Background: Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.

As shows statistical data and Author’s personal experience, only 10% of Polish SME managers understands the idea of Integrated Information Systems (IIS) and is aware of potential benefits. Giving some business trainings for middle level management (focused mainly on company controlling functions) Author found that participants knew the ERP only as the name and most of them were convinced, that they are using such a solution in their enterprises. The idea of training was to present today top ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions in the form of professional presentation given by SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics AX and Polish most commonly used Comarch CDN Optima. The goal of this article is to present basic knowledge concerning Integrated Information Systems in the domain of its evolution, implementation methods and present situation of ERP usage among SME.The final part is a case study of ERP system selection process for metal construction company in Szczecin (Poland).

Innovation of Polish economy as assessed by international institutions (OECD, EU) is below the average for EU- 27 although one must note the progress from the group of catching up countries to that of moderate innovators (2010). Summary Innovation Index (SII) for Poland is lower than the average for all the EU member states but its growth rate is higher than the EU average. Monitoring of innovation indexes for Polish economy does not give a clear-cut picture of the progress made as changes follow different directions. Dynamics of innovation outlays is one among positive symptoms. Businesses operating in Poland allocate more and more resources for innovation. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) constitute the core of Polish economy. They represent 99.8% of all economic operators, employ 70.1% of the working population, generate 47.7% of the GDP and become increasingly active in innovation. When it comes to the latter one of its key conditioning factors are innovation policy pursued by the state and institutional environment. That environment consists of the network of training and advisory centres, technology transfer centres, incubators, technological parks and financial instruments that support enterprise and innovation. The main objective of the paper is to study the institutional environment and state policy as fundamental factors that impact the increase in SME innovation in Poland.

Rvolta has been working in waste management industry for 16 years now. This SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) from Portugal is taken as a focus point for the case study addressing a network of partners working in various activities which became related, so as to disclose the underlying innovative spirit, strategy and partnership structure. Objectives of the present chapter are to portray and analyze a SME success case in open innovation (through various innovation practices), and clarify how knowledge creation and collaboration amongst different players in a network takes place. An exemplary collaboration episode is told. Framing issues are addressed so as to understand how they affect open innovation in SMEs. The study finds interactions, networking, and partnership connections, are important issues and indeed make a difference, thus enabling SMEs to innovate. This case evolved from an exploratory phase of an Information Systems PhD qualitative research, addressing open and crowdsourcing innovation.

Background: Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.

Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.

Mestrado em Ciências Empresariais; Pequenas e médias empresas desempenham um papel importante na economia mundial. No entanto, a elevada dificuldade em aceder aos fundos necessários muitas vezes limita o crescimento destas empresas. Este estudo tem como propósito analisar alguns dos mais debatidos problemas no que a financiamento de PMEs diz respeito, particularmente Relacionamento Bancário e dificuldades no acesso ao financiamento. Posteriormente, realiza um exercício comparativo entre a percepção de PMEs na Região Autónoma dos Açores e as mais comuns considerações presentes na literatura. A maioria dos inquiridos considera que o acesso ao financiamento bancário é difícil, e percepciona os critérios relacionados com garantias e com o histórico de crédito da empresa como os mais importantes para as decisões de concessão de crédito dos bancos. A maioria dos inquiridos considera igualmente estar envolvido em Relacionamento Bancário, retirando benefícios dessa relação.; Small and medium enterprises are crucial for economies all around the globe. However, their growth is constrained by strong difficulties in accessing the funds they imperatively need. This study reviews some the most common issues regarding SME finance...

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics; This case intends to study the drivers of innovation at Polisport, a Portuguese SME operating in the plastics industry for two-wheeled vehicles. This firm has won several product awards across the world and was consider in 2011 the most innovative SME in Portugal. Embodying innovation Polisport has been able to conquer international markets, transform its industry and outplay established competitors despite its smaller resources. The goal is to discover a set of relevant variables that positively affect its innovativeness and analyzing the impact of the innovation strategy on firm’s performance.

This paper evaluates small and medium enterprise (SME) support programs in Chile using a firm-level panel for the 1992-2006 period on two groups of firms a treatment group that participated in SME programs and a control group that did not. These unique panel data provide an unprecedented opportunity to address several issues that have plagued impact evaluations of SME programs selectivity bias from observed and unobserved firm heterogeneity, identification of an appropriate control group, and inability to track firms over a long enough period of time for performance outcomes to be realized. Using difference-in-differences models combined with propensity score matching methods, the paper finds evidence that participation in SME programs in Chile is associated with improvements in intermediate outcomes (training, adoption of new technology and organizational practices), and causally with positive and statistically significant impacts on sales, production, labor productivity, wages and exports. The mixed results of previous studies may be attributable in part to the confounding effects of unobserved heterogeneity motivating selection into programs of firms with relatively low productivity levels...

