Sustained growth in small enterprises: a process management approach

This thesis illustrates that given the necessary resource and a structured Business Growth Framework, Small and Medium Enterprises can lay the foundation for sustained growth. The author investigated the essence of Small and Medium Enterprises, conducted a literature review in SME growth, and asserted the importance of the application of structure to business processes in achieving sustainable business growth. The author introduced the SME business process structure deficit, assessed its implications on business growth, and elaborated that the business process structure deficit can be addressed through the methodical application of six internationally accepted UK initiatives already available in the SME domain. The thesis establishes the characteristics of Business Growth for SMEs, leading to the development of a Business Growth Framework, based upon a defined set of business processes. This framework supports business growth. The framework provides diagnostic assessment of business process performance, process specific improvements embracing better practice through the innovative application of, for example DTI publications, and internal Benchmarking linking, if desired, to the UK Benchmarking Index. The resulting Business Growth Framework, along with the Business Growth Framework Implementation Methodology have evolved during this research and are the key tools for sustained business growth developed by the author and discussed in this thesis. The benefits of close integration of financial and manufacturing systems, like ERP, with Business Processes is discussed. The author demonstrated that Business Growth could successfully occur amongst Small and Medium Enterprises if approached through a structured methodology. Intentionally no new and complex business models have been proposed. The research showed that there is sufficient literature available in this area already

Towards a wireless local area network security control framework for small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa

There is little literature available that is specific to the use of wireless local area network [WLAN) security among small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa. This research study developed a framework which may be used by SMMEs for the purposes of securing their WLANs. In view of the fact that the aim of the study was to develop a system for improving information technology security, the study followed a design science approach. A literature review was conducted on security control framework standards and WLAN technologies. The needs of SMMEs regarding WLANs were also established. The result of this process was an artefact in the form of a WLAN Security Control Framework for securing WLANs for SMMEs in South Africa. The suitability of the framework was validated by means of a focus group

Enhancing the competitiveness of the Arab SMEs

Statistics show that SMEs represent 90% of total companies in the vast majority of economies worldwide and provide 40-80% of total job opportunities in addition to contributing largely to GDPs of many countries. For example, SMEs constitute more than 99%1 of all non-agricultural private enterprises in Egypt and account for nearly three-quarters of new employment generation. for Kuwait, this sector constitutes approximately 90% of the private workforce, including labor and imported an estimated 45% of the labor force, employment and national rates of less than 1%, in Lebanon, more than 95% of the total enterprises, contribute about 90% of the jobs. In the UAE , small and medium enterprises accounted about 94.3% of the economic projects in the country, and employs about 62% of the workforce and contributes around 75% of the GDP of the state. In addition, they account for 96% of the GDP in Yemen in 2005, and about 77%, 59%, 25% in Algeria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, respectively, during the same year.It is often argued that the Governments should promote SMEs because of their greater economic benefits compared to the large firms in terms of job creation, efficiency and growth.Following are the major driving force to strengthen SMEs in the Arab countries: (1) SMEs are the important vehicle in terms of employments and poverty alleviation. SME employs a large share of the labour force in many Arab countries. (2) SMEs make significant contributions to the national economy of the country; and Can be a tool to accelerate the growth of exports. (3) SMEs foster an entrepreneurial culture and make the economy more resilient to the global fluctuations. The aim of this research is to study enhancing the competitiveness of Arab small and medium enterprises.competitiveness ,Arab small and medium enterprises

Assessing Software Processes over a New Generic Software Process Assessment Tool

Performing process improvement to deliver qualified products with the expected cost on time has been a requirement for organizations targeting to be successful in the software market. Software organizations usually perform process improvement based on well-known process assessment frameworks such as CMMI and ISO/IEC 15504. A number of derivatives of CMMI and ISO/IEC 15504 have been developed and they are being updated. As a result of this, the software process assessment tool based on them needs to be updated. Process assessment requires judgment and there is an unavoidable manual work. However, there are also opportunities for assessment automation. Therefore, there is a need for a generic software process assessment tool to define process assessment models and facilitate assessment. The existing tools do not meet the expected features of a software process assessment tool completely, as they have generally been developed for single process assessment models. In this study, we present GSPA, a generic software process assessment tool, which has been developed to support all structured process assessment models with its generic framework, facilitate assessment, support parallel assessment and present the reports in a well-structured way to the assessors. A multiple case study has been conducted to measure the sufficiency and the contributions of the tool

Gender Equality in the Labor Market in the Philippines

This report on gender equality in the labor market in the Philippines is drawn from studies by a team of international consultants selected by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a technical assistance project on promoting gender equality in Asian labor markets for inclusive growth, implemented in cooperation with the International Labour Office (ILO), Bangkok. This report comprises a gendered analysis of the Philippines’ labor market, policies, and legislation, and provides recommendations for policies and legislation that have the potential to expand or improve employment and work opportunities for women in specific sectors in the Philippines. The report provides a summary of findings and recommendations that are specifically relevant for the Philippines from an analysis of gender equality and the labor markets in Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines, and two global good practice reviews: one on social and economic policy and the other on legislation (ADB 2013a; ADB and ILO 2013a; ADB and ILO 2013b)

Project and portfolio management: a multilayer framework to support innovation-driven SMEs in the industry of construction and building materials. Case of Canada

