With the increasing understaning of the need for sustainable development, many are finding that existing systems of governance are not sufficiently complex to solve the environmental crisis (see Glasbergen, 2011; Brown et al., 2009). As a result, the recent years has seen the rise of public-private participation, strengthened by the endorsement of the concept by the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 (Andonova, 2010). In Europe, the concept of collaboration between state and private sector has been further endorsed by EUCETSA and former SWENTEC. Using a literature review to establish a theoretical basis, the study then embarks on a qualitative case-study of regional environmental technology networks. This study investigates the motivations causing the companies and networks to go into partnership with one another, and whether these motivations conflict. It also aims to find the perceived benefits of cooperation and the perceived end goals. The study finds that motivations for entering into partnership often seem to be business opportunity-oriented, although elements of risk, values, legal compliance and using existing capabilities also play a large role.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the behaviors that multinational corporations(MNCs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are taking for carrying outcorporate social responsibility (CSR) under the context of sustainable development.Besides, the factors which drive and influence the performance are further exploredand discussed.The thesis is to be analyzed by means of a literature review, qualitative case study,semi-structured interviews, within case study and cross case study.By adopting these methods, the thesis shows that both MNCs and SMEs are aware ofand actively shouldering CSR in spite of different contents and approaches. MNCs areable to integrate economic, environment and social values into CSR strategy whileSMEs focus more on economic values. Competitive pressures, social expectations andinternal governance system are the main drivers of MNCs. By contrast, owners’ desiregives rise to the performance of carrying out CSR strategy by SMEs.It is suggested that a new domain of CSR namely, political social responsibility isfound through the study. It demonstrates that MNCs with the state-owned nature haveparticular missions and responsibilities to serve the country and society, which is notcommon but exists in the world.

The large accounting scandals in the early 21st century had large impact on the future discussion regarding the importance of auditor independence. This led to stricter auditor independence rules in Sweden as well as internationally. Small and medium-sized enterprises frequently hire their auditor for consulting services. A long and close audit-client relationship is common for small and medium sized enterprises. This is considered to be a threat towards the auditor independence. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether Swedish small and medium sized enterprises, who are required to be audited, are aware of the auditor independence regulations. The thesis further aims analyze if the regulation of audit independence is as necessary for small companies as for large companies with additional number of shareholders. A qualitative study has been performed where data has been collected through 102 telephone interviews with small and medium-sized companies. A questionnaire consisting of both multiple choice and open questions has been used for the interviews. The collected data were compiled in SPSS which generated graphs and tables that then were analyzed. Small and medium-sized companies believe it is important that the auditor is independent towards their company. On the other hand, management in Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises has no direct knowledge of what the auditor independence regulation implies. / De stora redovisningsskandalerna i början av 2000-talet fick stor betydelse för den kommande diskussionen angående vikten av revisorns oberoende. Detta ledde till strängare regler för revisorerna i Sverige såväl som internationellt. Revisorn fungerar i många små och medelstora företag som en ekonomisk rådgivare. Små företag har ofta en lång och nära relation med sin revisor. Detta anses vara ett hot mot revisorns oberoende. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om revisionspliktiga små och medelstora företag är medvetna om reglerna gällande revisorns oberoende. Uppsatsen avser vidare att analysera om reglerna för revisorns oberoende är lika nödvändiga för små företag som för stora företag med en stor andel aktieägare. En kvalitativ undersökning har utförts där data från 102 telefonintervjuer med små och medelstora företag har samlats in. Ett frågeformulär med både flersvarsfrågor och öppna frågor har legat som grund för undersökningen. Den insamlade datan sammanställdes i SPSS vilket genererade grafer och tabeller som sedan analyserades. Små och medelstora företag anser att det är viktigt att revisorn är oberoende gentemot deras företag. Å andra sidan har ledningen i svenska små och medelstora företag ingen direkt kunskap om vad revisorns oberoende reglering innebär.

This dissertation examines the role of social media in the communication process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on communication and social media theories, this study examines how small and medium-sized enterprises incorporate social media in their marketing and communication strategy. As a result, this study concludes that social media has an important role in the communication process of SMEs. The study shows, that to increase a two-way communication via social media, SMEs must focus more on enabling interactions, to collect responses and feedback. A professional appearance on the platforms has been considered as crucial. The results additionally show that SMEs recognize space and need for improvement of their social media skills. The integration of social media into the overall concept differs among the cases. A major obstacle can be found regarding the detection of target groups on social media. Moreover, a lack of strategic orientation can be found in terms of social media goals and budgets, as well as performance measurement.

