Identifying the IT Readiness of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Several studies show that often IT projects are not successful in being on-time, on-budget and include full functionality. There can be multiple causes for this, and an important factor in this context is the extent to which a company is ready for an IT project. To help understand this aspect, this paper presents a framework for analyzing the \u27IT readiness\u27 in SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). The framework defines IT readiness with a basis in three overall dimensions (company, management, and employees), which are subdivided into different characteristics. To illustrate the framework a case study of a Danish SME is presented. Furthermore, the paper discusses how to improve the IT readiness of a company

Managing change: mental models of SME managers

This study fills some of the gaps in existing studies on organisational change in SMEs by considering the management of change in SMEs in Queensland, Australia, built around the concept of employee participation. First, the paper examines what mental models SME managers espouse in relation to the management of organisational change; and whether small and medium organisations differ in relation to how they manage change. Data was obtained from a state-wide survey of 340 Queensland SME managers, conducted in 2008. The findings confirm the paucity of consultation in Australian workplaces. Within the context of change management, SMEs could benefit from combining their positive views on widespread involvement (including inspiring a shared vision and personally communicating the future vision; communicating the change message repeatedly up and down and across the organisation; and enabling others to act: by energising, empowering, building teams, tangible support with appropriate resources and structures) with a greater degree of ‘actual’ participation from employees in decision making

What are the barriers to investing in social enterprises? An investigation into the attitudes and experiences of social entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom

The ongoing global economic crisis and the restrictions that this is having on government expenditure has meant that current UK policy is being directed at trying to end the grant dependency that currently exists in the third sector. One of the key focuses of this policy initiative has been to try to increase the third sector’s access to both debt finance from lending institutions and equity finance from venture capital investors. However, this policy intervention presupposes that the lack of private sector investment in the third sector is a ‘supply-side’ problem caused by limited funds. This ignores the structural problems in the social enterprise sector related to governance and a lack of organisational capacity. Indeed, as of 2011 the ethical investment sector in the UK was worth approximately £9 billion and was spread across 90 ethical investment funds responsible to 700,000 investors. Additionally, social investment (i.e. those funds targeted specifically at third sector organisations) was worth £165 million as of 2011. This suggests that the lack of private sector investment in social enterprises in the UK is not a ‘supply’ side problem but is instead related to the ‘investment readiness’ of social enterprise

The Use of Hosted Enterprise Applications by SMEs: A User Perspective

This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the engagement of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in hosted enterprise applications (high complexity e-business applications) in the UK by investigating the relevance of organisational and technical factors through conducting interviews with SME users of hosted applications. The emergence and development of the application service provider (ASP) sector has attracted much interest and highly optimistic forecasts for revenues. Of particular interest in this paper is the emergence of service offerings targeted specifically at SMEs. The paper starts by considering information technology (IT) adoption by SMEs in general before reviewing the provision of hosted enterprise applications in the US and UK. The empirical data collected from SME users of hosted enterprise applications is then analysed in order to produce the key findings and conclusions. From an SME user perspective the key findings to emerge from the study include: i) confirmation that ICT infrastructure was no longer a barrier to adoption, ii) the pragmatic approach taken to security issues, iii) the use of both multiple information systems (hosted and resident) and service providers, iv) the attractiveness of the rental cost model and v) the intention to continue or extend their use of hosted applications within the enterprise. The early promise of the ASP sector appears not to have been generally realised for SMEs in the UK. This study explores the experience of early adopters of this new IT related innovation and identifies some significant business gains experienced by SME users. It also highlights the opportunity for gaining competitive advantage by using hosted enterprise applications to reduce costs. There are very few empirical studies of hosted applications which take a deliberately SME user perspective and this paper make an important contribution in this emerging field

