ABSTRACTPurpose: The purpose of this study is to assess and examine the nature and scope of brandingduring exportation within SMEs in the B2B context. The findings of this study will increaseknowledge of the relative challenges that SMEs are faced with when it comes to branding duringexportation and how it influences their export performance.Research Methodology: This research uses an exploratory approach with a qualitative methodfor understanding the in-depths of the subject matter because it is mostly appropriate for smallsamples, while its outcomes are not measurable and quantifiable.Research Findings: This research points out to the main challenges faced by SMEs in the B2Bduring exportation from this study which are; lack of resources, time and talents for brandmanagement activities. Hence, showing that previous research on branding has in SMEs has beenlacking in the Marketing literature.Contributions: It contributes to the branding literature by comprehensively identifying andsynthesizing relevant studies on B2B SMEs during exportation which makes a call for theadvancement of theory by suggesting the need to examine more issues raised in different economiccontexts, as well as business sectors.Research Type: Academic ResearchKey Words: Branding, Business-to-business sector, Exportation, Small and medium sizedenterprises.

Problem: A decisive majority of Swedish firms are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and studies indicate that most of these lack, among other things, financial resources, which often limit smaller firms from implementing sustainable practices. Since SMEs compete with larger enterprises, with more established departments and therefore, they cannot strategize their sustainability work to the same extent. The problem emerges when requirements from stakeholders, based on the 2030 agenda, cannot be met due to lacking organizational abilities. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how sustainability consultants support SMEs in their sustainable development work. The research, therefore, investigated the practical processes of consultants when they work with SMEs. The varying processes between sustainability consultants will also be investigated, so similarities and differences can be discovered in their processes. Method: The research conducted follows a grounded theory, an exploratory approach, an abductive research design, all under an interpretive philosophy. The primary data collected consists of semi-structured interviews with sustainability consultants in the Jönköping area. Following the grounded theory, this included three stages of analysis namely open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. During selective coding, it is critical to use an abductive design to ground the empirical findings in existing literature and theory. The analyzed findings were thereafter transformed into a proposed model which is supported by both the empirical findings and theory. Conclusion: Sustainability consultants can support SMEs with their knowledge and expertise when developing sustainable business practices in smaller firms. This research also contributes to a proposed model that shows the process for SMEs and further explains how SMEs and consultants can work together to develop strategic goals for regenerative firms. However, it is noted that contextual factors and specific gains in knowledge cannot be conveyed in a model. Although, describing the processes of knowledge transfer using an adaption of agile methodology was found suitable for this study. Conclusively, the model’s success is highly based on contextual factors such as firm maturity and the knowledge of the consultant in the specific field under development.

This theses project investigates and presents different threats that a network can be exposed to and the common protection techniques that can be applied, with a focus on the network perimeter – specifically the router/firewall between the local area network and the Internet. All Internet connected devices and networks are exposed to and affected by security threats to some degree, hence security is important in almost every type of network. With the constant growth of the Internet the 32-bit addressing scheme ipv4 is proving to be inadequate, and therefore the transition to the 128-bit addressing scheme ipv6 is becoming critical. With ipv6 comes new security threats (while still old threats remain) that requires an understanding of perimeter security. In this thesis we secure a home router and describe these steps to enable home and small business owners to secure their IPv6 network at a relatively low cost. / Detta projekt kommer att undersöka och presentera olika hot som ett IPv6 nätverk kan utsättas för samt de vanligaste skydds mekanismer som används idag, med fokus på nätverkets skallskydd mellan det interna lokala nätet och det yttre publika Internet. I stort sätt all Internet ansluten utrustning och nätverk är exponerad och påverkad i någon grad av säkerhets brister, säkerhet är en viktig del i stort sätt alla nätverk oavsett syfte eller verksamhet. Genom ett ständigt växande Internet börjar de 32-bitar adresser tillhörande IPv4 nätet ta slut, vilket gör behovet av att immigrera till 128-bitar adresser på IPv6 nätet allt mer kritiskt. Med IPv6 kommer nya säkerhetshot, samt att även vissa äldre hot kvarstår, som kräver en förståelse av perimeter skydd. I denna rapport säkrar vi en hemma router och beskriver för varje steg tillvägagångssättet för att hem och små företagare ska få möjlighet att skydda sina IPv6 nätverk till en relativt låg kostnad.