Given the lack of consensus on how to measure success, this paper explores the meaning of business success as perceived by SME business owners in Australia and Malaysia. A qualitative methodology was adopted whereby semi structured interviews were conducted with ten entrepreneurs from each country. A content analysis of the interview data identified 20 criteria for defining success, broadly categorised into: 1 financial 2 lifestyle 3 social responsibility 4 customer satisfaction criteria clusters. Interestingly, the answers provided by Australian entrepreneurs were largely similar to the Malaysians. However, slight differences relating to aspects of financial, lifestyle and social responsibility were identified. Overall, this study finds evidence for the utilisation of multidimensional measures of business success in Australia and Malaysia.; Ahmad N. and Seet P-S; Copyright (c) 2009 Inderscience Enterprises

The rise in ethics and social responsibility scrutiny has attracted a lot of debate pertaining to the prevalence of such practices in SMEs. Concomitantly, the emergence of women participation in new ventures has raised interest among the researchers to examine the gender variations in regards to ethical and social responsibility considerations in business given that there is evidence suggesting women are generally more ethical than men. The present study attempts to explore the prevalence of such practices among Malaysian SME entrepreneurs and subsequently examine the gender differences in terms of the importance placed by female and male entrepreneurs in regards to these practices. A sequential mixed-method design was employed. The first phase involved a series of interviews conducted with ten SME entrepreneurs. Subsequently, in the second phase, survey was employed whereby 212 SME entrepreneurs operating in both manufacturing and service sectors participated in the study. Descriptive statistics analysis and an independent sample t-test were conducted to generate answers to the research questions. The findings indicate that ethical and socially responsible practices were perceived important by the entrepreneurs; however, there are gender variations in regards to the magnitude of such practices in their business activities. It appears that women perceived ethics and social responsibility conducts as more important than their male counterparts in managing their business. Given such findings...

This paper attempts to unearth the competency-mix required by entrepreneurs in Australia and Malaysia in order to sustain their ventures. Based on this premise, the present study aims to identify, validate, and compare the competencies perceived to be important by SME entrepreneurs operating in both countries. This involved determining the psychometric rigor of the model and establishing the psychometric properties of the model of entrepreneurial competency using a sample of 391 SME entrepreneurs. Interestingly, it was found that some competencies are context-free while others are culture-specific. The identification of competencies that are highly prevalent in Australia and Malaysia would assist in the development of an assessment index that could be use in training and development programs for practicing as well as prospective SME entrepreneurs.; http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=851764310084321;res=IELBUS; Noor Hazlina Ahmad, Carlene Wilson and Liz Kummerow

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a lion's share of the enterprises in most economies and are also thought to be an engine of new growth and innovation. The focus of this paper is to take the insights on SME mix and segments to practical implications for developing countries around the world. The paper attempts to do this by providing a diagnostic approach that client countries and regions can use to assess their SME sectors and tease out firms' contribution to the local economy. Guidelines and specific examples of policies based on the insights in the paper have been provided. Lastly, the paper includes some areas of future research that are required on the subject. This paper proceeds in three steps. The first is to better understand the economic contribution of SMEs. This analysis complements the existing policy focus and takes it further to direct attention to a more specific set of growth drivers to enable the firms that matter disproportionately, the competitive SMEs, while remaining inclusive and avoiding market distortion. The second step is to develop a perspective on how best to complement the policy focus on competitive SMEs with that on larger firms. Policy-makers need to structure policy appropriately to develop a healthy eco-system of firms. The third step is to make this analysis actionable by policy-makers. This paper provides an initial SME policy diagnostic. A better understanding of how to encourage SME growth has the potential to make a substantial contribution to national economic performance.

Economies dependent on resource extraction are particularly susceptible to sudden swings in commodity prices. International Finance Corporation (IFC) linkages projects should take this into account by helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) prepare for the 'hard times,' such as the current global economic crisis, through diversification of markets and improving their coping capacities. To reduce their dependency on one or a limited number of corporations, SMEs should also be linked or introduced to market opportunities available from other organizations or firms. Likewise, other players or consumers in the sector should be included in 'crisis' planning and introduced to SMEs to increase the market size for SMEs. Finally, partnerships should be sought with government organizations involved in SME development to design innovative capacity-building interventions. This smart lesson describes how IFC's are helping Zambian SME suppliers hit hard by the global economic crisis and sharp fall in world copper prices and the lessons learned from the experience.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa have been hailed as the engine of economic growth. They are at the heart of developing countries' entrepreneurship, the source of most new employment and productive investment, and the basis for growth and poverty reduction. Despite the economic potential of SMEs, they face severe constraints related to access to resources, finance, and services, as well as procedural barriers all of which limit their potential to invest, innovate, and improve productivity and sustainability. To address these constraints, International Finance Corporation (IFC) developed the SME Solutions Centre (SSC) Pilot Program in Kenya. The SSC value proposition centers on four key pillars: access to finance, access to advisory services/technical assistance (now SME management solutions), access to reliable market information, and support for an enhanced business enabling environment. This smart lesson details the lessons learned from the SSC's experience with the access to finance pillar.

