Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Public Administration) / The significance of small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMEs) development cannot be overemphasized because it plays a considerable role in a nation's economy particularly in developing countries. SMEs' contributions include job creation, expanding the means of sustainable livelihoods and ensuring impartial distribution of wealth amongst citizens. This study evaluates monitoring and evaluation systems, policy and programmes of the Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to develop and transform the informal sector of the economy. The main purpose of the establishment of SMEDAN is to facilitate the promotion and development of a structured and effective small and medium enterprises sector that will provide informal employment for unemployed, and enhance sustainable livelihood and economic development in Nigeria. Unemployment and increased poverty levels are key challenges to the government of Nigeria, which has resulted in socio-economic and political unrest across the nation. Against the background of high unemployment rate, especially amongst the youth and the deteriorating fortunes of small and medium businesses in Nigeria, questions can be asked in relation to current initiatives and policies to support SME sector.

Strategic Marketing is very essential to realize firm’s objectives and thereby take the advantage against the competitors. Innovation becomes the means of taking the firm to the higher level among the existing local and global competitors. Strategic Marketing (SM) is making the firm do well where as Innovation is still enhancing the firms capability of doing things better and it happens to be the need of the hour. Thus Strategic Marketing and Innovation becomes the important components that need to be adopted by any organizations. It becomes essential to analyze the importance of Strategic Marketing for realizing the firm’s innovativeness and there by achieve the higher growth. This research is an attempt to find how Strategic Marketing is affecting the organizations performance by adopting innovation. The literature review gives a clear indication to do the research with reference to our Indian MSME’s. Considering this, the following specific objectives were formulated for the research. • Building the measures of Strategic Marketing and Innovation and develop a conceptual research framework for examining the relationship between them. • Designing a measuring instrument using Strategic Marketing and Innovation measures and test the instrument. • Examine the relationship between Strategic Marketing and Innovation and also its impact on each. • Examine the effect of different dimensions of Innovation on Strategic Marketing dimensions and find which of these needs more thrust in an organization. • Make appropriate suggestions on the need for adoption of SM as a means for any Indian manufacturing organizations to achieve a higher growth rate. The constructs of Strategic Marketing and Innovation are identified for further study. A conceptual framework was formulated with the set of hypothesis which needs to be tested. A structured questionnaire based on likert scale is used for collecting the primary data. The manufacturing organizations falling under Micro, Small and Medium scale are taken for the study through the directory provided by MSME Development Institute of India, Bangalore. The data was collected by approaching the managers of the manufacturing firms who have responsibilities to exhibit different management roles. The purpose of collecting the primary data is to know the management’s view regarding Strategic marketing and Innovation related to their firm. Our work includes both pilot and main study, where in validity and reliability of the measuring instrument is tested during pilot study. In our main study, 150 manufacturing organizations were approached situated in Peenya and Rajajinagar, Bangalore urban region. We got around 91 responses yielding about 60.6 % response rate. The data was obtained from 91 organizations, consisting of 04 Micro, 38 small and 49 medium scale organizations. A detailed statistical analysis is done for the collected data. Highly loading factors for the collected data was found out using confirmatory factor analysis and followed by finding the summated score of the data for the further analysis. The main study data was analyzed using multiple regression method by considering Strategic Marketing(SM) constructs as independent variables and Innovation performance constructs as dependent variables. The different assumptions underlying multiple regression were verified and five regression models estimated. The overall model fit was assessed and hypothesis was tested. The relationship established between SM and Innovation performance clearly indicates that SM has a great impact on the innovation performance of an organization irrespective of whatever may be the type of innovation. Hence achieving of SM performance can lead to the achievement of innovation performance also within organizations. Further the significant variables were identified from the individual regression models, interpreted and the models validated. It was found that out of the four variables of SM considered, as many as three variables viz. Marketing mix, Brand positioning and Entrepreneurial management are having a significant impact in one way or other way on the overall innovation performance of the organization. The strategy of focusing on the identified significant variables of SM was suggested for improving the innovation performance within organizations.

Exploring the impacts of green implementations in supply chain management in small medium enterprises. Purpose: To explore what impacts green investments have in supply chain management. Research questions 1: What impacts have green implementations had on supplier relationships? Research question 2: What impacts have laws and regulations had on green supply chain management?