Supporting Exports in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The book “Supporting Exports in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” provides a significant insight into the internationalization of economic operations of small and medium-sized enterprises, focusing in particular on exports, which can benefit from support instruments and schemes co-financed with public resources. Considerations center around the role of the SMEs in the economy, their internationalization and economic premises of an export promoting policy. An attempt is made to assess the system of State aid in Poland in the light of the EU regulations. The final part provides an overview of institutions and instruments which, to a lesser or greater extent, contribute to the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises.In summing up the considerations of the study devoted to the support to export activities of small and medium-sized enterprises we may formulate the following conclusions: 1. Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in the economy and contribute to the GDP, improved competitiveness and higher employment. 2. SMEs represent a rather high growth dynamics although limited with many economic, administrative and legal factors. 3. Enterprises may grow as a result of expansion consisting in winning new markets, also abroad, i.e. by intensification of cooperation with abroad, e.g., by the exchange of goods and services, which may enhance the growth of a business and improve its competitive position. 4. Export is the most frequent form of SMEs’ internationalisation. 5. Increased engagement of businesses in internationalisation calls for a range of activities that would support the involvement of the sector with foreign markets. 6. There are numerous empirical studies, which demonstrate that many states support export activities. At the same time we should stress positive correlation between export-promoting policy and economic growth. 7. State aid rules and provisions offer preferential treatment to small and medium-sized enterprises compared to large companies and ensure their access to numerous assistance schemes and higher intensity of aid. 8. Relatively friendly regulations and easy access to EU resources have resulted in almost 60% of total State aid in Poland being addressed to small and medium-sized enterprises. 9. Surveys demonstrate that various support instruments addressed to small and medium-sized enterprises may enhance their growth and foster their competitive position in international markets. 10. Enterprises in Poland may benefit from many types of support to their export activities. They include investment, information and promotional measures, which target mainly small and medium-sized enterprises.The publication was financed from the grant for research or development works and associated activities, which is designed to contribute to the development of young researchers and from own resources of the Department of International Trade of the University of Łódź

THE INFLUENCE IN ROMANIAN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY OF SMALL MEDIUM-SIZED FIRMS AND THEIR SPECIFIC MEANS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

SMEs play an important role in fostering variety, self-fulfillment, and independence in society as well as essentially contributing to social and local integration. Because the tourism sector, especially the hospitality industry, in Europe is dominated bysmall medium-sized enterprises, tourism, performance, Internet

The Use of Hosted Enterprise Applications by SMEs: A Dual Market and User Perspective

YesThis deliberately dual perspective paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the engagement of SMEs in hosted enterprise applications in the UK. The emergence and development of the ASP sector has attracted much interest and highly optimistic forecasts for revenues. The paper starts by considering ICT adoption by SMEs in general before reviewing the provision of hosted enterprise applications in the US and UK (market perspective). The study is extended by qualitative empirical data collected by semi-structured interviews with SME users of hosted enterprise applications (user perspective) and subsequent analysis in order to develop the key findings and conclusions. From an SME user perspective the key findings to emerge from the study include: i) confirmation that ICT infrastructure was no longer a barrier to adoption, ii) the pragmatic approach taken to security issues, iii) the use of both multiple information systems and multiple service providers, iv) the financial attractiveness of the rental model and v) the intention to continue or extend the use of hosted applications. It also highlights the opportunity for gaining competitive advantage by using hosted enterprise applications to reduce costs. There are very few empirical studies of hosted applications which take deliberately market and SME user perspectives - this paper makes an important contribution in this emerging field

SMEs and virtual R&D teams: a motive channel for relationship between SMEs

In today?s dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced in the competitive milieu. Increased competition and reduced product life cycles put force upon companies to develop new products faster. In response to these pressing needs, there should be some new approach compatible in flexible circumstances. This paper presents a solution based on the popular Stage-Gate system, which is closely linked with virtual team approach. Virtual teams can provide a platform to advance the knowledge-base in a company and thus to reduce time-to-market. This article introduces conceptual product development architecture under a virtual team umbrella. The paper describes all the major aspects of new product development (NPD), NPD process and its relationship with virtual teams, Stage-Gate system finally presents a modified Stage-Gate system to cope up with the changing needs. It also provides the guidelines for the successful implementation of virtual teams in new product development

An empirical investigation on EDI determinants and outcomes in Malaysian industry

Government involvement is the main cause for the EDI acceptance in Southeast Asian countries (United Nation of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific - UNESCAP, 1996). This is significantly different from the EDI developments in the western countries in which private sector involvement in EDI is substantial (UNESCAP, 1996). As an initial step to spur EDI implementation in private sector, the Malaysian Government has imposed all companies that engage in international trade to implement EDI by doing electronic customs declarations through CIS (Customs Information System) DagangNet. For this, the Government also spent over RM 300 million to fully implement EDI nationwide (Star, 2003 December 3). Nevertheless, such implementation is not successful and it has been claimed that “EDI is not yet fully implemented even though it had been initiated since late 1990s, besides electronic data is also still not recognized for legal customs declaration purposes even if it was meant for paperless and electronic customs declarations” (Star, 2003 December 3). To date, there are dual customs declarations, both electronic and manual, in practices where the sole typical electronic transaction is registration of the customs form (Jimmy, 2005; Star, 2005 July 11). This is in contrast with electronic customs declarations by other countries such as Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore where there is a full electronic declaration including electronic payment for declarations charges (Jimmy, 2005; Star, 2005 July 11; Chau, 2001)