The Potential of Critical E-Applications for Engaging SMEs in E Business: A Provider Perspective

YesAgainst a background of the low engagement of SMEs in e-business this paper investigates the emergence of, and potential for, critical e-applications defined as `an e-business application, promoted by a trusted third party, which engages a significant number of SMEs by addressing an important shared business concern within an aggregation.¿ By a review of secondary data and empirical investigation with service providers and other intermediaries the research shows that such applications can facilitate the e-business engagement of SMEs. There are three key findings, namely: the emergence of aggregation specific e-business applications; the emergence of collaboratively based `one to many¿ business models; and the importance of trusted third parties in the adoption of higher complexity e-business applications by SMEs. Significantly this work takes a deliberately provider perspective and complements the already considerable literature on SME IT adoption from a user and network perspective. In terms of future research the importance of a better conceptual understanding of the impact of complexity on the adoption of IT by SMEs is highlighted

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

Moebius strip enterprises and expertise in the creative industries: new challenges for lifelong learning?

The paper argues that the emergence of a new mode of production – co-configuration is generating new modes of expertise that EU policies for lifelong learning are not designed to support professionals to develop. It maintains that this change can be seen most clearly when we analyse Small and Medium Size (SMEs) enterprises in the creative industries. Drawing on concepts from Political Economy - ‘Moebius strip enterprise/expertise’ and Cultural Historical Activity Theory - project-object’ and the ‘space of reasons’, the paper highlights conceptually and through a case study of an SME in the creative industries what is distinctive about the new modes of expertise, before moving on to reconceptualise expertise and learning and to consider the implications of this reconceptualisation for EU policies for lifelong learning. The paper concludes that the new challenge for LLL is to support the development of new forms expertise that are difficult to credentialise, yet, are central to the wider European goal of realising a knowledge economy

An Empirical Investigation of Female Entrepreneurship & Innovation Activities in Greece

The importance of entrepreneurship for economic growth has been emphasised by economic literature. The recent debate on the determinants of output growth has concentrated mainly on the role of knowledge, typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and furthermore in the role of entrepreneurship and the implications on economic growth. Much of the recent work on economic growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of classical economists. The statistical analysis is therefore very important. Nowadays there are well-organized databases, and the researcher can easily decide about the sample, rather than some years ago. Research and Development, technical change and entrepreneurship are directly related with industrial infrastructure, productivity effects and regional development. Entrepreneurship aims to reinforce the competitiveness, and to succeed the modernisation process and the convergence between firms and industries in the member states, adopting statistical techniques, using the appropriate software. This paper attempts to examine the role of entrepreneurship, and those of innovation activities (technical change, research and development and diffusion of technology) and the effects of output growth, using both a theoretical and empirical approach in a Greek case study. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the framework, the obstacles, the determinant factors using the appropriate statistical techniques and furthermore the role of female entrepreneurship in the Greek firms. It also attempts to examine the role of female entrepreneurship on innovation activities and the effects on sustainable development and in the implications on growth, economic integration, regional development and social change.

Managing European R&D projects in the Industry 4.0 context: the perspective of a small consulting firm

open1noopenMersico, LuigiMersico, Luig

Redesigning work organizations and technologies: experiences from European projects

Currently distributed business process (re) design (resulting in components of business networks) basically relies on technical criteria. And that are the main purposes of most research projects supported by EC. Through the process of building a European Research Area, this means a strong influence in the national research programmes. However it is generally accepted that it should also take into account social criteria and aspects such as the quality of working life, or participation in decision processes. Those were some of the objectives of projects in de 80s decade, and framed some of the main concepts and scientific approaches to work organisation. The democratic participation of network and organisations members in the design process is a critical success factor. This is not accepted by everyone, but is based in sufficient case studies. Nevertheless, in order to achieve an optimization that can satisfying the requirements of agility of a network of enterprises, more complex design methods must be developed. Thus, the support to the collaborative design of distributed work in a network of enterprises, through a concurrent approaching business processes, work organisation and task content is a key factor to achieve such purposes. Increasing needs in terms of amounts of information, agility, and support for collaboration without time and space constrains, imposes the use of a computer-based model.business process; networks; decision processes; collaborative design;

ROLE AND PLACE OF THE BRANCH SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS OF MOLDOVA

Social dialogue as a very convenient tool for reconciling interests of key production factors – labour and capital – has been mentioned many times and on several other occasions. The present article reiterates this message, with social dialogue at sector level as a key subject under analysis. The interest lying at the basis of researches carried out on this matter was conditioned on one hand by the European Union requirements imposed on social dialogue at this level (the maturity of social partners at the level of industrial sectors impose a high rigor during the accession process of a country). On the other hand we are also keen to assess the respective maturity level in the case of the Republic of Moldova, its aspiration for the European integration being clear and indubitable.social dialogue, Trade Unions Collective Bargaining.

High-Tech Urban Agriculture in Amsterdam : An Actor Network Analysis

The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social\u2013technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processe

IT Entrepreneurial Strategies in Emerging Economies: Lessons from a Local Start-up

This study discusses the creation, survival and growth strategies of locally-based start-ups in emerging economies. The study consists of a revelatory case study analysis of an IT start-up in one of the largest developing countries of central and Eastern Europe, Romania. The analysis shows how IT entrepreneurs in developing countries can adapt to the institutional, resource and industry constraints of their environment and build a successful business. The results suggest successful IT start-ups can overcome the lack of formal institutions in developing countries by managing a relationship spiral: searching for potential business prospects among the IT entrepreneurs’ informal social networks and narrowing down these prospects until a client is identified. The analysis also suggests that IT start-ups in developing countries can overcome the industry constraints in these countries – the lack of supporting, complementary products and services – by managing a product spiral: adapting their generic product to each client and offering increasingly customized, vertically integrated products and services. The study also provides insights into how the activities of IT entrepreneurs in developing countries can contribute to economic growth not just through the creation of the local IT start-ups themselves, but also through the creation of new business opportunities for their clients

Why do complementors participate? An analysis of partnership networks in the enterprise software industry

In the enterprise software industry, large providers (hubs) are fostering partner networks with smaller companies (spokes) that complement their platforms. This study takes the perspective of these spokes and seeks to understand their motivation to partner. It is the first to simultaneously examine two theoretical perspectives that help explain partnership formation. The input-oriented perspective holds that organizations enter inter-firm arrangements in order to access external resources and capabilities. The output-oriented perspective posits that the complementarity of the partners’ products influences the benefits obtained from a partnership. In order to examine the relevancy and possible interaction of these two perspectives, a multiple-case study is conducted. Qualitative data from 17 spoke organizations is gathered and thoroughly analyzed. The study confirms that the hub's reputation and its capability to provide integrated systems are generally important reasons for partnering. However, the extent to which the hub’s innovativeness and its commercial capital motivate spokes to partner varies substantially. The key finding of this study is that these variations can be explained by differences in the level of product complementarity. This leads to the conclusion that there is a widely neglected interaction effect between the input- and outputoriented perspectives in explaining the formation of hub-and-spoke partnerships