This thesis sets out to explore factors external to the individual that encourage creative idea generation in SME environments, understanding their importance in a variety of organisational contexts. The original contribution to knowledge made by this thesis is the creation of a framework which aids understanding by splitting the various factors into those responsible for initiating and sustaining idea generation. Literature concerning creative idea generation is continuously developing and contains a broad spectrum of topics and understandings. Key amongst these are leadership, the nature of creative idea generation, theories such as the ‘strength of weak ties’, collective creativity and the concept of ‘flow’. Fieldwork followed a primarily qualitative, inductive approach, using exploratory surveys, semi-structured interviews and participant observation to develop rich narrative ‘stories’ of idea generation for ten different organisations. Data was analysed in accordance with the principles of grounded theory and resulted in numerous novel findings such as the importance of internal organisational contacts to the development of ideas, the notion that organisational visions can be used to guide idea generation and the effect that physical distance has on the development of interpersonal ties. Leadership also featured heavily within the analysis process with it being found that a combination of transformational and servant qualities best enables idea generation in SME contexts. These and other findings were reflected in the final framework produced by this thesis. From a practical perspective findings from this study arguably have implications for both organisational and leadership development in SME contexts, although overall generalisability is hindered by the chosen sample. Future studies could potentially focus on applying quantitative methodologies to verify the final framework or extend understandings by interlinking organisational factors discussed by this thesis with individual characteristics, mental process and/or experiences that are also known to drive creative idea production.

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική γίνεται μία παρουσίαση διεθνών ερευνών που αφορούν μελέτες περιπτώσεων μικρομεσαίων αγροτικών επιχειρήσεων στην Ευρώπη. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, αφορούν την επίδραση των στρατηγικών συμμαχιών για επιτυχημένη διεθνοποίηση των μικρομεσαίων αγροτικών επιχειρήσεων. Επίσης, παρουσιάζονται οι σημαντικότεροι παράγοντες που καθιστούν τις συμμαχίες αυτές βιώσιμες. Τέλος, όσον αφορά την Ελλάδα, αναφέρονται τα σημαντικότερα προβλήματα που υφίστανται στις συνεργασίες μεταξύ αγροτικών μικρομεσαίων επιχειρήσεων και εμποδίζουν τις εταιρίες να αποκομίσουν το μέγιστο όφελος από της συνέργιες αυτές. Συγκεκριμένα, στη διπλωματική εργασία παρουσιάζονται τα παρακάτω τρία άρθρα: 1. Does Network Matter in International Expansion? Evidence from Italian SMEs (Luca Petruzzellis and Antonia Rosa Gurrieri, NOTA DI LAVORO 65.2008, JULY 2008) 2. Determinants of sustainable business relationships in selected German agri-food chains (Nikolai Reynolds, Christian Fischer, Monika Hartmann) 3. Agrifood SMEs in Greece: the role of collective action (Chrysoula Lamprinopoulou and Angela Tregear, Mitchell Ness). / -