In recent years, with the economic development in China and the direct flights between Taiwan and China; there are more and more Taiwanese enterprises invest in China industrial market. This business environment change results in the increasing Taiwanese employees travelling between China and Taiwan frequently, or even been dispatched to China for long-term. In the future, the opportunities of work exchange between Taiwan and China will increase rapidly. Taiwan and China has no language barrier, however, the thinking logic, attitude towards work, and corporate management style between two places are fairly divergent. All these differences impact both Taiwanese and Chinese enterprises development. Today, China¡¦s workers strive for their work and almost catch up with Taiwan. Do Taiwan¡¦s workers notice it? The author has been dispatched to China for more than five years, and returned to Taiwan for three years. We can see the way of business management and the working environment between Taiwan and China through the experience of author. This narrative will give an overview and suggestions to those Taiwanese who is willing to work in China, and to those Taiwanese who plan to return to Taiwan market. For the workers who are seeking for opportunities of work exchange, the author suggests they should have abilities such as authorization management, regulate the rhythm of the work, resource integration, and excellent communication skill with local workers. On the other hand, for the workers who return to Taiwan job market, face to the primary depression, adjust mindset, and balance work and family lives are the keys to a successful transfer.

This is a case study of Taiwan¡¦s bicycle industry. With the view of international standards we tried to explore the integration of the new product development process in Taiwan¡¦s bicycle industry. We have found that Taiwan¡¦s assemblers and components suppliers are parallel connected to interact with foreign buyers simultaneously. And all the R&D services to which every member offered are finally integrated under the instructions of the foreign buyers. We describe such a cooperation mode as ¡¥Parallel Connecting New Product Development Process¡¦. We argue that this new kind of cooperation mode is better than the traditional sequential staging model that is represented as ¡¥vertical connecting¡¦ cooperation mode in innovation flexibility and speed because of the communication efficiency and convenience to the OEM buyers. In this thesis we will describe the new product development interactions among the foreign buyers, components suppliers and the assemblers. And we will also discuss the competitive advantages and the causes of such a new cooperation mode. With this kind of cooperation mode we also discuss the R&D management implications for the small and medium sized enterprises in Taiwan. We argue that this new kind of cooperation mode can bring a new management implication to the small and medium sized enterprises in Taiwan, which is different from the main argument in the literature of strategic flexibility.

<p>Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is established among a majority of small and medium sized companies in Kista Science City and seems to have a positive effect on organizational effectiveness. Kista Science City is Sweden’s largest corporate centre, with more companies and employees in a limited area than anywhere else in Europe. This study looks at the level of adoption of ERP functions, perceived organizational effectiveness and critical success factors. The most common use of ERP is for financial control and reporting, followed by order entry and purchasing. A significant relationship between the level of adoption and organizational effectiveness was found.</p><p>Although Enterprise Resource Planning has become an established phenomenon the investments in ERP software are far from fully utilized. Most companies have started to use ERP to integrate functional areas but few companies have moved to extended ERP (ERPII). The adoption of functionality for customer relationship management seems to have started, but the use of e-commerce, business intelligence and supply chain management is very low. Different reasons for the low level of adoption are discussed and it is suggested that the interrelationship between SMEs and ERP-consultants be investigated further. ERP-consultants are important change agents and knowledge transfers for ERP and one way to interpret the data is that ERP-consultants are caught in a negative spiral where they focus on installations and technical maintenance of core ERP, which prevents them from developing new, extended ERP competence.</p><p>An analysis of critical success factors showed that although technical competence was important socially oriented factors such as project teamwork and composition as well as communication had a greater effect on organizational effectiveness. Surprisingly enough, project management did not have any effect on organizational effectiveness. Common implementation methods for ERP focus on project management. It is suggested to further analyse if these methods could be improved by an increased adaptability to differences in company settings and requirements as well as through a better use of critical success factors. Organizational effectiveness can be measured in many ways and it was found that the success factors varied in terms of how they correlated with different measures.</p><p>In the next step, the doctorial thesis, it is suggested that a prototype environment is developed to stimulate an increased use of extended ERP among small and medium sized companies. Several actors, such as SMEs, consultants, vendors and students would be involved. The prototype environment could facilitate enhancements of implementation methods and reduction of implementation costs through the development of reusable objects such as add-on solutions, process maps and system configurations. It could also help small and medium sized companies to investigate the business benefits of ERP by increasing involvement and familiarity while on the same time decrease costs and risks.</p> / QC 20100713

