Background In Sweden almost 90% of businesses are micro in nature which plays a pivotal role in the economy by generating employment opportunities as well as serving a source of instilling entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. Due to their invaluable contributions to the economy, their survival through revenue generating marketing practices has become an area of much more interest than ever realized before. A common misconception prevalent is that marketing in micro businesses is just a miniature of larger enterprises. This is why earlier researchers have paid scarce treatment to marketing practices in micro businesses as evident from the scant published material on the topic, making it an intriguing area to study. Currently much hype has been created about social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and their marketing value for small businesses. It is therefore, in this thesis we study social media and prevalent marketing practices in the context of micro business. Purpose Micro firms are often cash-strapped which limits their revenue generating ability through prevalent marketing practices which are resource intensive. In the back drop of all the hype about social media as a marketing tool we got the clue to find the right marketing approaches for these businesses regarding the choice of prevalent practices and social media as a new marketing tool. To achieve this purpose, we have formulated the following research questions.RQ1.Which of the two types of marketing is more effective in terms of targeted segment coverage and expenditures? RQ2.Which marketing approach enables micro firms to maintain better relationships with customers? RQ3.Whether or not it is the right time for micro firms in Sweden to adopt social media marketing practices? Method A qualitative approach has been used to achieve the exploratory purpose of the thesis. Overall; eight micro firms were chosen from a convenience sample, representing different regions and industries of Sweden. In the first phase, two pilot semi-structured interviews were conducted to attain a better understanding of the phenomenon under study. Later, six more semi-structured interviews were carried out from micro businesses representing different sectors in Skövde, Mariestad and Jönköping Counties. Conclusion This thesis suggests that micro businesses are mostly marketing weak organizations (MWO) as they are sales oriented and see marketing as more of a luxury. Micro businesses in the sample reveal a tendency to carry out marketing activities in a haphazard manner which limits their likelihood of achieving their targets. It has also been indicated that conventional approach to reach target segments, still has a strong effect on micro firms in Sweden and is therefore more appropriate for them as majority of their customers are geographically concentrated as well as a major strata of these are yet to start active participation on the social media landscape. In terms of costs social media Given, the small population of Sweden, it has also been showed that micro businesses are keeping good customer relationship with customers via word-of-mouth marketing which is considered as instrumental for success of majority of micro business. At the same time, this finding does not indicate any clear picture as to which form of marketing is doing better for these businesses. In terms of social media adoption the findings indicate that micro businesses see social media as a great marketing opportunity in which micro businesses can compete on a level playing field with their larger counterparts. This study also concludes that social media is in infancy stages of its development in Sweden as people though they are present on the social media landscape, but have not yet, thought of it as a mainstream marketing channel. Therefore, it is suggested that micro firms in Sweden need to adpot a (high volume, low expense) is more effective only when used in tandem with conventional marketing (low volume, high expense) approaches. It is therefore suggested that micro businesses can use a blend of social and conventional marketing practices till the time that the social media network externalizes to a greater extent. wait and see approach for the time being and start preparing to capitalize on social media soon when it becomes ripe and ready for marketing.

<p><strong><p>Background</p><p>In Sweden almost 90% of businesses are micro in nature which plays a pivotal role in the economy by generating employment opportunities as well as serving a source of instilling entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. Due to their invaluable contributions to the economy, their survival through revenue generating marketing practices has become an area of much more interest than ever realized before. A common misconception prevalent is that marketing in micro businesses is just a miniature of larger enterprises. This is why earlier researchers have paid scarce treatment to marketing practices in micro businesses as evident from the scant published material on the topic, making it an intriguing area to study. Currently much hype has been created about social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and their marketing value for small businesses. It is therefore, in this thesis we study social media and prevalent marketing practices in the context of micro business.</p><strong><p>Purpose</p><p>Micro firms are often cash-strapped which limits their revenue generating ability through prevalent marketing practices which are resource intensive. In the back drop of all the hype about social media as a marketing tool we got the clue to find the right marketing approaches for these businesses regarding the choice of prevalent practices and social media as a new marketing tool. To achieve this purpose, we have formulated the following research questions.RQ1.Which of the two types of marketing is more effective in terms of targeted segment coverage and expenditures? RQ2.Which marketing approach enables micro firms to maintain better relationships with customers? RQ3.Whether or not it is the right time for micro firms in Sweden to adopt social media marketing practices?</p><strong><p>Method</p><p>A qualitative approach has been used to achieve the exploratory purpose of the thesis. Overall; eight micro firms were chosen from a convenience sample, representing different regions and industries of Sweden. In the first phase, two pilot semi-structured interviews were conducted to attain a better understanding of the phenomenon under study. Later, six more semi-structured interviews were carried out from micro businesses representing different sectors in Skövde, Mariestad and Jönköping Counties.</p><strong><p>Conclusion</p><p>This thesis suggests that micro businesses are mostly marketing weak organizations (MWO) as they are sales oriented and see marketing as more of a luxury. Micro businesses in the sample reveal a tendency to carry out marketing activities in a haphazard manner which limits their likelihood of achieving their targets. It has also been indicated that conventional approach to reach target segments, still has a strong effect on micro firms in Sweden and is therefore more</p><p>appropriate for them as majority of their customers are geographically concentrated as well as a major strata of these are yet to start active participation on the social media landscape. In terms of costs social media</p><p>Given, the small population of Sweden, it has also been showed that micro businesses are keeping good customer relationship with customers via word-of-mouth marketing which is considered as instrumental for success of majority of micro business. At the same time, this finding does not indicate any clear picture as to which form of marketing is doing better for these businesses.</p><p>In terms of social media adoption the findings indicate that micro businesses see social media as a great marketing opportunity in which micro businesses can compete on a level playing field with their larger counterparts. This study also concludes that social media is in infancy stages of its development in Sweden as people though they are present on the social media landscape, but have not yet, thought of it as a mainstream marketing channel. Therefore, it is suggested that micro firms in Sweden need to adpot a</p>(high volume, low expense) is more effective only when used in tandem with conventional marketing (low volume, high expense) approaches. It is therefore suggested that micro businesses can use a blend of social and conventional marketing practices till the time that the social media network externalizes to a greater extent. wait and see approach for the time being and start preparing to capitalize on social media soon when it becomes ripe and ready for marketing. </strong></strong></strong></strong></p>

