From Government to Governance: Small and Medium Enterprise Policy Development in New Zealand 1978 to 2008 : A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University Wellington, New Zealand

Widespread recognition of the importance of SMEs and their contribution to the economy means that successive New Zealand governments, between 1978 and 2008, placed increasing emphasis on SME policy. SME policy developed over time from being an incidental outcome of general economic policy to targeting particular SME sectors and engaging stakeholders and SMEs themselves in this process. Few studies have examined how this policy process evolved, and this research addresses the deficit by providing a critical overview of New Zealand SME policy development between 1978 and 2008. It examines how SME policy in New Zealand developed over the thirty-year period, identifying the main influences (or inputs) in SME policy development, and what policy outputs were set in place. The approach draws on business history methods and utilises primary sources, such as archival documentation, media reports, contemporary SME research and interviews with participants who played key roles in the development of SME policy. Historical analysis facilitates the examination of the range and diversity of SME policies used over the period under review. The research provides an overview of the external domestic and international influences that shaped and informed SME policymaking processes, and the challenges of meeting the often contradictory nature of government objectives in the socio-economic domain. It shows how over time the social cohesion policy objective, although still underplayed, became more pronounced. Principal inputs into SME policy are found to be the economic and stakeholder contexts, both set in an overall institutional environment. Whereas in the early period the economic context was the primary input into SME policy, by 2008 the input of stakeholders (researchers, academics, industry associations, chambers of commerce, among others) was more significant. The research concludes that, as attitudes and economic thinking changed, so too did SME policy and the way policy developed. A shift to the entrepreneurship paradigm contributed to a fundamental recalibration of approaches – from direct SME support such as the Small Business Agency, to predominantly indirect contextual support. SMEs were no longer considered ‘little big businesses’ but complex and heterogeneous enterprises and the role of stakeholders became more noticeable. Understanding how SME policy has altered over three decades assists researchers, policymakers and other SME stakeholders by contextualizing the evolution of thinking and approaches. As an outcome of this study, stakeholders will have additional clarity to help them contribute to the ongoing development of New Zealand SME policy

Employment Generation and Poverty Alleviation through SME Cluster Development in Bangladesh

SME Cluster Development could be an emerging force of entrepreneurship development, employment generation and poverty alleviation for any least developed country like Bangladesh. SMEs located at different clusters of Bangladesh are contributing in generating employment and income for the workers and producing import substitute product simultaneously. Realizing the full potential of SME cluster development in Bangladesh, it is important for all stakeholders to sit together and find out a concrete solution for the identified challenges of SME clusters. Recommended action plan could be catalyst to enhance productivity, increase efficiency, quality, acceptability, market linkage of SME products of Bangladesh. The action plan is designed with Short term (up to 3 year), Mid-term (3-5 years) and Long term (5 and more) recommendations for fostering cluster development of SME in Bangladesh with a vision of employment generation and poverty alleviation. 

Lorentz Violation of the Photon Sector in Field Theory Models

We compare the Lorentz violation terms of the pure photon sector between two field theory models, namely the minimal standard model extension (SME) and the standard model supplement (SMS). From the requirement of the identity of the intersection for the two models, we find that the free photon sector of the SMS can be a subset of the photon sector of the minimal SME. We not only obtain some relations between the SME parameters, but also get some constraints on the SMS parameters from the SME parameters. The CPT-odd coefficients $(k_{AF})^{\alpha}$ of the SME are predicted to be zero. There are 15 degrees of freedom in the Lorentz violation matrix $\Delta^{\alpha\beta}$ of free photons of the SMS related with the same number of degrees of freedom in the tensor coefficients $(k_F)^{\alpha\beta\mu\nu}$, which are independent from each other in the minimal SME, but are inter-related in the intersection of the SMS and the minimal SME. With the related degrees of freedom, we obtain the conservative constraints ($2\sigma$) on the elements of the photon Lorentz violation matrix. The detailed structure of the photon Lorentz violation matrix suggests some applications to the Lorentz violation experiments for photons.Comment: 9 pages, no figure, three tables. Final version for journal publicatio

The role of information alignment and entrepreneurial traits on SME internationalization: a conceptual framework

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the internationalisation decision-making of small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner/managers. Specifically, structural alignment theory (SAT) and regulatory focus theory (RFT) are utilised to examine the concept of opportunity recognition in the context of internationalisation choices. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is conceptual in nature, and an integrative cognitive model of internationalisation choice decisions is developed based on SAT and RFT, underpinned by a critical review of the international entrepreneurship (IE) literature. Findings – Scenarios are identified in which the structure of available information may affect the decision-evaluation process in terms of cognitive resource requirements. Further, the SME owner/manager’s motivational goal orientation is suggested to moderate the role of the information structure in line with IE literature. A conceptual model and propositions are presented. Research limitations/implications – The conceptual model and the propositions arising from the discussion in this paper offer new directions of research to explore SME internationalisation. Originality/value – This paper offers a cognitive perspective of SME internationalisation. This paper offers insights for policymakers, SME owner/managers, practitioners and researchers alike. For internationalisation decisions, this paper highlights the potential impact of the structure of information that is made available to SME owner/managers by industry or policy bodies; further, the moderating influence of motivational goal orientation may inform policy on how information should be presented to SME owner/managers to aid their decision-making.</p

