This thesis deals with some aspects of internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in present globalized world. The goal of this thesis is to analyze the causes, forms and entry barriers for SMEs from the Czech Republic expanding to international markets. This is facilitated by own survey. The survey with questionnaire covering 20 questions was conducted among almost a thousand SMEs. Basic characteristics of SMEs as well as internationalization and enterprise support is mentioned in the thesis. The part is also devoted to the impacts of current economic crisis on SMEs. Survey results are included in the final part of this thesis.

Business Intelligence is one of the fastest growing areas of computer science. Corporate Performance Management (CPM) is often referred as next-generation of Business Intelligence (BI). Recently leading vendors of BI and CPM software and applications were primarily engaged in creating products for large enterprises and corporations. However, now they have also started to aim at the segment of SMEs (small and medium enterprises). This thesis analyzes the CPM market in segment of small and medium enterprises. Introductory part deals with my own research. This research was conducted on a sample of firms from SME whose business activities are within the same industry. The research focuses on the expectations and demands from reporting tools and CPM applications. The second half of the chapter is evaluating the information obtained, which will serve in the next section. The second part introduces principles of corporate performance management (CPM), describing the basic functionality that CPM applications cover and showing which added value is offered to companies. Furthermore, this chapter focuses on market analysis and identification of the main vendors of CPM applications for small and medium-sized businesses. The final part of the chapter defines criteria for evaluating CPM tools for reporting. The final part of diploma thesis has a practical character. It describes installation and setting up BI/CPM suite of applications from two chosen vendors and shows possibilities in their tools for creating reports. Finally these reporting tools are compared by predefined criteria from the previous chapter.

Background: To stay competitive and efficient on a global market, firms have to generate new products and service ideas using closed or open innovation processes. Open innovation activities emerge from both internal and external innovative resources and while SMEs could and do adopt a variation of innovation models, they tend to adopt open innovation activities. Collaboration is one of the most important factors of open innovation and SMEs collaborate to enhance their internal innovation activities and outcomes, as it provides them access to complementary assets and technologically knowledge. However, the literature is not clear as to how SME decide on prospect partners." Purpose:The overall purpose of this thesis is to map the structure of the decision-making process of SMEs regarding partner selection at the early stage of technology exploration (R&D stage) within open innovation and new product development. Method:The approach of this study is a qualitative research method with an abductive inspired research approach. The data are collected through interview study. A Theory Driven Thematic Analysis technique is used to analyse the data. The respondents are found by nonprobability sampling in form of purposive sampling. Findings:Our findings show that SMEs managers, R&D managers, and CEOs who participated within this research consider many practical factors that drive their decision making process regarding partner selection. The main goal they try to achieve when choosing partners is to build collaborations with: the highest quality of outcomes, most cost-effective activities, and most time-effective processes. Conclusion:SMEs, within our sample, do not follow a specific or pre-written strategies when choosing partners. Moreover, SMEs managers prefer to innovate internally without collaborations if they had the needed resources. If SMEs manager had to collaborate, they search for existing partners. However, if they had no existing partners to fulfil the needed resources, they search for new partners

The diploma thesis conveys information enabling greater awareness on the role of open source software at the market of enterprise information systems such as ERP provided as a service. It presents their distinctive characteristics from proprietary software. The practical part investigates the use of corporate information systems provided on-premise, as web services, and by open software. It presents the opinion of the respondents on the contradictory factors considered as benefits or risks of such software.