This study provides an understanding on how Relationship Quality is conceptualised in business-to-business marketing relationships. It investigates the relationships of Jordanian Banks with their small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) customers in terms of Commitment, Satisfaction, Trust, Communication, Transparency, Understanding, and Cooperation. It examines the antecedents and outcomes of the quality of corporate customer relationships by developing a conceptual model which empirically tests this relationship. This research builds and validates a research model based on the literature survey and uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews to achieve the goal of refining the initial research model. The second stage is a quantitative empirical study that uses a questionnaire and tests the empirical model generated in the first stage. This integration of methods provides a more complete view of this emerging area of marketing theory. Using Structural Equation Modelling; research findings support the use of a secondorder relationship quality construct consisting of Trust, Commitment, and Satisfaction as a direct outcome of a relationship and is named 'Attitudinal Loyalty'. Antecedents including; Transparency, Communication, Understanding and Cooperation were found to have a positive impact on relational outcome in a business-to-business context in Jordan. The importance of Transparency emerged as one of the most significant determinants of Relationship Quality, which is considered to be a new finding and not common among previous studies. Communication appears to make the biggest contribution overall and have direct and indirect relationships with other variables. It is therefore a major source of success in a business relationship. This research has several implications for the theory and practice. An important issue is the affects on change management. It requires the establishment of business communications to strengthen existing relationships and to form new ones. This implies developing an interactive approach with other parties. This study gives the banking industry an insight for developing their marketing strategy. It also provides a tool to assess the portfolio of relationships, which helps in targeting specific customers. Furthermore, Transparency in the flow of information imposes cultural change. Studying the Jordanian market can help to provide an insight into an emerging economy. Several qualitative findings showed that the relationship between banks and their small and medium enterprises is interesting. All this enriches and adds to the originality of this work and contributes to existing theory by investigating how relationships between partners can be enhanced.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered to be a most efficient tool which is able to push economic and social development to experience significant progress and development as they offer useful services to consumers, and provide much needed employment. With this in consideration, they are useful for training, acquiring experience and technical and managerial skills. The objectives of this research are to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Based on the literature review, 20 factors have been identified and subsequently structured into three groups, namely entrepreneurial, enterprise and environmental factors. The study also focuses on the SMEs Support Programme by identifying the current situation and accordingly providing recommendations based on those made by the support providers. Data have been collected by utilising a mixed method approach: first, 146 postal questionnaires with SME owners/managers have been analysed by using SPSS; second, in order to gain further understanding of the situation and particular challenges, 15 in-depth interviews with support providers have been conducted; and third, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been used to analyse the pairwise comparison of the factors. The main findings of this study are that, for the CSFs for SMEs in Saudi Arabia, three factors are deemed to be important both for owners/managers and support providers. These factors are quality of the product and service, customer satisfaction, and business planning. The findings also indicate that there are many 'important support gaps' which show that existing support needs to be addressed in order to improve and develop the support structure.

The New Capital Accord (henceforth, Basel II), is expected to impose dramatic changes on banks and other providers of corporate financing, as well as companies. Literature indicates that small and medium sized enterprises (henceforth SMEs), in general, and in particular German SMEs seem to be affected: Germany has the highest SME density with SMEs comprising 99.6% of all corporations (IMF, 2008), these SMEs are highly dependent on banks for financing (see Jacobson et al, 2006). However, there is huge controversy in the literature concerning how these changes will look, right before Basel II came into effect in the years 2007 / 2008 in the European Union. In order to explore this effect from a Post-Basel II perspective, the objective of this research project is to establish what effect Basel II will have on corporate financing of SMEs in Germany. The high impact on SMEs (in Germany), combined with controversial evidence from extant Pre-Basel II research, indicates a high relevance to academics and practitioners for this thesis. This thesis is probably the first from a Post-Basel II perspective which covers both the SMEs' as well as the financiers' perspective. Based on a structured literature review using the comparative method (Peters, 1998) 'Most Different Systems' evidence is provided that there is no consistent picture regarding the effect of Basel II. Therefore, further research is needed to determine whether the effect in Germany is consistent, from a Post-Basel II perspective, with regards to the conditions which trigger certain mechanisms, from a 'scientific realism' (Smith, 1998) perspective, because the literature indicates that 'positivist generalising' has limited validity. Building on Creswell (2003), an 'exploratory sequential' design was created to test three initial hypotheses (as confirmation or refutation of a theory, see Gujarati, 2003:8): a multi-method design is best suited to the author's philosophical stance of 'scientific realism' by means of triangulation (Robson, 2002:174). The result of the initial quantitative phase is based on the analysis of questionnaire data from 125 SMEs and financiers (banks, private equity companies, family offices, providers of alternative means of financing) derived from a probabilistic sample frame in the fourth quarter of 2008. Mathematical models for SMEs and financiers regarding the three initial hypotheses were set-up and tested using the appropriate statistical tests. In order to limit bias by means of a spill-over effect from the financial crises, control questions were used. The subsequent qualitative phase by means of semistructured elite interviews (Saunders et al, 2007:312) between March and May 2009 enabled a valid triangulation and provided in-depth insights into how SMEs can cope best with Basel II. The purposive sample, of 17 'important cases', included company owners and top-level financier executives. In a conclusive quantitative and qualitative synopsis, the three initial hypotheses were acknowledged. However, the qualitative in-depth analysis by means of 'causal networks' (Miles and Huberman, 1994) led to an amendment of the hypotheses as follows: 1. Corporate finance has become different for SMEs because the 'house bank principle' has changed to a 'core bank principle' due to Basel II. Shopping around regarding credits will be more difficult which makes financing more difficult. This could be overcompensated by major SMEs, by using non-credit corporate financing which leads to a reduction of the 'house bank' principle. 2. SMEs can cope best with the effect when they: a) proactively engage in rating and improve the parameters, or b) they adjust their strategy as stated in hypothesis 3. 3. Financiers (especially non-bank financiers) will engage in SME corporate finance when they have a sound financial basis / management and when they adjust their strategy in terms of growth with the aim of niche market leadership and when they open up for exit strategies.