With growing levels of organic food consumption in the retail sector and government municipality goals to increase consumption of organic foods at public schools and institutions, private, independant food service businesses in Sweden risk slipping under the radar when it comes to understanding how they are responding to the global problem of industrialised, fossil fuel intensive and highly unsustainable agriculture. In Sweden, KRAV, an incorporaed association that develops standards for organic agriculture, governs certification for a range of industry actors, including restaurants. From the perspective of corporate social responsibilty (CSR) in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), independant, owner-managed food-service businesses become the subjects of a study into motives for engaging in CSR through environmental certification. Guided by an explorative case study research approach, qualitative data in the form of semi-structured interviews were conducted with management representatives of a number of food service businesses in Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden. Supported by a thorough literature review, the motives of these persons were identified and explored with the help of a conceptual framewrk based on profitability, legitimacy and sustainability motives. Additionally, the political view of CSR, using the concept of global corporate citizenship, was considered with regard to these commincated motives. Lastly the findings were reflected upon with respect to previous research specifically related to CSR in SMEs. As it turns out, it was found that the motivating factors for certifying with the KRAV restaurant certification were difficult to demarcate from broader ethical guiding principles related to supporting the organic movement. However, it was clear that legitimacy, specifically moral legitimacy, as well as profitabilty are critical elements to consider in understanding what motives restarant owner-managers to obtain KRAV restaurant certification. Finally, it was also concluded that in reacting to globalisation, the behaviour of the restaurants can be considered as global corporate citizenship inasmuch as they are providing a channelling role with regard to citizens’ political rights to actively participate in the global space and collective will formation.

Tinkamai atliekamos bankų kreditavimo operacijos yra labai svarbios, nes jos padeda nukreipti, paprastai limituotus, šalies piniginius išteklius į dinamiškiausias ir perspektyviausias verslo sritis. t.y. vienas pagrindinių gerai veikiančios rinkos ekonomikos dėsnių. O smulkus ir vidutinis verslas yra ekonomikos varomoji jėga ir socialinio valstybės stabilumo garantas. Šio verslo reikšmės didėjimas tapo akivaizdžiu viso civilizuoto pasaulio esminiu bruožu. Teisinga valstybės politika šioje srityje yra labai svarbus kiekvienos valstybės vidaus politokos uždavinys. Analitikai taip pat sutaria, kad smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo plėtra yra vienas iš prioritetinių Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos politikos tikslų. Pirmiausia SVV įmonės yra nuolatinio užimtumo pagrindas – smulkusis verslas tai svarbi priemonė, kovojanti su struktūriniu nedarbu. Antra, didesnis įmonių skaičius duoda postūmį ekonominiam augimui, paskatintam intensyvesnės konkurencijos.SVV įmonės greičiau pajunta rinkos paklausos ir pasiūlos pokyčius, prisitaiko prie jų, užimdamos konkrečias rinkos nišas. Praktinėje dalyje pateikiami tyrimo rezultatai gauti anketinės apklausos būdu iš smulkių ir vidutinių įmonių atstovų. Gauti rezultatai yra interpretuojami bei vertinami, darbo gale pateikiamos tyrimo išvados ir pasiūlymai. / The object of this paper is the crediting possibilities of the small and middle – size lithuanian enterprises.The small and middle business of Lithuania is the garanty of the economics stability and growth.. A risk element always exists in granting loans, so that’s why banks’ must organize rational and will – considered crediting process. Owning to the banks, vacant monetary capital is directed to the most dynamic and perspective business areas, in other words, is converted from idle to functionating capital. The main results of the research are: o the main users of the loans are trade, communication and transport companies; o the main credit market player is Vilnius bank, that takes 48% of the loan market. o the most popular crediting product is big loans ( over 50 000 lt.) with long term period (over 3 year).

Chemical pollution has become an environmental and human health concern. Small and medium-sized enterprises are becoming the focus of environmental researchers, as they have been found to collectively contribute a significant amount of the pollution due to improperly managed chemicals. This case study of Nova Scotia small and medium-sized enterprises aimed to collect baseline information regarding environmental and chemical management including what positive practices were in place, what areas required more assistance, what information is being requested and who should be the focus of information programs. Results indicated that there is significant room for improvement in both the environmental and chemical management practices of small and medium-sized enterprises, even though participants indicated they were employing responsible practices. Participants were however, able to provide multiple suggestions regarding information they require in order to improve their business operations and environmental performance, thereby indicating they are aware improvements are needed.