SMEs: ERP or virtual collaboration teams

Small firms are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role to promote economic development. SMEs in the beginning of implementing new technologies always face capital shortage and need technological assistance. Available ERP systems do not fulfil the specific requirements of Small firms. SMEs has scarce resources and manpower therefore many SMEs don?t have the possessions to buy and operate an ERP System. On the other hand competition and competitiveness of SMEs have to be strengthened. This paper briefly reviews the existing perspectives on virtual teams and their effect on SMEs management. It also discusses the main characteristics of virtual teams and clarifies the differences aspects of virtual team application in SMEs. After outlining some of the main advantages and pitfall of such teams, it concentrates on comparing of ERP and virtual collaborative teams in SMEs. Finally, it provides evidence for the need of ?Software as a Service (SaaS)? where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the web for SMEs as an alternative of ERP. It has been widely argued that ERP disadvantage in SMEs such as administrative expenditure and cost, isolated structure, severe lack of software flexibility, insufficient support of SMEs business and high operating cost, lead SMEs to use virtual collaborative team which is net work base solution

SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying the gaps and feebleness in the existing literature and calls for future research in this area. It is argued to form of virtual R&D team deserves consideration at top level management for venturing into the new product development within SMEs

Virtual R&D teams in small and medium enterprises: a literature review

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D team and SMEs has been examined. It concludes with the identification of the gaps in the existing literature's and calls for future research. It is argued that setting-up an infrastructure for virtual R & D team in SMEs still requires a large amount of engineering efforts and deserves consideration at top level management

An investigation into the web defect known as \u27shot\u27 in the melt-blowing process used to create non-woven fabrics

An extensive experimental investigation was undertaken to study the influence of processing parameters, die configurations and resin type on the production of shot in the melt-blowing process. The addition of nucleating agents toa base resin and the effect these agents have on shot production was also investigated.The processing variables that were investigated included: die air pressure (related to air jet velocity), processing temperature (air and polymer temperature) and polymer mass throughput. The die configuration was varied between a single hole die and a thirty hole die for both conventional and metallocene resins. Data was collected inorder to establish the individual effect of varying a single processing parameter on the production of shot. This data was then used to create an empirical model to predict the amount of shot produced using a single hole die.The thirty hole per inch die produced more shot than the single hole die withall other processing conditions being equal. The metallocene resins also produce more shot than the conventional resins with all other processing conditions being equal. Die air pressure had a strong effect on the shot production; an increase in diy air pressure produced more shot in the web sample. Processing temperature produces a similar trend; an increase in process temperature produced more shot in the web sample. Polymer throughput was different in that an increase in polymer throughput might either increase or decrease the amount of shot in the web sample.IVA couple of empirical models were created using the experimental data collected during this research. These models utilized a dimensionless form of the processing parameters or more traditional fluid mechanics dimensionless variables to predict the amount of shot that would be present in the web sample. The processing parameter model and the traditional variable model both captured the shot production trends of the melt blowing process.Nucleating agents were added to a base resin to increase the base resin crystallization kinetics in an attempt to reduce shot production. The shot productions and the average fiber diameter of the nucleated resins were the same as that of the base resin. Laboratory tests indicated that these additives do provide the accelerated crystallization kinetics in a quiescent environment even though the influence of these additives was not realized in the highly turbulent air jet of the melt-blowing process

SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying the gaps and feebleness in the existing literature and calls for future research in this area. It is argued to form of virtual R&D team deserves consideration at top level management for venturing into the new product development within SMEs.Virtual teams, small and medium enterprises, new product development, R&D