The influence of the European single market upon the SME activity

The analysis tries to highlight the manner in which the European common market will influence the SME activity in Romania. The challenges caused by regionalization and globalization of markets demand the compliance of SME to the competitive environment, by consolidating their market position and benefit from the economical opportunities. Romanian SME could become an economical growth vector only if the real capacity to adapt to a global competition and knowledge based economy is proved. Regarding this aspect, the authors try to present the most important positive and negative effects on the SME activity. Presently, the small level of competitiveness is due to the lack of necessary capital for supporting investment projects, but also to the constraints of financial sources. The study reveals the importance of SME in an economy and the Romanian SME capacity of overcoming the difficulties of entering a strongly competitive market. Romania has a SME sector which, although has recently followed a positive trend, it possess performances which are still low in comparison with the countries from European Union, including the countries which entered the European Union in May 2004. The branch structure of Romanian SME is still one specific to a less developed country: industries that use a high level of labor force and that has a competitive advantage related to the small cost of this factor; a small proportion of the tertiary sector; and an increased presence of the SME that have as principal activity commerce (2 times bigger than the European average). SME sector contribution to economical growth is well known in the majority of the countries of the European Union. If traditionally, small and medium enterprises were considered economical operators belonging to the internal market, today a growing number of SME are managing to conquer the global markets. Approximately one fifth of the SME involved in the productive activity in the OECD countries realize a proportion of 10 to 40 % of their turnover from international activities. SME contribute in a high proportion to the global industrial exports and increase the volume of foreign direct investments worldwide. Moreover, the European Union experience show that it has a significant contribution to the GDP and to the reduction of the unemployment rate.Competitiveness, SMEs (Small and Medium Entreprises), single market

Through a discourse analysis lens less darkly: illuminating how SME principals and support agency practitioners see marketing in SMEs

The purpose of this paper is to explain the social contructivist approach taken to uncovering clearer, deeper meaning through a recent qualitative, interpretive and subjective research study. This study examined the ways in which marketing is seen and conducted in SMEs by SME principals and support agency practitioners. The research was designed with a particular method of data analysis (Discourse Analysis) in mind which was applied to the SME marketing context. The findings of the study provided a contribution to the SME marketing debate where the research approach taken proved to be instrumental in providing a contribution to both theory and practice of marketing in SMEs and the education, training and development activities of support agencies. The subjective nature of this research yielded benefits that would not have been available through a positivist research approach. The approach taken has more practical application than some traditionalists might believe. This paper explains how further understanding of SME marketing resulted from the study and how further original insights can be gained by applying the tools utilised in studies in SME marketing and marketing in other contexts

AE, D ST and their SuperMAG Counterparts : the effect of improved spatial resolution in geomagnetic indices

For decades, geomagnetic indices have been used extensively to parameterize space weather events, as input to various models and as space weather specifications. The auroral electrojet (AE) index and disturbance storm time index (DST) are two such indices that span multiple solar cycles and have been widely studied. The production of improved spatial coverage analogs to AE and DST is now possible using the SuperMAG collaboration of ground‐based magnetometers. SME is an electrojet index that shares methodology with AE. SMR is a ring current index that shares methodology with DST. As the number of magnetometer stations in the SuperMAG network increases over time, so does the spatial resolution of SME and SMR. Our statistical comparison between the established indices and their new SuperMAG counterparts finds that, for large excursions in geomagnetic activity, AE systematically underestimates SME for later cycles. The difference between distributions of recorded AE and SME values for a single solar maximum can be of the same order as changes in activity seen from one solar cycle to the next. We demonstrate that DST and SMR track each other but are subject to an approximate linear shift as a result of the procedure used to map stations to the magnetic equator. We explain the observed differences between AE and SME with the assistance of a simple model, based on the construction methodology of the electrojet indices. We show that in the case of AE and SME, it is not possible to simply translate between the two indices

Roles of Capabilities and Leader Characteristics in SME Digital Innovation

Digital technology (viewed as the combination of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technology) is impacting on the marketplaces that SMEs operate in. Yet, little is understood about how these businesses are adapting to, and adopting, digital technologies and creating digital innovation. Technology can be viewed as an opportunity for SMEs through which to engage in competitive behaviour, cost reduction, audience extension and intelligence gathering. European Commission recognises the SMEs form the backbone of the European economy Qualitative data were gathered from 45 interviews with SME leaders across four European countries and 5 industry sectors. This paper reports on the findings from a research project investigating digital preparedness of European SMEs and specifically the characteristics and capabilities of SME leaders in adopting digital innovation. Insight is outlined through the scope of the research which integrates different countries, sizes of SMEs and industry sectors to provide an holistic view of European SME leader perceptions. General consensus was evident as to the characteristics and capabilities required to create digital innovation in a competitive environment and a tentative framework has been created. This paper contributes to scholarship by providing a more comprehensive view of current European perceptions by SME practitioners concerning the profile of an SME leader undertaking digital innovation. Management implications include that any evaluation of SME digital innovation preparedness should look beyond capabilities and skills sets and include intangible aspects of character such as leaders’ attitudes towards technologies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech