Extant scholarship has paid considerable attention to exploring the impact of people-dependent intangible resources on business success but in large organisations only. Research about the role of these resources in small businesses, in general, and in ethnic minority small businesses, in particular, is scarce. The current study attempts to narrow this gap. Since it is impossible to study all the ethnic minority small businesses, this study uses a case study strategy that focuses on South Asian ethnic minority small businesses that deal in fashion. The study adopts a qualitative research methodology, it uses the semi-structured in-depth interview method to collect data, and it espouses an inductive thematic technique for coding/analysis of the data. Five overarching themes emerged from the interview data. These are: business success; compassionate customer service; relationships; knowledge, experience, training and education; and ethnic culture and the wider economic and political environment. Discussion of these themes leads to the formation of the culture-induced entrepreneurship model. According to this model, the continued success of these businesses is driven by the ethnic culture, while the existence of these businesses helps to maintain the culture in return. However, overdependence on the coethnic base might risk the future success of these businesses. This thesis concludes by highlighting its theoretical contributions to the culturalist view and the mixed embeddedness model of ethnic minority entrepreneurship and small business literature. The implications of this study for researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers, as well as its limitations and the possible future research paths, are also discussed.

Many rural areas are undergoing structural changes as jobs in forestry, fishing, mining, agricultural and other natural resource-based industries decline. These communities, often based around these industries, are generally small and located some distance from urban areas. They are faced with decreasing population as residents and their families leave for jobs elsewhere. As a result, the communities and residents are looking for alternative ways to create employment and sustain themselves. Given the nature of these rural locations, many small businesses based there face challenges that are not generally experienced by enterprises in urban areas. Some communities are not accessible by paved road while others are not accessible by road at all, relying instead on water and air transportation. The business people in these areas often operate without standard business infrastructure, which can include telephone lines, broadband Internet, banking services and other items, and can have difficulty accessing supplies, customers, employees and other required materials. However, there has been relatively little research on the challenges facing rural businesses and the specific methods by which these owners mitigate these challenges. Understanding and addressing the challenges faced by these businesses becomes important in order to support and encourage economic growth and development in these rural communities. Building on this context, this research looks to answer the following questions: • Why do people start businesses in rural locations? • What type of businesses do they start? • What challenges do these rural businesses face? • How do owners respond to these challenges? Vancouver Island and the surrounding smaller islands in British Columbia, Canada serve as the research site. Given the exploratory nature of this research, an inductive approach has been selected with the use of case studies, interviews and grounded theory analysis. Purposeful sampling is used with the sample businesses meeting specific criteria, based on location, business size and definition of success. These businesses are interviewed at their locations to allow the researcher to experience the challenges associated with accessing the particular rural community. The interview topics are focused on the above research questions. There are several common characteristics among the sample owners and their businesses. The owners tend to be in-migrants who moved to the rural area for lifestyle reasons. They have started their business to provide an income, take advantage of a business opportunity, or both. Family members, particularly spouses, are actively involved in the business. In many cases, participants supplement their business income with other income sources to ensure business viability. Success is measured generally by personal and lifestyle goals, rather than financial criteria. The businesses face common challenges in terms of a limited local population base which impacts on market size and labour pool, rural location and access to urban centres, gaps in business and social services infrastructure and heavy time demands. The owners respond to these challenges in a variety of ways which includes the involvement of family, core business diversification, alternative income sources, long hours invested in the business and involvement with the community. To meet these challenges and devise their responses, the owners draw upon four key resources – their own skills and attitudes, their family, business and community. The resulting conceptual framework draws together these key resources and suggests that all four must be present to ensure success within a rural context. Each resource is comprised of several components which contribute to business success. The framework also integrates several resource-based theories, which consider the key resources either separately or in pairs, to create a holistic model. The conclusions focus on several key areas. This research contributes to the knowledge base on rural small businesses by creating a framework that draws directly from the experience of these owners and their objectives and motivations for their businesses. It reflects their internal focus and a concentration of the four resources that they access easily from within their domain. This research also suggests some possible roles for government which focus on its role in shaping the larger environment, particularly at the infrastructure level and human capital development. Finally, future research directions are recommended. This study considers a relatively unexplored topic and suggests ways for rural small businesses to address the challenges which they face. With this knowledge, individuals, businesses, communities and other interested organizations can work to achieve their economic development goals.

Studien syftar till att upptäcka svårigheter vid implementering av kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001:2015 på små företag. För att uppnå studiens syfte samlades teorier om kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001 och dess implementerings- och certifieringsprocess in. En fallstudie genomfördes på två analysenheter för att sedan jämföras mot det teoretiska ramverket och erhålla ett resultat. De mest bidragande faktorerna till icke-certifiering av ISO 9001 hos små företag visade sig vara tidsbrist, resursbrist samt kompetensbrist.

Small retailers are searching for a basis of competitive advantage to compete against larger retailers. The independent sales representative (rep) may represent such a basis. Little is known about how the role of reps and their performance is perceived by suppliers and retailers. We do not know what is expected from reps, if the reps' performance meets suppliers and retailers expectations, or whether met expectations lead to a basis of competitive advantage. Primarily, the study was designed to identify the role and contributions reps in the interactions between the supplier and retailer in the channel of distribution.

This thesis deals with the specifics of valuation of small businesses and is trying to find practical solutions to particular problems on the example of a travel agency SALLY TOURS. The selected company was evaluated for the purpose of sale and settlement of marital property. Financial and strategy analysis was performed followed by determination of value drivers and future free cash flow. Discounted cash flow and capitalized earnings method were used. The conclusion summarizes the main differences in the valuation of small businesses and companies, and recommends their solutions.

Risker och riskhantering är ett ämne som har fått en stor betydelse i dagens samhälle, inte minst som en följd av finanskrisen. Det finns ett flertal studier på området men dessvärre finns det idag betydligt färre studier om riskhantering som riktar in sig på småföretag, trots det faktum att cirka 96 procent av Sveriges 1,2 miljoner företag är just småföretag. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva hur svenska småföretag hanterar risker samt att förklara samband mellan variabler som storlek, ålder, bransch och internationalisering.    För att göra detta har en kvantitativ metod tillämpats, med en deduktiv ansats. En enkätundersökning har formulerats och skickats ut till 867 småföretag i Sverige som valdes ut ur en databas (Retriever Business) med ett systematiskt urval. Enkäten bestod av 23 frågor och författarna av studien fick svar från 121 företag. Den data som samlades in bearbetades och analyserades i Microsoft Excel samt SPSS. De statistiska metoder som användes för att analysera data är deskriptiv statistisk samt ett binärt logistiskt regressionstest.   Studien finner signifikanta samband mellan importerande företag samt valutarisker, vilket stödjer resultat från tidigare genomförda studier på området. Studien fann inga signifikanta samband mellan importerande/exporterande företag och marknadsrisker, vilket går emot resultatet av tidigare genomförda studier. Dessutom fann studien inga signifikanta samband mellan marknadsrisker samt IT-risker och diverse oberoende variabler, vilket var några av studiens hypoteser.   Studiens resultat och slutsatser kan framförallt komma till användning för småföretag i riskbedömningar och liknande. Detta gäller framförallt för företag som handlar mycket internationellt. Även banker kan ha användning av resultatet, då bankerna brukar vara mycket intresserade av hur företagen hanterar risker, exempelvis då lån ska ges. Även försäkringsbolag skulle kunna ha användning av studien då de kan vara intresserade av att se hur risker hanteras och hur riskmedvetna deras företagskunder är. / Risks and risk management is a topic that has gained great importance today, not least because of the financial crisis. There are several studies on the field but unfortunately, there are far fewer studies on risk management that target smaller companies today, even though around 96 percent of Sweden's 1,2 million companies are in fact small companies. The purpose of this study is to describe how Swedish small companies deal with risks and to explain connections between variables such as size, age, line of business and internationalization.    To accomplish this, a quantitative method has been applied, with a deductive approach. A survey has been constructed and sent out to 867 small companies in Sweden whom were chosen out of a database (Retriever Business) with a systematic sampling. The survey consisted of 23 questions and the authors of this study received answers from 121 companies. The data that has been collected were processed and analysed in Microsoft Excel and SPSS. The statistically methods used are descriptive statistics and a binary logistics regressions test.    The results of this study are that statistically significant connections between importing companies and exchange risks, which provides support for what previous studies in the field have come up with. No significant correlations were found for importing/exporting companies and market risks, which is the contrariety of the results of previous studies in the field. Furthermore, no statistically significant correlations were found between market risks and IT-risks with various independent variables, which were some of the study’s hypothesis.   The results and conclusions of this study could be used especially by smaller companies in risk assessments and such. This applies above all to companies that trade much internationally. Also, banks could find the results useful, since banks usually are very interested in how companies handle risks, for instance when a loan is to be given. Insurance companies could also find this study useful, as they could be interested in seeing how risks are managed and how risk aware their clients are.

För att skapa en hållbar utveckling behöver alla aktörer i samhället arbeta tillsammans. Ekonomistyrning kan hjälpa företag att mäta och följa upp prestationer i syfte att kontrollera att de når uppsatta mål. Hållbarhet kan definieras på olika sätt, vilket kan försvåra arbetet med styrning av hållbarhet i företag. Tidigare forskning har nästan enbart fokuserat på stora företag trots att majoriteten av alla företag i EU är små och medelstora företag. Därför är syftet med denna studie att undersöka hur småföretag arbetar med hållbarhet och vilken roll ekonomistyrning har i detta arbete. Då det finns en begränsad mängd forskning om småföretag och hållbarhet syftar även studien till att bidra med nya insikter om hur småföretag kan gå tillväga för att bli mer hållbara, samt vilka hinder de möter under arbetet med hållbarhet. Till studien genomfördes fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med småföretag i syfte att undersöka hur småföretag arbetar med ekonomistyrning för att uppnå långsiktiga hållbarhetsmål. De fyra fallföretagen arbetar med hållbarhet, har maximalt 50 anställda och verkar inom olika branscher. Med grund i Malmi och Browns (2008) modell för Management Control Systems identifierades och analyserades vilka styrsystem som förekommer vid arbete med hållbarhet i småföretag. Studien visar att småföretag saknar tillräckliga resurser för att kunna göra ett formellt och systematiskt styrningsarbete. Detta är en av anledningarna till att småföretag väljer att arbeta löpande med hållbarhet. Många småföretag har endast en ägare eller är familjeägda, vilket gör att ägarens definition till hållbarhet är avgörande för hur företaget arbetar med hållbarhet. Det är således även ägarens kompetens som påverkar graden av formaliserade ekonomistyrningssystem i företaget. / Most of the research on sustainability and Management Control Systems is based on large businesses even though the majority of all companies in the European Union are small and medium sized businesses. Small businesses can make a big impact on the current climate crisis, but since sustainability can be a complex issue and more advanced management in small business is limited, working towards sustainable development in small business could be a challenge. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to study how small businesses work to be more sustainable using Management Control Systems. For data collection, interviews were conducted in four small businesses who work with sustainability. The study finds that it can be hard for small businesses to work with sustainability due to lack of resources, which makes the use of Management Control Systems more informal and value based.

Muito se tem estudado a respeito dos aspectos econômicos e mercadológicos dos Shopping Centers, focando-se essencialmente na relação destes empreendimentos com os consumidores finais. Este trabalho pretendeu abordar esta questão sob a ótica do lojista que se instala em um shopping center. E não exatamente um lojista qualquer, mas o pequeno lojista, ou o lojista satélite, como são chamados estes comerciantes nos empreendimentos. Através da hipótese de que por menor que seja o empreendimento comercial, sempre existirão critérios objetivos de escolha de ponto, procurou-se aqui sistematizar esses critérios, através de uma abordagem teórica que pudesse dar sustentação conceitual ao processo de escolha. Dentre as conclusões do trabalho, verificou-se que apesar de nem sempre aparente, o lojista tem uma clara percepção das características do ponto, embora às vezes tenha que optar por aquele ponto onde sua restrição de orçamento assim o permita. / Many researchers have studied economic and merchandising issues regarding shopping centers, focusing essentially on the relationship between the entrepreneurs and the consumers. This work is intended to provide a different approach, focusing on the relationship from the shopper-owner viewpoint, with an emphasis on small businesses. Based upon the hypothesis that even in the smallest commercial business, everyone should develop some technical criteria to assist in choosing their sites, the author tried to organize these methods, using a theoretical approach in order to support the site study process. Among the conclusions, it was verified that even when the owner cannot use the concepts to choose a site in a shopping center (e.g., because of a restricted budget), he/she has a clear idea about the quality and characteristics of the site locations.

No final do século XX, as empresas latino-americanas foram inseridas em um ambiente de competitividade internacional - devido à consolidação das reformas neoliberais, o processo de abertura econômica e a estabilização monetária e com isso tornou-se necessário buscar ganhos de produtividade associados à redução de custos. Diante deste cenário e visto que as empresas de micro e pequeno porte sempre tiveram um importante papel nas economias latinas, no que se refere à geração de emprego e renda, o auxílio do Estado por meio de políticas públicas de apoio torna-se fundamental, principalmente no atendimento de suas necessidades mais prementes como o crédito facilitado, tributação diferenciada e capacitação. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é analisar, no período de 1998 a 2003, o impacto dessas políticas, mediante uma correlação com as variáveis de desempenho das MPEs número de estabelecimentos e empregos; total de vendas anuais; vendas anuais por empresa e por empregado - no Brasil e no Chile. Para realizar esta análise, inicialmente, recorremos aos autores clássicos do pensamento econômico os quais destacam, diretamente ou indiretamente, questões pertinentes as MPEs. A partir daí, estas são inseridas no cenário econômico latino-americano e então, busca-se delimitá-las nas economias brasileira e chilena, bem como as políticas públicas aplicadas a este porte de empresa. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho foi de pesquisa bibliográfica e quantitativa. Os métodos de procedimento foram comparativos e estatísticos, tendo como base a técnica de documentação indireta. Como resultado do trabalho pode-se afirmar que é verdadeira a hipótese levantada na pesquisa, ou seja, que as políticas públicas de apoio às MPEs geram impactos positivos no desempenho das empresas na economia. / In the end of the 20th century, the Latin-American companies were inserted in an atmosphere of international competition - due to the consolidation of the neoliberal reforms, the process of economical opening and the monetary stabilization - and with that it became necessary to look for won of productivity associated to the reduction of costs. Before this scenery and considering the fact that the micro and small companies had always had an important role in the Latin economy, concerning the employment creation and income, the aid of the State through public politics of support becomes fundamental, mainly in the service of their more pressing needs as the facilitated credit, differentiated taxation and training. Like this, the objective of this work is to analyze, in the period from 1998 to 2003, the impact of these politics, by a correlation with the variables of acting of small businesses - number of establishments and jobs; total of annual sales; annual sales for company and for employee - in Brazil and in Chile. To accomplish this analysis, initially, we fell back upon the classic authors of the economical thought which highlight direct or indirectly pertinent subjects small businesses. Since then, these are inserted in the Latin- American economical scenery and then, it is looked for to delimit them in the Brazilian and Chilean savings, as well as the applied public politics to this company load. The methodology used in this work was bibliographical and quantitative research. The procedure methods were comparative and statistical, tends as base the technique of indirect documentation. As a result of the work, it can be claimed that the hypothesis lifted up in the research is true, in other words, that the public politics of support to the small businesses generate positive impacts in the acting of the companies in the economy.

Esta dissertação objetiva identificar os obstáculos ao uso da tecnologia da informação na gestão estratégica da informação e propor soluções compatíveis à situação peculiar da pequena empresa. Apresenta uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o processo de gestão da informação, tecnologias da informação e as especificidades da pequena empresa. O trabalho de campo dividiu-se em duas fases: a primeira consistiu em um amplo levantamento exploratório-descritivo, que pôde ser classificado, devido sua natureza científica, como um estudo survey, a fim de se conhecer melhor as pequenas empresas pertencentes aos minidistritos; e a segunda fase correspondeu à aplicação do método de análise comparativa de casos, sendo que foram estudadas quatro indústrias de pequeno porte instaladas nos minidistritos industriais de São José do Rio Preto – SP, tendo-se como finalidade comparar os seus resultados entre si. A pesquisa permitiu identificar os tipos e fontes considerados relevantes, bem como a maneira como essas empresas realizam a gestão de suas informações. Percebeu-se que esse processo, em geral, é informal e assistemático. Quanto à utilização de tecnologias da informação foi observado que seu uso é modesto, principalmente no que tange àquelas que auxiliam as etapas do processo de gestão da informação. Os principais obstáculos identificados que dificultam a implantação e a utilização de tecnologias da informação são: o alto custo das tecnologias; a falta de tempo por parte dos dirigentes; a resistência humana em aceitar novas tecnologias da informação; o insignificante retorno sobre a produtividade e a dificuldade em lidar com a tecnologia da informação / This dissertation presents identify the obstacles for the use of the information technology in the strategic management of the information and propose compatible solutions with the specific situation of the small businesses. It presents a bibliographical revision of the process of information management, information technology and the specific characteristics of small businesses. The fieldwork was divided in two phases: the first carried out an broad survey exploratory and descriptive, that could be classified, in reason of it scientific nature, like a survey study, to aim to know better the small businesses belonged to minidistricts; and the second phase corresponded to the application of the method of the comparative studu of cases, was be studied four industrial of the small-sized installed in industrials minidistricts of the São José do Rio Preto – SP, having the objective compair its results one another. The research alowed identify the relevant types and sources, as well the way this enterprises do the management of your informations. It was realize that this process, in general, is informal and not systematic. How to utilization of the information technologies was realize that it use is modest, mainly in relation thats aims the stages of the process of information management. The mainly obstacles identified that make difficult the implantation and the use of the information technologies are: the high cost of the tecnologies, the scary time of the managers; the human resistence in accept news information technologies; the insignificant return about the productivity and the difficulty to deal with the information technology