<p><strong>Purpose </strong>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how branding is exercised in a SME and to develop a model for how SMEs can implement branding. This means that we will especially focus on aspects that are important for a SME when building and strengthening a brand.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Background </strong>When looking at the concept of brand management, the wide range of literature gives examples of corporations such as Nike, Coca-Cola, and Apple who have been successful in the field. It rarely talks about how SMEs deal with branding, if at all. Brand management in SMEs has been widely overlooked, despite that a vast majority of the companies are SMEs.<strong> </strong>There are as mentioned obstacles when working with brand management in SMEs, but the existing literature is mainly focusing on how larger organizations should implement brand management and the benefits of doing so. We argue that there is lack of existing literature on how SMEs should implement branding.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Method </strong>To fulfill the purpose, a qualitative method was chosen. The study was done within a SME, Triumf Glass, where eight people were interviewed in a semi-structured way. This was done to investigate how branding is excercised in a SME.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion </strong>The outcome of the study is a model that describes the process we believe to be necessary for a SME to go through when building and strengthening its brand. The model consists of the phases brand essence, brand reflection and brand strategy which result in brand equity.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Background: An organization cannot only rely on how they have been accustomed to doing things in the past, rather they have to be willing to change and adapt in order to be successful in the present as well as the future by achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage. The ability to have a successful core business, be profitable today and also be able to predict future possibilities is a key for organizations that aim at being successful in the long term. Ambidexterity deals with these issues. An ambidextrous organization aims to balance the capability to exploit the present and exploring the future simultaneously. Therefore, it is an essential factor for the long term survival of firms. Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study ambidexterity with regard to SMEs in the service sector. Completion: This study is based on a qualitative research which is conducted as a single case study on Mediakonsulterna as a firm. Conclusions: The study shows that ambidexterity can be applied in a SME in the service sector. Furthermore, there are different approaches as to how ambidexterity can be applied as discussed in this study. More specifically, the study concludes that a contextual approach to ambidexterity is viable when firms lack the resources and size for implementing ambidexterity through structural measures. This means that a SME in the service sector can conduct ambidexterity on an individual level throughout the company rather than relying on a structural division of separate units. In order to apply ambidexterity, SMEs rely to a large amount on individuals to balance the different activities such as exploitation and exploration

India as a fast growing economy provides great business opportunities. It is considered as one of the most attractive emerging markets. Due to globalization, international business expands and international market is continually converting into boundary less environment. These conditions also affect SMEs. The SMEs are traditionally considered as home based industry but their survival is no more possible with local business. Joint venture is a type of entry mode to foreign markets. This thesis is an attempt to investigate how to improve joint venture relationship between foreign Swedish SME and local Indian firms by identifying and investigating the effecting factors. Throughout our study, the experience of case company Amokael remains focal point. Indian government is still imposing restrictions on certain industries in which foreign firms have to establish business through joint venture. Joint ventures of Swedish SMEs with Indian partners on Indian soil are considered to be critical due to the cultural and societal differences.

This participant-observation study explores the process of gathering and evaluating both financial and non-financial information and communication and transfer of that information within a medium-size Electrical Company in Christchurch, New Zealand. The previous literature has established the importance and the main characteristics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), mainly studying manufacturing companies. However, there has been little research done in New Zealand on the overall communication process and the financial and non-financial information usage in a small-medium enterprise. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with all the office employees and two partners, along with a ten month participant-observation in the Electrical Company in order to understand how financial and non-financial information is communicated and processed in an SME. Also, research in an SME that has overcome the 2008 economic depression and several major earthquakes allows a deep understanding of lessons learned and what is valued by the Electrical Company. The research has found characteristics of this SME similar to those that have been mentioned in previous literature. However, the partners of the Electrical Company understand the importance of financial management and use financial information extensively to ensure the business expenses are under control. Moreover, the partners use more than just financial information to manage the company. They gather non-financial information through talking to their accountant, their customers and people in the same industry and they keenly follow the news on the rebuilding of Christchurch.

Syftet med studien är att söka förståelse för hur svenska små och medelstora företag arbetar med CSR implementering på en utvecklingsmarknad och vilka problem och möjligheter de möter i arbetet med detta. / The aim with this thesis is to seek understanding on how Swedish small and medium enterprises work with CSR implementation in a developing market and what problems and opportunities they face in dealing with this.

Sustainability and corporate responsibility appears to be spoken topics in the business world. Due to this, companies may have to reconsider the way they operate their business. The previous studies within this field are mostly done for large companies and leave SMEs with limited focus. Therefore, this study investigates how SMEs manage their change towards corporate sustainability. The literature used in this study includes theory about change management in general, change management process towards corporate sustainability, and SMEs’ special characters. Based on the knowledge of the existing literature four case companies were investigated and analysed. These chosen SMEs have moved through a successful change process towards sustainable business. The findings revealed that an external pressure such as image, is often the reason for the change. However, when planning and implementing the change, SMEs usually lack knowledge and expertise about sustainability, which hampers the change process. Commitment from employees and especially the management is vital for the change to succeed. Moreover it is crucial that company culture changes in order to complete the change process. Additionally, continuing to evolve is important in order to maintain the change process, and avoid the risk of taking steps back.

