The Role of Business Intelligence in Information-Intensive Small Businesses: Initial Results from an Interpretive Study

Small businesses have limited resources that need to be utilised for maximum return. Business intelligence (BI) systems can provide decision-makers, who in small businesses are predominantly the owner-managers, with access to data that enbles them to make informed decisions on where to apply their limited resources. Given the dearth of literature on the role of BI in small businesses this research-in-progress paper documents the intitial results from an interpretive qualitative study, the purpose of which is to explore the use of BI in information-intensive small businesses to support strategic, tactical and operational decision-making that suggest BI can indeed play a role but that support and guidance can ensure that BI to fully exploit data for decision-making. The paper concludes with the next stpes for the current research as well as future research

A DSS framework for maintaining relevant features of Small Business B2C Websites

Managers are heavily engaged in strategic decision-making for businesses, particularly in a changing environment. One of the most important decisions for online small businesses, as part of their strategic planning, is selecting relevant features on their websites, both to attract and interact with consumers. However, only a few Australian small businesses use strategic tools for selecting their website features. As a result, businesses lose potential domestic sales in the business-to-consumer (B2C) sector. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between factors that influence consumers’ online purchasing, and owner/manager strategic decisions in selecting relevant features for websites. Results from employing qualitative case studies with small business owner/managers, and a content analysis of website features, inform the design of a Decision Support Systems (DSS) framework. This may assist owner/managers’ strategic decisions to implement competitive features on B2C websites that ultimately attract more consumers

Business Intelligence for Small and Middle-Sized Entreprises

Data warehouses are the core of decision support sys- tems, which nowadays are used by all kind of enter- prises in the entire world. Although many studies have been conducted on the need of decision support systems (DSSs) for small businesses, most of them adopt ex- isting solutions and approaches, which are appropriate for large-scaled enterprises, but are inadequate for small and middle-sized enterprises. Small enterprises require cheap, lightweight architec- tures and tools (hardware and software) providing on- line data analysis. In order to ensure these features, we review web-based business intelligence approaches. For real-time analysis, the traditional OLAP architecture is cumbersome and storage-costly; therefore, we also re- view in-memory processing. Consequently, this paper discusses the existing approa- ches and tools working in main memory and/or with web interfaces (including freeware tools), relevant for small and middle-sized enterprises in decision making

A Qualitative Study of the Growth Strategies of Mature Small Businesses

Some small businesses have slower growth as they age and have limited strategies to maximize profit, productivity, and job creation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the strategies small business managers use to capitalize on growth opportunities. Area small business managers and support program stakeholders could gain new knowledge to develop effective support for mature small businesses. Twenty managers participated in this case study. These managers were from small businesses operating in the state of Florida for more than 5 years with less than 500 employees. The data collection approach included purposeful sampling and semistructured interviews with open-ended questions. In addition, literature on small business growth of policies and procedures was reviewed. The general systems theory conceptual framework was the guide for this study. The thematic approach was used to have the data analyzed using word frequency, text search, and coding. The themes emerging from this study were growth decisions and internal environment, growth decisions and external environment, using alternative growth strategies, heterogeneous growth strategy processes, consulting, researching, and planning growth, accessing support for growth strategies, and overcoming challenges with success attributes. These findings could assist area professional practitioners learn more about the decision making process used by small business managers including the indicators used to measure growth and identify growth opportunities. The findings could also contribute to continued job creation and economic growth of the local community

Anchor Institutions and Regional Innovation Systems for supporting micro and small businesses

This article first appeared in e-O&P Vol 23, No 2, Summer 2016 and is reproduced by kind permission of AMED www.amed.org.uk.The after-shocks of the global financial crisis, the EU Referendum, the growth in popularity of the Regional Innovation System (RIS), and the growing use of the term anchor institutions, have highlighted the crucial and strategic contribution certain types of organisation can make to their local community. Drawing on contemporary literature on the entrepreneurial university and regional innovation systems, I explore some key qualities and problems around universities as anchor institutions, and also the role they can play for Micro and Small Businesses (MSBs). Following recent UK Public Spending and Department of Business Innovation and Skills remit changes, I also highlight the way universities should - and must - take a lead role as an anchor institution within their region, especially in light of the recent Brexit decision. Such a role will include providing a wide range of formal and informal support, knowledge and resources targeted at micro and small businesses (MSBs), complementing usual Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) support (Wilson, 2011). Drawing on my experiences as President of the Institute of Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE), I offer four different ways to enhance collaboration to enable MSBs to make maximum use of “anchor university” support. Findings suggest a need for regional policy makers to embrace an innovation-supportive culture; one that would enable firms and systems to evolve over time, with anticipated outcomes far in excess of those envisaged from recent UK Government spending and business support changes. Such changes will close and replace some robustly evaluated programmes, designed to support small firm growth, with a Government commitment to cut red tape and by increasing the take up of business rate relief for an extra year.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Information Assurance; Small Business and the Basics