Garanti Bankasi (Garanti) is a regional pioneer in offering products and services specifically targeted towards women entrepreneurs as a specific market segment. In 2006, Garanti created a women's entrepreneur support package specifically designed to help Turkey s women entrepreneurs to establish and grow their businesses. This was followed up with the creation of Women Entrepreneur Gatherings, in 2007, which provided additional training and educational tools and new networking opportunities. And in 2013, Garanti began collaborating with Bogazici University, a top university in Turkey, to offer an intensive mini-MBA training program for women entrepreneurs. Garanti also launched Turkey s first Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award, an initiative that showcases women who have successfully grown their business, encouraging more women entrepreneurship in the country. This case study (the study ) explores how Garanti leaders decided to focus on women entrepreneurs. It also documents and analyzes the bank s efforts to build a profitable and sustainable women in business franchise...

Nowadays, in order to face increasing competition, businesses must differentiate through innovation, but also crucially by positioning themselves with respect to environmental concerns, in order to improve brand image. SMEs are particularly plagued with a lack in human, financial and time resources to integrate such aspects to design. In this paper, we propose a gradual approach (short-, medium- and long-term) to implement an eco-design process in SMEs. This process comprises four stages: analysis, sensitisation, eco-design strategy and sustained improvement. A first experimentation, in collaboration with a SME (MulTiroir-Controlec), allowed us to integrate this eco-design process in the development of a new product range of hospital carts. We present the results of the product development as well as an experience feedback on the project; today the company integrates this eco-design approach in its strategy.

A design process is a sequence of design phases, starting with the design requirement and leading to a definition of one or several system architectures. For every design phase, various support tools and resolution methods are proposed in the literature. These tools are however very difficult to implement in an SME, which may often lack resources. In this article we propose a complete design process for new manufacturing techniques, based on creativity and knowledge re-use in searching for technical solutions. Conscious of the difficulties of appropriation in SME, for every phase of our design process we propose resolution tools which are adapted to the context of a small firm. Design knowledge has been capitalized in a knowledge base. The knowledge structuring we propose is based on functional logic and the design process too is based on the functional decomposition of the system, and integrates the simplification of the system architecture, from the early phases of the process. For this purpose, aggregation phases and embodiment are proposed and guided by heuristics.

O estudo teve por objetivo investigar os programas de atividade física para idosos desenvolvidos pela Prefeitura de Porto Alegre, RS. Foram pesquisadas a Fundação de Assistência Social e Cidadania - FASC e a Secretaria Municipal de Esportes, Recreação e Lazer – SME, instituições responsáveis pelo planejamento e execução dos programas de atividades física para idosos na cidade. Estes programas atendem cerca de 3500 pessoas, organizados em 58 grupos. São oferecidas atividades de ginástica, alongamento, jogos adaptados, dança e caminhadas. O estudo foi de natureza qualitativa do tipo descritiva com amostra intencional. Para a coleta das informações utilizou-se entrevista semi-estruturada, análise documental e questionário. Foram entrevistados 14 coordenadores e 7 professores. Na análise documental, foram pesquisados 28 documentos, entre projetos, resoluções, material informativo e relatórios. O questionário com questões abertas e fechadas foi aplicado em 205 pessoas. Foram construídos níveis de análise para as entrevistas e a avaliação dos documentos. Os dados dos questionários foram tratados estatisticamente com o Software SPSS e utilizados procedimentos não paramétricos de análise, freqüências e porcentagens. Os resultados indicaram que a falta de recursos humanos e materiais interfere na implementação dos programas. O número de participantes nas atividades físicas é ainda inexpressivo frente à população idosa de Porto Alegre. Isto faz com que os programas não sejam caracterizados como uma política abrangente. Com relação às ações preventivas de doenças crônico-degenerativas que atingem os idosos...

Carbocations derived from protonation, methylation, and bromine addition to HFC55CH(SMe) (1) were studied by DFT [B3LYP/6-31G*, B3LYP/6-311G(3df,p), and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ] and by MP2/6-31G* to examine relative carbocation stabilizing effects of a-SMe versus a-fluorine. The a-SMe carbocations 1aE+ and the unsymmetrical thiiranium ions 1cE+ were found to be considerably more stable than the corresponding a-fluorocarbenium ions 1bE+ . Study of protonation and methylation of FC(R1)55CR2(SMe) [R1 = H, R2 = SMe (2); R1 = F, R2 = H (3); R1 = F, R2 = SMe (4); R1 = Me, R2 = H (5); R1 = Me, R2 = SMe (6)] by B3LYP/6-31G* identified the corresponding unsymmetrical thiiranium cations as lowest energy minima, followed closely by the a-thiocarbenium ions. With 2, 4, and 6, skeletally rearranged a-thiocarbenium ions are formed by SMe migration. The a-SMe and the thiiranium cations are also favored relative to a- fluorocarbenium ions in protonation and methylation of the cyclic analogs 8 and 9. Computed NPA charges and the GIAO-derived 13C and 19F NMR chemical shifts underscore the significance of athiocarbocations and thiiranium ions in electrophilic addition to FC(R1)55CR2(SMe).; Fil: Laali, Kenneth K.. University of North Florida. Department of Chemistry; Estados Unidos de América;; Fil: Borosky...