Small to Mid-size Enterprises (SMEs) typically are slow/late to adopt new technologies due to a conservative bias, cost factors and possible lack of knowledge. Implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a major, costly undertaking for a company of any size, especially SMEs, but there is the potential for huge paybacks touted by advantages afforded by the cloud. Cloud based ERP technology for SMEs is relatively new and poses a potential large risk-reward payoff. Given that these SMEs are currently functioning with their existing systems, why would they want to risk switching to "Bleeding Edge" Cloud ERP technology? Prior ERP research has focused primarily on an ERP’s implementation success and the relevant critical success factors (CSFs) important throughout the various stages of an ERP’s lifecycle. The focus of these studies has been on post-selection variables and the success or failure of the ERP’s adoption or implementation. Inherent in these studies are firms who already selected ERP technology which provides no insight into any potential barriers that prevent selection. ERP research in the area of SME cloud/SaaS ERP systems is nascent. This paper adds methodological, empirical and theoretical contributions to this existing stream of research about the motives and barriers in the selection of cloud ERP systems for SME’s. In particular, this research paper proposes to help bridge these gaps by operationalizing and testing Saeed, Juell-Skielse, and Uppström (2012)’s Unified Framework (UF) of the motives and barriers to the selection of cloud ERP systems. This current study uses Value Added Resellers (VARs) as subjects. They are arguably the most knowledgeable and in the best position to assess both the motives and more importantly barriers since there are in direct contact with the cloud ERP prospective purchasers.

Corporate entrepreneurship has gained renewed interested in research since global markets are evolving and industries become more and more competitive. Information is transferred across the globe rapidly so that products and processes can be copied quickly. In order to be competitive, companies need to enhance creativity, their technological knowledge and market know-how. This high competitiveness leads to a dilemma where innovation is a key to survive whilst the size and administration may signify barriers to replicate entrepreneurial behavior through the entire business.   Considering the relevance of corporate entrepreneurship in the rapidly changing market of the 21st century, our purpose was to develop a deeper understanding of how corporate entrepreneurship can be used by companies. We then looked deeper into the subject of organizational transformation and decided to do a case study. The aim of the research was to make a theoretical contribution by examining the subject in the context of a medium-sized enterprise in a specific environment where corporate entrepreneurship is vital. Therefore, we chose a medium-sized German company that operates in the increasingly complex and competitive process automation industry. The Gefeba Elektro GmbH was found to be an interesting case for a case study for several reasons. The company was situated in a highly competitive market, in the heart of the industrial ‘Rurhgebiet’, with numerous competitors. However, and despite the lack of resources faced by this SME, Gefeba is an important actor in the automation industry.   Although researchers have examined various factors that promote corporate entrepreneurship, the literature has focused on defining factors in isolation without linking them to architectural factors, especially when it comes to SMEs. These factors are defined in our study as leadership, culture, structure and strategy. Acting within the extremes of small businesses and large corporations, we focus our study on a single medium-sized company that enables us to reach different levels of the organization and grasp a holistic understanding of this specific organization in relation to its use of CE. In accordance to this, the main research question is: How does Gefeba Elektro GmbH use corporate entrepreneurship in the automation sector industry?   The study was conducted using a qualitative research method. One of the major findings is that the Gefeba Elektro GmbH is using a balance between the organizational antecedents of common values and flexibility to build a mechanism that aligns the organizational architecture towards the development of corporate entrepreneurship. Another aspect is the fact that every architectural factor is used for the development of CE, even if some architectural factors such as leadership and culture seem to have more importance in this development. Thereby, the findings about organizational antecedents and architectural factors are relevant for the managerial implications in others SMEs facing the same context as Gefeba Elektro GmbH, which are willing to implement corporate entrepreneurship without knowing exactly how to do it. Indeed, the lack of resources of an SME could however allow developing organizational transformation through a sensitive equilibrium between the common values and beliefs for the control and the flexibility for the innovation. Moreover, another point highlighted in our findings is the crucial role of the individual in the implementation and development of corporate entrepreneurship.