Uganda’s economy is agro-based; although the country is land locked it has great potential for industrial development. It is well endowed with natural resources and salubrious climate, but with little success in transforming its agricultural and mineral wealth into processed commodities for local, regional and international markets. The Uganda’s National Development Plan 2010- 2014 and Uganda Vision 2040 call for a transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years. To achieve this goal, Ugandan economy needs to be industrialized. This need is one of the identified strategic bottlenecks. Various strategies and action plans have been developed to steer the country’s economy towards sustainable development and increased competitiveness but with little success. It has been recognized globally that economic development depends heavily on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are the prime source of new jobs and play a crucial role in income generation as well as in industrialization processes. However, most small businesses fail within their early stages of operation mainly due to under-capitalization and / or lack of proper management and business skills. Globally, through business incubators, start-ups and SMEs have been significantly enhanced to overcome their initial and critical stages of development. Business incubators have been tried in Uganda but not in a successful way. An Open Innovation Business Incubator is a physical or virtual environment that combines the attributes of open innovation and business incubation concepts in creating and supporting new start-ups. This research aimed at understanding more of the situation in Uganda, how the innovation systems and incubators are managed in other countries and to design a model for how to create better conditions for incubators in Uganda and similar low-income countries and stimulate industrial development. The proposed model has adopted an open innovation approach and a list of suggestions and recommendations has been made. Different methodological tools and participatory approaches were utilized in the process of undertaking the study to achieve the objectives. Data were collected through literature review, analysis of relevant theories such as industrialization, entrepreneurship, science, technology and innovation, business incubation, triple helix and clusters theory, open innovation, and public private partnerships. Review of Government reports and policy documents, discussions with industrial and incubation experts, surveys, focus group discussions and case studies were done. Useful ideas were obtained from seminars and conferences. Research findings indicated that: • There are hardly any graduate incubatees in Uganda, thus there is a need to foster partnerships and synergies between government, private sector/non-government organizations and academia for open incubation, • All incubators in Uganda focus on incubatees developing technologies and products but not on business models , • Open innovation incubators combined with entrepreneurial oriented strategies can effectively support start-ups and SMEs but requires strong mutual trust amongst actors, • Through public-private partnerships and open innovation incubators, industrial transformation can be stimulated.

The internationalization of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) has become a major worldwide trend. Firms internationalize predominantly to in nearby countries due to the fact that these countries are closer culturally and geographically. However, SMEs has started to enter more cultural and geographical distant markets. Emerging markets has been the focus of attention of Swedish SMEs during the last decades. Of those emerging markets India is one example of a foreign market that has experienced, to a large extent, the establishment of foreign companies in the past half a century. In the last decades India has undergone a remarkable change that has strengthened the establishment of foreign companies in the country. However, SMEs face risk and uncertainties when entering a new market like India. Therefore, companies need to acquire enough relevant knowledge about the country in order to identify and manage to potential risks that the might encounter. Although knowledge and risk management have extensively been studied, scholars have primarily studied them separately. Little attention has been given to the fact that the combination of knowledge and risk management might be the better solution to identify and manage risks in foreign countries. By analyzing the implementation of knowledge and risk management, it was possible to answer if through their utilization SMEs get a better understanding and be competitive in the Indian market. In order to conduct the study a qualitative case study to four Swedish SMEs was conducted. The collected data and the most significant theories chosen in this study are the starting point of the analysis. The main conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is that, although knowledge and risk management are not SMEs main focus of attention, the combined utilization of them is beneficial for firms in foreign markets. Firms that better understand the foreign market and its risks are in a better position to be more competitive in that foreign market.