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

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes

VALIDATING COOPERATIVE SYSTEMS SIMULATION AND REMODELING FOR PUMP COVER DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING IN A VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE

In order to integrate the manufacturing systems in virtual environment some changes must be made in manufacturing systems architecture. To support this environment, the basic infrastructure for the enterprise must to consider two main modules: The Internal Module, that represents the autonomous unit of a particular company and includes the manufacturing system, the complete structure of the company information (databases, information system etc.) and all the decision making processes;virtual enterprise, manufacturing systems, remodeling, simulation, cooperative systems

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

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

Increasing territorial capitalization by incorporation of small enterprises into clusters

Modernization of the Russian national economy depends on small businesses and their involvement in capitalization of the territorial potential. This article discusses methods, models, and mechanisms of territorial capitalization based on incorporation of small business enterprises into clusters along with medium- and large businesses. We propose an optimization model for assessing the efficiency of such clusters: our research has shown that this model can be applied for decision-making in regional strategic planning. Methodologically, this study relies on the theories of industrial development and economic growth, the industrial cluster theory, and the works of Russian and international researchers on mechanisms of management of territorial potential, their establishment and implementation. Capitalization of the region's resource potential manifests itself in the form of static and dynamic effects. We developed models of interaction between small and other businesses and structures within a cluster oriented towards territorial capitalization. We demonstrated that incorporation of a university into a cluster structure increases the innovative capacity of all cluster members. This research may be further expanded to study the mechanisms of involving small businesses operating in peripheral areas into clusters

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

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE BY INTEGRATED E-BUSINESS IN SUPPLY CHAINS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH

This paper reports findings of the competitive advantage of supply chain integration and the crucial role of integrated e-business to deliver those benefits. However, adoption of e-business in supply chains has been slower than expected, particularly in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Differences between firms in supply chains and between supply chains are examined. Across industries, firms have adopted e-business initiatives to better manage their internal business processes as well as their interfaces with the environment. The authors’ findings provide the foundation for a more rigorous study of e-business.e-business, IT business value, supply chain management, value chain, competitive advantage

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

Towards a meaningful manufacturing enterprise metamodel: a semantic driven framework

This paper presents a deep investigation and an interdisciplinary analysis of the collaborative networked enterprise engineering issues and modelling approaches related to the relevant aspects of the semantic web technology and knowledge strategies. The paper also suggests a novel framework based on ontology metamodelling, knowledge model discovery, and semantic web infrastructures, architectures, languages, and systems. The main aim of the research enclosed in this paper is to bridge the gaps between enterprise engineering, modelling, and especially networking by intensively applying semantic web technology based on ontology conceptual representations and knowledge discovery. The ontological modelling approaches together with knowledge strategies such as discovery (data mining) have become promising for future enterprise computing systems. The related reported research deals with the conceptual definition of a semantic-driven framework and a manufacturing enterprise metamodel (ME_M) using ontology, knowledge-driven object models, standards, and architectural approaches applied to collaborative networked enterprises. The conceptual semantic framework and related issues discussed in this paper may contribute towards new approaches of enterprise systems engineering and networking as well as applied standard and referenced ontological models