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Submitted by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2015-03-19T19:32:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_LSS_VR_07-04-14.pdf: 2066022 bytes, checksum: ea52edd77688361ee5fd9b74790fb5ab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2015-03-20T19:16:01Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_LSS_VR_07-04-14.pdf: 2066022 bytes, checksum: ea52edd77688361ee5fd9b74790fb5ab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-20T19:16:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_LSS_VR_07-04-14.pdf: 2066022 bytes, checksum: ea52edd77688361ee5fd9b74790fb5ab (MD5) / Essa pesquisa busca verificar a influência da gestão no desempenho inovador das micro e pequenas empresas (MPE). Para tanto, utilizou-se os dados referentes às empresas participantes do Projeto Agente Locais de Inovação (Projeto ALI), realizado pelo Sebrae e que buscou introduzir a cultura de inovação nos micro e pequenos empresários. Como variável dependente se utilizou o Grau de Inovação Global, uma proxy para capacidade inovadora e que nada mais é do que o desempenho inovador das empresas no curto prazo. E, analogamente ao modelo apresentado por Zawislak (2008b) e baseado na teoria da RBV (Resource Based View), foram utilizadas as seguintes variáveis independentes para representar a influência das capacidades internas à empresa na sua capacidade inovadora: capacidade empreendedora, gestão de logística, gestão de marketing, gestão de recursos humanos (pessoas), gestão financeira, gestão da tecnologia da informação, gestão da produção, gestão empresarial e estratégica. Foi utilizado o sistema STATA 8.0 e o modelo de regressão multivariado por Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários (MQO). Como resultado, a pesquisa verificou que a gestão (capacidade gerencial) influencia na capacidade de inovação das MPE´s, o que confirma a hipótese levantada por alguns estudos de que a melhor estratégia para inovar na MPE não é através de atividades relacionadas à capacidade de desenvolvimento tecnológico (P&D). Além disso, se verificou também a importância do papel do empresário para a inovação nas MPE´s. Nesse sentido, não é somente a capacidade empreendedora que influencia na capacidade inovadora das MPE, mas na verdade todo um conjunto de atividades relacionadas ao papel do empreendedor. Ou seja, as atividades relacionadas às decisões estratégicas da empresa (gestão empresarial e estratégica) aliadas às atividades relacionadas à capacidade empreendedora do empresário é que formam a influência do papel do empresário no desempenho inovador da empresa. Além disso, é possível afirmar que há um conjunto de atividades que formam as competências essenciais da empresa para inovar. De modo geral, e para a amostra estudada, se verificou que as competências essenciais para inovar na MPE são: gestão de marketing, gestão de tecnologia da informação, gestão empresarial e estratégica e capacidade empreendedora. Por fim, contrariando estudos, não foi possível verificar a influência da gestão de recursos humanos (pessoas) na capacidade inovadora das empresa. É provável que isso seja resultado das limitações do modelo, do método de coleta dos dados e das próprias características da amostra. Da mesma forma, não se verificou a influência do setor (indústria e comercio ou serviço), da localização (cidade), do tamanho da empresa (número de empregados), do tempo de vida (anos) e do ―Efeito Sebrae‖ (se a empresa já utilizou o serviço do Sebrae) na capacidade inovadora das MPE´s. Nesse sentido, sugere-se a ampliação da amostra e a alteração do método de análise, contemplando momentos distintos no tempo (t0 e t1) como possíveis formas para ultrapassar as limitações do presente estudo. This research seeks to verify the influence of innovative performance management of micro and small enterprises (EPC). To this end, we used the data for companies participating in the Local Agent of Innovation Project (ALI Project), conducted by Sebrae and which sought to introduce the culture of innovation in micro and small entrepreneurs. As dependent variable using the degree of Global Innovation, a proxy for innovative capacity and which is nothing more than the innovative performance of the companies in the short term. And, similarly to the model presented by "(2008b) and based on the theory of the RBV, following independent variables were used to represent the influence of internal capabilities to the company's innovative capacity: entrepreneurial capacity, logistics management, marketing management, human resource management (people), financial management, information technology management, production management, business and strategic management. STATA 8.0 system was used and the multivariate regression model by Ordinary least squares (MQO). As a result, the research found that the management (management capacity) influences the ability of innovation of SME, which confirms the hypothesis raised by some studies that the best strategy to innovate in the EPC is not through activities related to the ability of technological development (PD). In addition, there was also the importance of the role of the entrepreneur to innovation in SME. In this sense, is not only the entrepreneurial skills which influences on the innovative capacity of the EPC, but actually a whole series of activities related to the role of the entrepreneur. That is, activities related to strategic decisions of the company (business and strategic management) together with activities related to the entrepreneurial skills of the entrepreneur is the influence of the role of the entrepreneur in the breakthrough performance of the company. In addition, it is possible to affirm that there is a set of activities that make up the core competencies of the company to innovate. In General, and for the sample, it was found that the essential skills to innovate in the EPC are: marketing management, information technology management, business and strategic management and entrepreneurial skills. Finally, and contrary to some research, it has not been possible to verify the influence of human resources management in the innovative capacity of firms. It is likely that this is the result of the limitations of the model, data collection method and the own characteristics of the sample. Similarly, there was the influence of the sector (industry and trade or service), the location (City), the size of company (number of employees), the lifetime (years) and "Sebrae Effect" (if the company has already used the service of Sebrae) in innovative capacity of MPE ´ s. Accordingly, it is suggested the expansion of the sample and the change of the method of analysis, contemplating different moments in time (t0 and t1) as possible ways to overcome the limitations of the present study.