Resource efficiency has become an important topic due to dramatic increase of world-population and globalization. A company that is not able to efficiently utilize its resources is less sustainable. It produces at higher cost as well as with higher environmental impact. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises are mostly not able to deal with these kinds of issues in addition to their daily business. Their characteristics differentiate them from large companies and require approaches that respond to their specific needs. Not only technological aspects but also organizational problems as well as lack of methodology are reasons for low resource efficiency in small companies. This thesis therefore focuses on developing a tool which facilitates the increase of resource efficiency particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.To start with, this thesis investigates the meaning of resource efficiency and the basics of performance measures as well as special characteristics of small and medium-sized enter-prises. Afterwards, measures are designed in order to quantify resource efficiency. A case study is carried out as well to investigate how to ensure applicability of a supporting tool in small and medium-sized enterprises from different industries. In the final part, a computer-based tool is developed which facilitates the assessment of resource efficiency potentials using 12 resource efficiency measures, a consistent approach and a ranking method.Keywords: Resource efficiency, performance measures, small and medium-sized enterprises / <p>QC 20121101</p>

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Every year, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand their participation in the Peruvian market, while facing high internal disorganization issues that stifle their growth. This problem is rooted on the fact that the contents generated by these companies are not usually adequately recorded, managed, and exploited, and thus negatively affecting the organization and their competitiveness levels. Now, although most of this issue may be solved through enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, they are not affordable for most SMEs because of their high prices. Within this context, this study proposes the implementation of a cloud-based open-source ECM model at a manufacturing SME in Peru. Through this model, the company was able to access the benefits of an ECM to restructure the way they manage content, gaining 67% more efficiency, establishing a collaboration channel between employees, suppliers, and customers, and reporting a 93% model adaptation rate among staff members. / Revisión por pares

Background: The importance of sustainability is growing; however, the mindset of many businesses remains in the profit-driven take-make-waste economy, aiming for limitless growth. Humanity cannot continue with business-as-usual, and a paradigm shift must occur to ensure a future for the planet. SMEs represent 99% of the businesses in the EU, and to ensure a safer tomorrow for all, they need to evolve to reach sustainable development and capture the opportunities of regenerative strategies. Nevertheless, regenerative business practices are not widely appropriated in practice. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to explore the phenomenon of regenerative businesses on SME level through the perspective of Swedish sustainability consultants. The authors aim to gain an understanding of the transformation processes in order to investigate if SMEs can reach a regenerative stage and, if so, how? Method: The study was conducted with an inductive qualitative approach under the interpretivism paradigm, and a multiple case study approach was chosen to best capture the phenomenon. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with sustainability consultants from various SMEs in Sweden, and a thematic data analysis was conducted to interpret the empirical findings to relate them to the theories presented. Conclusion: The findings pointed to eight factors that enable and restrict SMEs in transitioning to a regenerative phase. Internally, SMEs are impacted in their transition by the mindset, values, sustainability awareness, strategy and communication, and the organizational structure of the business. In addition, the main external factors influencing the transition are the ambiguity regarding the sustainability concept and pressure from various stakeholders. The findings also highlighted the interconnectedness of the factors and the importance of a paradigm shift to whole systems thinking.