PhD Thesis Doctoral Program in Industrial and Systems EngineeringThe concept of building defined approaches, models and frameworks for optimizing different projects that belong to the same portfolio is gaining more attention and emphasis from companies, especially the small and medium sized ones. Yet, many problems that lie into the existing frameworks are keeping those companies away from using it. A sample of these SMEs that work in the field of construction and building materials in Canada were a filed for our research to better identify the issues in these existing frameworks, understand its influence and effect on companies and develop an ideal integrated framework that deals with project, portfolio and innovation management at the same time. The data has led in this research to identify 5 major issues that needed to be embed into the new integrated approach that is called Innoframe. This is a new framework that is an outcome of a thorough study on the usage, behavior and prospects of two main levels of personnel which are team members and their project managers. The study has followed a straightforward path in the sense of researching, analyzing and developing. The approach allowed the study to make good use of the literature and data collected on one hand, and to translate it into useful tools that help a lot in developing the new framework. All in all, the study emphasized the three main phases mentioned previously to come up with a new integrated framework that can serve as a roadmap for SMEs in the industry of construction and building materials.O conceito de construir abordagens, modelos e frameworks definidos para otimizar diferentes projetos pertencentes ao mesmo portfólio está a ganhar mais atenção e ênfase por parte das empresas, especialmente as de pequeno e médio porte. No entanto, muitos problemas que se encontram nas estruturas existentes impedem que essas empresas o usem. Uma amostra dessas PMEs que trabalham na área da construção e materiais de construção, no Canadá, foi usada na nossa investigação para melhor identificar os problemas existentes nesses frameworks, compreender sua influência e efeito sobre as empresas e desenvolver uma framework integrada ideal para lidar com gestão de projetos, portfólio e inovação ao mesmo tempo. Os dados permitiram nesta investigação identificar 5 grandes questões que precisaram de ser incorporadas na nova abordagem integrada chamada Innoframe. Esta é uma nova framework resultante de um estudo aprofundado sobre o uso, comportamento e perspetivas de dois níveis principais de pessoal, que são membros da equipe e seus gestores de projeto. O estudo seguiu um caminho lógico, passando pelas etapas pesquisar, analisar e desenvolver. A abordagem permitiu que o estudo fizesse bom uso da literatura e dos dados recolhidos, por um lado, e que se traduzisse em ferramentas úteis que ajudaram muito no desenvolvimento do novo framework. Em suma, o estudo enfatizou as três principais fases mencionadas anteriormente para chegar a um novo framework integrado que pode servir como um roteiro para as PMEs na indústria de construção e materiais de construção

How small and medium enterprises can begin their implementation of ITIL?

La secuenciación de los procesos de la Biblioteca de Infraestructura de Tecnologías de Información (ITIL) en cuanto a su orden de implementación es un aspecto no abordado en sus libros. Otros marcos de trabajo y modelos de proceso relativos a la gestión de servicios (p.ej., COBIT, COSO y CMMI-SVC) son sufi cientemente explicados en la literatura y en sus libros guía. Sin embargo, la identifi cación del primer proceso a implementar no ha sido analizada en produndidad en los marcos de trabajo y modelos anteriores, y es también una pregunta difícil de contestar por las organizaciones, especialmente por las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMEs). Las PYMEs son organizaciones que tienen una abrumadora presencia en la economía mundial; los datos ofi ciales del Directorio Central de Empresas muestran que su rango de presencia en diferentes países alrededor del mundo es entre el 93% y el 99% del total de empresas legalmente registradas, y el promedio de contribución al empleo es alrededor del 60%. En consecuencia, la mejora de la gestión de servicios de tecnología de la información en este tipo de empresas es un asunto imperativo de lograr. Esta investigación se ha enfocado en dos estudios cuyo objetivo es ayudar a las PYMEs a seleccionar el proceso de ITIL por el que podrían comenzar a implementar ITIL. En el primer estudio, los datos fueron recogidos mediante una encuesta aplicada a PYMEs registradas en la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. El segundo obtuvo datos de empresas y expertos de países como España, Ecuador, Luxemburgo, Chile, Colombia, Noruega, El Salvador y Venezuela. Finalmente, los resultados de ambos estudios muestran que la tendencia para iniciar una implementación ITIL en las PYMEs apunta a uno de los procesos incluidos en la Operación del Servicio. ---------- ABSTRACT---------- Sequencing of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes related to their order of implementation is one of the pending issues in the ITIL handbooks. Other frameworks and process models related to service management (e.g., COBIT, COSO and CMMI-SVC) are quite well described in the literature and their handbooks. However, the identifi cation of the fi rst process to be implemented has not been deeply analysed in the previous frameworks and models, and it is also a complex question to answer for organizations, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, SMEs are the organizations that have the largest presence in the world economy; offi cial data of General Business Directory, show that their range of presence in different countries around the world is between 93% and 99%, and the average of employment contribution is around 60%. Consequently, the improvement of information technology service management is of vital importance to accomplish in this type of enterprises. This research has focused on two surveys that aim at helping SMEs to select the ITIL process by which starting the implementation of ITIL. In the fi rst survey, data were gathered through a questionnaire to SMEs registered in the region of Madrid. The second survey obtained data from experts and enterprises in countries as Spain, Ecuador, Chile, Luxembourg, Colombia, Norway, El Salvador, and Venezuela. Finally, the results of both surveys show that the tendency for starting an ITIL implementation in SMEs points to one of the processes included in the Service Operation