Business is increasingly dependent on information systems to allow decision makers to gather process and disseminate information. As the information landscape becomes more interconnected, the threats to computing resources also increase. While the Internet has allowed information to flow, it has also exposed businesses to vulnerabilities. Whereas large businesses have information technology (IT) departments to support their security, small businesses are at risk because they lack personnel dedicated to addressing, controlling and evaluating their information security efforts. Further complicating this situation, most small businesses IT capabilities have evolved in an ad hoc fashion where few employees understand the scope of the network and fewer if any sat down and envisioned a secure architecture as capabilities were added. This paper examines the problem from the perspective that IT professionals struggle to bring adequate Information Assurance (IA) to smaller organizations where the tools are well known, but the organizational intent of the information security stance lacks a cohesive structure for system development and enforcement. This paper focuses on a process that will allow IT professionals to rapidly improve their organizations\u27 security stance with few changes using tools already in place or available at little or no cost. Starting with an initial risk assessment research provides the groundwork for the introduction of a secure system development life cycle (SSLDC) where continual evaluation improves the security stance and operation of a networked computer system

A Decision Framework for Cloud Service Selection for SMEs: AHP Analysis

[[abstract]]The purpose of this paper is to study how advances in cloud computing impact the processes of creating and running businesses over the tourism sector for small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan, and to identify the main factors that relate to the adoption of CRM cloud systems by SMEs. This study adopts two steps to build the structure of decision model with the analytic hierarchy process method. The findings confirm that factors affecting the adoption of Cloud CRM service in SMEs are grouped into four categories, which is financial benefits, marketing benefits, management factors, and environment factors. This study hopes to enhance the quality of the evaluation process, and help support SME decision makers in exploring their opportunities surrounding Cloud services adoption.[[notice]]補正完畢[[journaltype]]國外[[ispeerreviewed]]Y[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]US

Auto ID Paradigm Shifts from Internet of Things to Unique Identification of Individual Decisions in System of Systems

Return on investment (ROI) from radio frequency (RF) based tools of identification may increase with the diffusion of frequency agnostic modes of radio frequency identification (RFID), such as, ultrawideband (UWB). Similarly, fixed frequency readers may be replaced with interrogators that can operate in any frequency, such as software defined radio (SDR). However, mere identification of objects provides data that may not be useful unless the process of data acquisition is further linked to systems where the data can be analysed and useful information extracted. This evolution remains incomplete because data about objects is only a small segment of necessary information. Global businesses and systems, such as healthcare, demand much more than object data. Often processes and plans as well as prior decisions are taken into account when deciding on a future course of action or may be the next step in a transaction. Current practice of auto id, although useful in some instances, remains only a small part of what is necessary for identification of information in complex system of systems. Identification, therefore, must encompass the ability both tangible and intangible elements that contribute to decisions. The unique “address” must be preserved during information exchange and decision support between system of systems

THE ADOPTION OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE (E-COMMERCE) BY SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISE IN MAKING FINANCING DECISION

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is a very important strategic tool that fascinates many companies to turn their traditional business strategy into e-commerce technology. Nowadays, the use of e-commerce is growing among business organizations throughout the world. It’s not only limited to large companies, but also includes Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The reason why businesses are moving towards of using e-commerce systems because this technology is very cost effective and can make day-today business operations are much more easier. However, some of the SMEs are still underexploited on the potential of e-commerce. Therefore, this paper will be focusing on the discussion about the adoption of E-commerce in small and medium sized business based on the financial decision-making. Journal, case study and articles have been used to support all the discussion and argument on the research problem.&nbsp