This paper deals with the implementation of open source ERP systems in the area of small and medium-sized enterprises. The main objective of this work is to define an open source ERP implementation methodology, suitable for small and medium enterprises. This objec-tive is fulfilled partially by defining of manifesto, as way of thinking about this area and analysis of current state of available implementation methodologies. Newly described met-hodology is then verified by a case study. The main contribution of this work is the defini-tion of implementation methodology for open source ERP systems in area of SME focusing on frequently occurring insufficiencies and leading to successful deployment of company IS.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the practice of performance measurement systems (PMS) in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) operating in the service sector in Brunei Darussalam. A further aim was to find the drivers and barriers of PMS adoption for such companies. Quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in this research. Documentary data, questionnaires, and interviews were used to collect the data. 357 questionnaires were sent out to service SME and a total of 62 responses were received. 29 managers from four case study companies were interviewed and semi-structured questions were used during the interviews. The results from the questionnaires showed that 26 per cent of the sample practice advanced PMS, 16 per cent still use a traditional PMS and the rest use a balanced system. The results of the interviews showed two additional drivers and one additional barrier to those found in the literature review. Business process and external stakeholders were identified as the additional drivers of PMS adoption and the former was also identified as the additional factor that could block such adoption. The additional findings indicated that organizational strategy, appropriate management style and management experience and qualifications were the core factors that could either drive or block the adoption of PMS. The lack of a clear mission and vision influenced all the other blocking forces. At the same time, the existence of a clear policy, such as a mission and vision statement, influenced the other driving forces. Furthermore, exercising an appropriate management style which takes into account the current organizational culture of the company has a significant positive impact on the acceptance of performance measurement. The employment of a qualified and experienced management team that understands the concept of performance measurement is also valuable in ensuring that the design of the PMS is appropriate and the implementation successful. A practical framework based on the findings was created to overcome the key identified problems associated with PMS adoption. From these findings, the research results offer both useful and actionable implications for practitioners such as managers and external consultants involved in PMS, particularly in Brunei. Consideration was given to the breadth of the interviews and the use of other documentary data, as well as the limitations of the case study method employed in the research. This should ensure the findings will be useful for companies currently implementing PMS or those intending to in the future. Given the context of this research, the findings will predominantly be of use in developing countries.

The work focuses on the development and current situation of small and medium enterprises in Japan. It includes a summary of the most important features which make these companies different from large companies, especially in relation to the national economy. The emphasis is mainly on the role of SMEs in creation of jobs and their impact on productivity and innovation. The work also examines the involvement of SMEs in Japan in subcontracting and clustering.

The goal of my master's theses was to analyze the requirements of the ITIL framework for a service desk implementation, identify specifics of SME companies and to try to scale down the ITIL implementation of a service desk to the size applicable to SME. In my practical part I'd like devise a functional model of the ITIL compliant service desk featuring Incident, Request, Change, and Problem Management processes based on the Atlassian Jira sotware. After completing the theasis I will answer a question - if it is possible to use ITIL in the SME segment.

This thesis is a research about how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be integrated within Small to medium sized enterprises (SME) inside the fashion industry. It examines the drivers for fashion companies to take social and environmental responsibility and what difficulties and opportunities that they might face in their work towards a more sustainable supply chain. There is no doubt about that the fashion industry needs to re-think their strategies in order to be ethical and environmentally friendly, however focus usually lies on the large chains and their impact. In this report, focus lies on fashion companies that belongs to the category “SME”. SME plays a significant role to the economy and have a great impact on the society yet there is little research and empirical findings on how SME can contribute in a profitable way to a sustainable future. A literature review was made to find the current status of how small companies work with CSR together with relevant theories on how to apply it in reality. Three companies chose to participate in an interview in order to get empirical findings and to connect the literature review with reality. The main barrier for SMEs within the fashion industry to involve in CSR is the financial aspect however there is many advantages such as improved stakeholder relationships as well as improved brand reputation that will generate profit in the long run. This study tries to motivate fashion companies to engage in CSR in order to build a stable business.

Process innovation is an important topic in business research. It enables competitive advantages for companies if managed properly. It is previously acknowledged that uncertainty in process innovation is common and previously research show that it has a negative impact on process innovation projects, as it can cause a waste of resources for the company. For SME’s, where resources are limited, it is imperative that uncertainty do not affect process innovation projects negatively. Previous scholars do not identify sources of process innovation uncertainty in SME’s or how it can be managed, thus leave a gap in theory that is important to fill. The purpose of the study was to investigate how uncertainty in process innovation arises in an SME and how it can be reduced by an investigation on how SEO, as an instance of process innovation, was perceived before and after an implementation process and if a change in perception was related to uncertainty. A single case study with qualitative interviews, combined with an implementation process of SEO, was used to investigate the topic and generate in-depth knowledge. Our findings identify sources of process innovation uncertainty in SME’s, arising from either a resource perspective or from an organizational perspective. Furthermore, we suggest how to manage the identified sources of uncertainty through either information, communication or results. Organizations can use these findings to manage process innovation uncertainty before it arises, thus achieve successful process innovation.