that is, all factors are subject to be ―filtered‖ through both the lifeworld and the system constructs. Through EAM, it was found that it could be easy for the project team to execute an e-business project if they will give critical consideration II to the people‘s social and cultural beliefs, aspirations, perspectives and preferences. Understanding the people‘s social and cultural means allows the project team to customise the e-business systems to be installed, and to make sure that the new system really fits the organisational setting. For every challenging lifeworld and system situation, the top management can provide improved solutions to be applied. The findings show how SAP implementation in the selected companies was affected by social factors such as age and gender; cultural factors such as religion; organisational factors such as performance motivating, management support and consultancy; and technological factors. The companies‘ change management programmes had enabled resolution of problems by the adoption of measures suited to each company‘s holistic characteristics and needs. Evidence of system-lifeworld interactions was demonstrated in each of these cases. Saudi society was shown to be strongly lifeworld oriented, such that ‗system‘ comes into conflict with a member of lifeworld and there are some lifeworld elements (such as gender roles and constraints) that system cannot change but must work within. The findings demonstrate the value of a system – lifeworld perspective in analysing factors influencing a change such as e-business assimilation and result in development of an elaborated model for holistic analysis of pertinent factors

Open Source In The Clouds - How Organizational Ambidexterity Shapes and is Shaped by Disruptive Innovation in an Open Source Software Provider

How do incumbent firms effectively respond to disruptive innovations? The extant literature shows that incumbent firms, while often excelling at incremental innovation, usually fare poorly in the face of disruptive innovation. Even firms that have been the direct beneficiaries of disruptive innovations in the past can fall prey to more agile competitors during these periods of upheaval. Organizational Ambidexterity – the idea of striking the right balance between the exploitation of existing resources and the exploration of new capabilities – can be used as a theoretical framework to investigate how firms adapt and change in the face of disruptive innovation. In this study, we use ambidexterity as a lens to study Red Hat, a leader in Open Source Software, during the company’s transition through a period of disruptive innovation – namely Cloud Computing. The study reveals a number of interesting insights. The first is that the nature of the disruptive innovation itself shaped Red Hat’s organizational response. The second is that Red Hat demonstrated a high level of contextual ambidexterity in its response which, in turn, led Red Hat to selectively adopt structural ambidexterity principles. The third is that Red Hat’s history as a successful Open Source Software company enabled it to implicitly become ambidextrous by adopting and implementing key Open Source cultural values. In conclusion we discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice

Innovation Agents

The standard narrative of entrepreneurship is one of self-employed creative individuals working out of their garage or independently owned start-up companies. Intrapreneurship--where employees are responsible for being alert to new opportunities inside firms--is another model for developing innovations. Relatively little is known, however, about the latter process through which large, complex firms engage in groundbreaking corporate entrepreneurship. This Article\u27s focus is on these types of innovation agents. It provides a thorough account of the positive and negative spillovers of intrapreneurial firms while making the following key points: First, intrapreneurial companies utilize their economies of scale, scope, and age to deliver innovations to the masses. They transform ideas, labor, and raw materials into tangible assets that can be traded in the market. Second, in doing so they offer individual entrepreneurs opportunities to capitalize their knowledge. Sustaining entrepreneurs\u27 prospects for supra-competitive profits is the main engine that motivates the latter to invest in discoveries in the first place. Lastly, intrapreneurial firms also serve as greenhouses for entrepreneurship through the migration of their own talented labor in the market. While these spillovers have tremendous societal benefits, they can also introduce harms. First, the race for the next breakthrough might result in anticompetitive behavior by rivals who conspire with employees-intrapreneurs to leave their firms and take with them confidential information. Second, intrapreneurs often aspire to undertake their own independent journey. In so doing, they leave secure positions and high salaries while carrying valuable knowledge and expertise. This, in return, often prompts intrapreneurial firms to act opportunistically and lock-in or lock-out intrapreneurs in restrictive and wasteful arrangements. As a solution, this Article proposes ways law can balance the positive and negative spillovers of intrapreneurship and ways the tax system can help achieve such result

Adoption state of artificial intelligence: a saas perspective

The following thesis will focus on the general topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The main purpose of this work is to investigate how generally AI is being implemented and developed in modern times. Artificial Intelligence is critical in the SaaS industry. The study aims to get an overview of the state of adoption of Artificial Intelligence with particular attention to how it is in the SaaS industry and what it may indicate for the future. The author compares secondary data analysis with interviews of SaaS experts to better understand of how the SaaS industry differentiates from the general market

SADC Trade Protocol and its potential impact on the South African clothing and textiles industry : a case study of Pepkor

Generally, it is accepted that regional co-operation and integration is effective means to facilitate economic growth and sustainable development, particularly among the developing countries. Even the developed countries have adopted the regional approach since it is believed that its benefits outweigh the costs associated with it. Africa also acknowledged this, and formed various regional trading arrangements. However, this research focuses more on regional cooperation and integration in the SADC region. The SADC Trade Protocol was signed by all member states in 1996, with the aim to eventually form a free trade area by 2008 by gradually removing all tariffs and non-tariff barriers to intraregional trade. SADC member states are mainly concerned about the implications of the protocol on their economies, particularly the performance of their industries, as well as on trade patterns in the region. Hence, the process of ratification and implementation of the protocol has taken much longer than expected, due to ongoing negotiations between member states in an endeavour to address their concerns. Some of their major concerns are being addressed through revisions and additions to the provisions of the trade protocol. The implementation started on 01 September 2000. This research aims to establish the potential impact of the trade protocol and the proposed free trade area on the South African manufacturing industry, particularly on the clothing and textiles industry. The most crucial part of this paper is a case study, which has been conducted on one of South Africa's largest clothing companies using telephonic and face-to-face interviews, in an attempt to gain insight on the impact of the trade protocol, especially the clause on rules of origin, on the clothing and textiles industry and how the industry will continue to respond to the implementation of the protocol. How will the trade protocol impact on the trade and investment flows in the region? Will there be any specific implications on pattern of capital flows within the region? What about choice of location for future investment in the region? While there are benefits of the trade protocol for the region, through its promotion of investment and intra-regional trade and opening a larger market for the member states, it remains a concern that some member states will not benefit as much as their counterparts. The impact of the rapidly changing trade and investment environment on various sectors may differ, and the sensitive sectors remain a major concern. What are the major concerns about the clothing and textiles industry, in view of its sensitive nature? This research seeks to provide answers to various questions pertaining to the SADC trade protocol and its impact on manufacturing industry in South Africa and in the SADC region. It draws conclusions about the clothing and textiles industry as well as the manufacturing industry at large, based on the experience of one large clothing company

Information Outlook, May 2004

Volume 8, Issue 5https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2004/1004/thumbnail.jp