Much of the previous research on organizational performance deals with the larger businesses. As such, the owner/managers of small firms and researchers interested in small businesses have had to work with planning models which were not formulated with small businesses in mind. Therefore, the general purpose of this study is to help correct this deficiency and add to the body of knowledge concerning the contributions specific factors make toward increasing the performance of small firms. Specifically, selected managerial personality traits, managerial perceived environmental uncertainty, managerial scanning habits, and managerial goal setting activities are utilized to develop three models. The three models are used to determine the relationship the factors have to each other and the contribution the variables make toward the performance of the firm. The firms included in this study are located in a South Central metropolitan area. The firms have between 2 and 100 employees, sales of less than 3 million dollars, and have been in operation 2 years or longer. This study utilizes regression analysis and path analysis to determine the effects the factors have on each other and their contribution to the firm's performance. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSSx) is utilized to run the regression analysis. An Analysis of Linear Structural Relationships by the Method of Maximum Likelihood (LISREL) is utilized for the path analysis. Using path analysis, the third model demonstrates a total coefficient of determination for structural equations of 0.09. However, only two of the four factors have a t value of 2.0 or greater. The study also indicates the personality trait of dogmatism is inversely related to managerial scanning -.349 p <.01. Perceived environmental uncertainty is negatively correlated to performance at -.215 p <.05. None of the remaining factors demonstrated significant relationship to the firm's performance.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This exploratory research considers the difficulties that are associated with understanding market knowledge in a micro firm. The majority of micro firms gain their rewards from mutual beneficial exchange with their customers. The focus of this mutual exchange is often the product that is the basis of their business. The gaining of new customers is often difficult and requires a considerable degree of effort. The standard business approach is to apply cognitive rationality to this task. Some businesses succeed with this approach, but it is possible that other approaches might reveal a greater understanding of the small business situation. Research suggests that small business owners/managers develop tacit utilitarian, cognitively immediate and undetachable knowledge. In a developing business this is contingent with the entrepreneurial task. It can usefully be conjectured that this task is related to the introduction of new business areas. The entrepreneurial task can be seen as involving a qualitative introduction of new business into a market that has not existed before. The situational interplay of these two factors is investigated using a phenomenological research method and deep analysis of a small number of interviews. This research has found evidence that the development of market knowledge in a micro business can result from a leap into a new engagement. The possible grounding for such a leap is explored in the light of the philosophy of Heidegger. Heidegger's philosophy is noted for the exploration of being and time. He adopted hermeneutic and phenomenological approaches to discuss the leap into the grounding question of being. This leap into a new engagement requires a break from the content but not the methods of small business understanding and can be enabled by the developing attunement of the business owner. This is a different method of investigating the nature of market development in the small business. It is expected that this work will be found to be of value when undertaking further research in this business situation.

The aim of this research is to investigate the influencing factors of price and product policy interdependencies on a standarsided marketing mix management approach within the German foundry industry. The analysis of knowlege of marketing mix management and its processes show that these, despite their benefits, are lacking and have not yet reached marketers' acceptance despite their proven usefulness (Kotler 2009). Scientific discussion is still far from reaching a common agreement on a theoretical model for the management of price and product interdependencies within a standardised marketing mix management approach. Based on a literature review of past empirical work, the author derived factors influencing standardised marketing mix management, discussed their applicability in the case of the German foundry industry and developed a model for standardising the marketing mix management and its price and product policy interdependencies.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Doina Caragea / William H. Hsu / In this work, we focus on the task of clustering businesses in the state of Kansas based on the content of their websites and their business listing information. Our goal is to cluster the businesses and overcome the challenges facing current approaches such as: data noise, low number of clustered businesses, and lack of evaluation approach. We propose an LSA-based approach to analyze the businesses’ data and cluster those businesses by using Bisecting K-Means algorithm. In this approach, we analyze the businesses’ data by using LSA and produce businesses’ representations in a reduced space. We then use the businesses’ representations to cluster the businesses by applying the Bisecting K-Means algorithm. We also apply an existing LDA-based approach to cluster the businesses and compare the results with our proposed LSA-based approach at the end. In this work, we evaluate the results by using a human-expert-based evaluation procedure. At the end, we visualize the clusters produced in this work by using Google Earth and Tableau. According to our evaluation procedure, the LDA-based approach performed slightly bet- ter then the LSA-based approach. However, with the LDA-based approach, there were some limitations which are: low number of clustered businesses, and not being able to produce a hierarchical tree for the clusters. With the LSA-based approach, we were able to cluster all the businesses and produce a hierarchical tree for the clusters.

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.

Este estudo contribui tanto para o processo organizacional como para a literatura sobre empresas familiares. O tema se apresenta relevante quanto ao crescimento do conhecimento sobre o processo de profissionalização em empresas familiares. A medida que as empresas crescem, crescem também os desafios presentes nas empresas, e nas empresas familiares estes desafios são ainda maiores devido as questões da família, propriedade e gestão. Nesta fase, muitos proprietários reconhecem a necessidade de profissionalizar a gestão de suas empresas, isso como preparação para sua continuidade e crescimento. A profissionalização pode ser entendida como um processo na qual as empresas caminham para um processo de maior formalidade, com o desenvolvimento de organismos formais de governança e sistemas de controle. A profissionalização na empresa familiar pode representar uma grande mudança na forma de gestão. Diante disso o objetivo da pesquisa é compreender como acontece o processo de profissionalização na empresa familiar, analisando ainda a governança corporativa e seus mecanismos nessas organizações. Para tal objetivo a metodologia utilizada foi uma pesquisa exploratória e descritiva de natureza predominantemente qualitativa, feita a partir do estudo de casos múltiplos. Para coletar os dados foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas com gestores das organizações escolhidas, da alta e média administração. A investigação foi realizada em duas empresas familiares, uma com sessenta anos de mercado, do setor de prestação de serviços e a outra com mais de vinte anos de mercado do setor de comércio atacadista. Os resultados mostram que a profissionalização foi motivada pelo desejo de continuidade e crescimento das empresas pesquisadas, e que a profissionalização surgiu ligada a questão do processo sucessório em uma das organizações. A Governança Corporativa pode definir regras e procedimentos para a tomada de decisão pelos agentes nessas organizações, além de monitorar e controlar a utilização dos recursos. / This study contributes to both the organizational process and to the literature on family businesses. The theme is presented as relevant to the knowledge on the management of professionalization in family businesses. As companies grow, the present challenges in businesses also grows, and in family businesses these challenges are even greater due to family issues, ownership and management. At this stage, many business owners acknowledge the need to professionalize the management of their companies, as part of its continuity and growth. Professionalization can be understood as a process in which companies move towards a more formal process, with the development of formal governance and control systems. Professionalization in a family business represents a huge change in management. Therefore, the aim of this research is to understand how the professionalization process takes part in the family business, analyzing also the governance and its mechanisms in these organizations. For this purpose the methodology used was an exploratory and descriptive research predominantly qualitative, made from the study of multiple cases. To collect the data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers of the chosen organizations, of high and middle management. The research was conducted in two family companies, one over sixty years, of the service sector and the other with more than twenty years, of the wholesale trade sector. The results present that professionalization was motivated by the desire for continuity and growth, and the professionalization also arises linked to the succession process in one of the organizations. Corporate Governance can define rules and procedures for decision making by agents, as well as monitor and control the use of resources.

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.