Survival in the digital age – A framework for formulating a digital transformation strategy in SME

Many digitally successful companies have established a dedicated digital transformation strategy. An SME perspective on this topic remains unclear. I fill this research gap with a qualitative research approach. Main findings include a set of 14 strategic questions along four summarizing categories – use of technologies, changes in value creation, operational changes, and financial aspects. Three out of these four categories hold true in SME environments as they are valid in large corporation settings. I recommend establishing the term “organizational changes” instead of “structural changes” in order to increase fit to the mindset of SME owners. Answer options enrich these strategic questions, based on the experience of successful examples from the field. I identify differences between SME and large corporations in the areas of value creation, organizational changes and financial aspects. This paper elaborates theory on digital transformation strategy, contributing to understand management behavior and decision levels in an economic environment, where the adaptation of digital technologies has become an imperative

Contributions to Applied International Business Management Research

The research papers published in this reader were presented to an audience of academicians and practitioners at the 2011 Global Business Management Research Conference at Fulda University. The conference was conducted under the topic “Recent Developments in Business Management Research in an International and Regional Context”

The Impact Of Application Of Value Clarification Technique (Vct) Towards Ecoliteracy And Critical Thinking Skill Student Of Social Science In Primary School

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the application of Value Clarification Technique (VCT) to ecoliteracy and critical thinking skills of elementary school students in learning Social Science. The method used in this study is a quasi experimental design withnon-equivalent control group design, using the two study groups. Subjects in this study were students of class IVSDN Cijerah Indah, Bandung Kulon District Bandung City. The experimental group was given the treatment of learning Value Clarification Technique (VCT) and the controlgroup was given conventional learning. The results showed that in general there is a difference between learners ecoliteracy experimental class and control class and critical thinking skills among learners experimental class and control class after each class has been getting treatment that has been set. Keywords: value clarification technique (VCT), critical thinking skill, ecoliterac

Proceedings of International Conference on Tourism Development: Building The Future Of Tourism

The International Conference on Tourism Development 2013 with the theme ‘Building the Future of Tourism’ is a sequal of the same event held on the 9-11th January 2005. The previous conference carried the theme ‘Tourism: Vehicle for Development’ triggered another angle of tourism research in this year’s affair. The conference organiser plans to make this academic activity an annual occasion since it was well received by participants. The proceeding compiles papers that are presented at this year’s conference. All presented papers went through strict peer-review before final papers are selected. It is hoped that the proceedings present high quality papers and worthy of discussions in line with the conference’s theme. This year’s event is organised by the Sustainable Tourism Research Cluster in collaboration with the Responsible Rural Tourism Network

Cognitive and Affective Evaluation in Forming Unique Destination Image Among Tourists Visiting Malacca

Since Melaka is positioned as Historical City inaugurated by UNESCO in 2008, the study suggests unique image as a new component of image associations. A number of overseas tourists were selected as samples . Results showed that unique image was significantly constructed and affected by cognitive and affective evaluations. Cognitive evaluation was significantly affected by the types of information source, while affective evaluation was affected significantly by social psychological motivations. The research proves that Melaka has fulfilled the requirements to differentiate the city as a unique tourist destination. The positioning of Melaka as truly Malaysia and World heritage should be translated into the rational benefit of encountering unspoiled historical side and multi-racial living cultures. Positive unique image creation leads to intention to revisit and recommend others experiencing the world heritage and history of Melaka

Innovation, Internationalization and Entrepreneurship

Over the past years, businesses have had to tackle the issues caused by numerous forces from political, technological and societal environment. The changes in the global market and increasing uncertainty require us to focus on disruptive innovations and to investigate this phenomenon from different perspectives. The benefits of innovations are related to lower costs, improved efficiency, reduced risk, and better response to the customers’ needs due to new products, services or processes. On the other hand, new business models expose various risks, such as cyber risks, operational risks, regulatory risks, and others. Therefore, we believe that the entrepreneurial behavior and global mindset of decision-makers significantly contribute to the development of innovations, which benefit by closing the prevailing gap between developed and developing countries. Thus, this Special Issue contributes to closing the research gap in the literature by providing a platform for a scientific debate on innovation, internationalization and entrepreneurship, which would facilitate improving the resilience of businesses to future disruptions

Outreach Frontiers of Microfinance Service Development in Rural Ethiopia: A Case of Shinile District in Somali National Regional State

Over the past one and half a decade, provision of adequate microfinance service has been persuaded as a promising pro-poor financing strategy in Ethiopia. Practical and timely steps were taken by the government to provide policies and legal framework services that promote rural financial intermediation in remote villages, where the majority of people face acute shortage of access to financial capital, being engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is little supported by modern technologies, thus, yield very low rate of return on investment. During this period, thirty-one microfinance institutions were initiated but due to the lack of equitable service allocation system, these were unevenly distributed among the regional states of the country. In Somali region where this study was selected as its setting, there has been no effective microfinance service regardless of the large unmet demand. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify the main factors constraining the development of the service, using data collected from the Shinile district of the region. Results indicate that pastoralist specific socio-economic factors, failure of outreach policy of financial institutions and reluctance of state functionaries have lagged behind the development of microfinance service in the region. Therefore, consideration of these factors would immensely help in crafting policies aimed at promoting sustainable microfinance service development in the region. Keywords: Microfinance, Pastoral economy, Outreach frontiers, Somal