Background: The intense growth of data that is continuously expanding has resulted in SMEs using cloud computing to store, process and analyze data. Thus, a critical element is for SMEs to understand the value of cloud computing and the factors influencing the adoption decision.  Problem: Due to the increased use of cloud computing, the importance of examining the factors that can affect and impact SMEs adoption has been highlighted. Cloud computing has been pointed out as a component for SMEs to stay competitive and sustainable in public crises and uncertain environments. Despite the importance among scholars, no research has studied cloud adoption factors among SMEs during 2020 - 2021 and the present of a public crisis. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate and explore SMEs cloud computing adoption factors in the turbulent time of a public crisis. The result of this research is expected to add knowledge and theoretical insights to existing literature and fill the gap within the underexplored context of cloud computing adoption factors during public crisis. Method: In this research, a qualitative research design was applied where six semi-structured interviews with people experienced of the phenomenon under study were conducted and eight customer cases with cloud users were collected from cloud providers' websites. Conclusion: The findings of this research declared ten significantly important factors; complexity, compatibility, relative advantage, cost savings, security, top management support, technology readiness, organizational culture, competition and trading partner pressure and supplier computing support, to influence SMEs cloud computing adoption. Although this research was conducted during the time of a public crisis, no conclusion of the crisis' impact on which factors influencing SMEs cloud computing adoption could be recognized.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze and benchmark the strategic approaches utilized by Portuguese small and medium enterprises manufacturing organizations in response to the competitive pressures in the European and global markets. Design/methodology/approach – For the purpose of this paper, factor analysis and cluster analysis are used to analyze and to compare responses obtained from a cross-sectional sample of 68 Portuguese manufacturing organizations. Findings – Based on the results of the analysis, it appears that the sampled organizations are following hybrid strategic orientations. These strategic orientations appear to be motivated by well-defined mixed strategies. The strategic elements of e-business are detected in these mixed strategies. Research limitations/implications – The sample used in this paper is specific in nature (Portuguese manufacturing organizations). Thus, the results should be interpreted accordingly. Practical implications – This paper attempts to shed some light on the effectiveness of current strategic practices of Portuguese manufacturing organizations. The findings of this paper have practical benchmarking strategic implications. Originality/value – This paper investigates the nature and scope of new strategic orientations utilized by manufacturing organizations. Evidence of the presence of innovative, mixed strategies is uncovered.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test model depicting the relationships among perceived environmental uncertainty, domestic and foreign networking, and export performance. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from Finland, Sweden and Norway serve as the study setting. Data were collected via mail surveys from random samples of SME owners/managers. Usable responses were 75 from Finland, 111 from Sweden and 71 from Norway. Findings – Of the four dimensions of uncertainty, only uncertainty about supplier markets emerged as a significant driver of domestic networking activities of SMEs. While domestic networking did not have a significant influence, foreign networking showed a significant positive impact on SMEs' export performance. Firm size was found to have positive impacts on foreign networking and export performance. Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to manufacturing SMEs in a particular region. Replications in other industries and regions are needed to validate the current findings. People from Finland, Norway and Sweden share similar cultural values and they are low on uncertainty-avoidance. Hence, they are not threatened by environmental uncertainties and, consequently, may not feel compelled to engage in networking to reduce uncertainty. Practical implications – The positive linkage between foreign networking and export performance suggests that public officials in these countries should encourage SMEs to strengthen their existing foreign networks and facilitate formation of new ones via trade missions in other countries. Originality/value – Understanding the role of networking, as a potential buffer between environmental uncertainty and export performance, should be of interest to both researchers and practitioners.

This thesis contributes to the research field information logistics. Information logistics aims at improving information flow and at reducing information overload by providing the right information, in the right context, at the right time, at the right place through the right channel. Ontologies are expected to contribute to reduced information overload and solving information supply problems. An ontology is created to form some kind of shared understanding for the involved stakeholders in the domain at hand. By using this semantic structure you can further build applications that use the ontology and support the employee by providing only the most important information for this person. During the last years, there has been an increasing number of successful cases in which industrial applications successfully use ontologies. Most of these cases however, stem from large enterprises or IT-intensive small or medium-sized enterprises (SME). The current ontology development methodologies are not tailored for SME and their specific demands and preferences, such as that SME prefer mature technologies, and show a clear preference for to a large extent standardised solutions. The author proposes a new ontology development methodology, taking the specific characteristics of SME into consideration. This methodology was tested in an application case, which resulted in a number of concrete improvement ideas, but also the conclusion that further specialisation of the methodology was needed, for example for a specific usage area or domain. In order to find out in which direction to specify the methodology a survey was performed among SME in the region of Jönköping. The main conclusion from the survey is that ontologies can be expected to be useful for SME mainly in the area of product configuration and variability modelling. Another area of interest is document management for supporting project work. The area of information search and retrieval can also be seen as a possible application field, as many of the respondents of the survey spend much time finding and saving information.