Social media has been getting more and more attention from common users as well as businesses. Although the level of social media adoption varies by sector and geographical location, all companies strive to understand which social media platforms adopt and how to effectively use them. There is a specific position for the winery sector, which is widely recognised as traditional. However, more and more people search for information, share information and purchase goods or services online, which made presence on social media inevitable even for wineries. There is a body of literature concerning wineries' social media adoption and usage, however there is none of such kind to be found in the Czech Republic. Thus, this paper's aim is to fill this gap and to find out to what extent do Czech wineries use social media and why. This paper investigates 96 responses from wineries from all regions of the Czech Republic. The evidence is that the common communication channels of Czech wineries are rather traditional, being it personal communication, email or phone. However, the level of social media adoption in comparison with Australia, Germany or New Zealand is rather high. Although Czech wineries value social media, there is a significant lack of knowledge in how to use them efficiently.

[pt] Este estudo buscou investigar o impacto da adoção das redes sociais por empresas brasileiras sobre seu comportamento exportador no decorrer da pandemia do Covid-19. Especificamente, buscou-se entender em que medida as empresas se perceberam atingidas por impactos disruptivos da pandemia, apresentavam orientação para mídias sociais, utilizaram as mídias sociais para aquisição de conhecimento, reconhecimento de oportunidades e interação com parceiros, e em que medida tal utilização favoreceu o comportamento exportador. A perspectiva teórica adotada no estudo foi a Teoria da Difusão de Inovações de Everett Rogers. A fundamentação teórica baseou-se ainda na literatura sobre adoção de tecnologia, em particular voltada para digitalização e redes sociais, levando à elaboração de um modelo teórico e à formulação de 11 hipóteses de pesquisa. A metodologia adotada consistiu na aplicação de uma survey online com uma amostra de conveniência de empresas brasileiras. As escalas utilizadas para medir os construtos foram identificadas na literatura, tendo sido anteriormente desenvolvidas e validadas por outros autores. Os dados foram coletados por meio de questionários autoadministrados disponibilizados na internet, sendo enviado um convite por email ou por redes sociais contendo o link para o questionário. O teste de hipóteses utilizou a modelagem de equações estruturais, tendo-se encontrado relações significativas entre os principais construtos do modelo. As contribuições do estudo à teoria de difusão de adoção de inovações incluem melhor entendimento do potencial impacto de eventos disruptivos e a associação entre a adoção de redes sociais e adoção da exportação. / [en] This study sought to investigate the impact of the adoption of social networks by Brazilian companies on their export behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, the study sought to understand to what extent these companies perceived themselves to be affected by the disruptive impacts of the pandemic, were oriented towards social media, used social media to acquire knowledge, recognize opportunities and interact with partners, and to what extent such use favored export behavior. The theoretical perspective adopted in the study was Everett Rogers Diffusion of Innovations Theory. The theoretical foundation was also based on the literature on technology adoption, particularly focused on digitalization and social networks, leading to the elaboration of a theoretical model and the formulation of 11 research hypotheses. The methodology adopted consisted of the application of an online survey with a convenience sample of micro and small Brazilian companies. The scales used to measure the constructs were identified in the literature, having been previously developed and validated by other authors. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires made available on the internet, and an invitation was sent by email or through social networks containing the link to the questionnaire. The hypothesis test used structural equation modeling, and significant relationships were found between the main constructs of the model. The study s contributions to the Diffusion of Innovations Theory include a better understanding of the potential impact of disruptive events on the adoption of an innovation and the association between social media adoption and export adoption.