<p>Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products are among other SMEs in the world meeting increasingly stringent legal and customer requirements related to environmental issues. Obstacles for the SMEs around the world to meet these requirements are almost the same in form of lack of knowledge, budget and resources. The differences between SMEs in Thailand and SMEs in the EU, Japan or even Korea are that these countries have been developed the eco-design concept and SMEs have been involved in eco-design activities for many years. This process and activities are new both for the SMEs and for the supporting institutes and organisations in Thailand. Thailand has just started to build up the infrastructure to support the SMEs to implement the eco-design concept and to work more with product related environmental issues. The focus right now for the SMEs in this research is to comply with the EU Directives, RoHS and WEEE, and this is where the main investments are made, e.g. in order to be able to export to the demanding EU market.</p><p>This research is investigating what kind of environment demands that SMEs in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products have on their products, how they handle these requirements and also what obstacles there are for implementing a more product related environmental concept, also known as eco-design, Design for the Environment (DfE), Green Design or Environmentally Oriented Design. A research in form of interviews and factory visits has been done with five different SMEs in Thailand. These five SMEs have also participated in the first official eco-design projects in Thailand with funding from the government in Thailand and also some from the EU. Interviews have been conducted with involved parties in these project such as institutes and experts provided by Universities. These interviews were made in order to get their opinion and experience about the present situation for SMEs in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products to work with product related green issues.</p><p>The research shows that these companies have the possibilities and conditions to work further on with the eco-design concept in the future. Their participation in the eco-design projects has been a good experience and there is evidence of strong support from the management and owners, environmental awareness, pro-active work and motivation among the companies. The obstacles are as mentioned above concerning lack of resources, knowledge and experience of how these environmental demands and requirements will affect the product development process. This lack of experience depends mostly on the fact that these eco-design projects are the first projects in this field for the companies. These five companies have now built up a fundamental knowledge but are still in need of further support. The communication between the SMEs and supporting parties are important and also one factor these five companies think is functioning well.</p>

<p>Ett CRM system ger fördelar för ett företags förmåga att bygga varaktiga kundrelationer. Små och medelstora företag är dock tveksamma till att investera i sådana system. Resurserna för att dels investera i och sedan effektivt förvalta systemen fattas ofta i företagen. Implementationerna av systemen drar dessutom ofta ut på tiden. Modellen Software as a Service har under 2000 talet vunnit stora landvinningar. Leverantörer som erbjuder CRM funktionalitet som en betald tjänst över Internet är ett attraktivt alternativ för små och medelstora företag som vill kringgå ovanstående problem. Samtidigt råder en viss tveksamhet till vilken kvalitet dessa tjänster håller. I denna studie söker vi svar på hur små och medelstora svenska företag upplever fördelarna med att köpa in ett CRM system som en SaaS tjänst.Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga hur ett antal små och medelstora svenska företagupplever fördelarna med att köpa in ett CRM system som SaaS tjänst och presentera resultatet som en källa till kunskap om CRM system som SaaS tjänster. En kvalitativ studie har bedrivits med litteraturstudier som metod för insamling av sekundärdata och semistrukturerade telefonintervjuer som metod för primärdatainsamling. Fyra företag som använder ett CRM system som SaaS tjänst har deltagit i studien. Studien visar att fördelarna med leveransmodellen SaaS eliminerar flera potentiella hinder för små och medelstora företags förmåga att köpa in ett CRM system. Företagen undgår kostsam hårdvara och IT förvaltning. Kvalitén för dessa tjänster håller även en hög standard. Implementationen av tjänsterna upplevs av företagen som snabba och betalningsmodellen medför låga initialkostnader och ger en låg totalkostnad. Det medför även möjligheter till ett mobilt arbetssätt.</p> / Vet ej vem som är examinator för uppsatsen.

<p>Vi vill i vår uppsats ta reda på den svenska revisionspliktens upplevda nytta ur ett intressentperspektiv inför en eventuell lagändring, för att få en bild av hur intressenterna värderar lagstadgad revision. För att få en större insikt i ämnet kommer vi även att undersöka andra länders erfarenheter efter ett borttagande. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod för att belysa mer komplexa teman, gå djupare i ämnet och ta reda på varför och hur. Vid insamling av teori har vi använt oss av litteratur samt databaser som finns tillgängliga via biblioteket. Vi använde oss av ostrukturerade intervjuer även kallat öppna intervjuer. Vi har intervjuat skatteverket, ekobrottsmyndigheten, ett kreditupplysningsföretag och en revisor för att svara på syftet. Vi har i vår undersökning kommit fram till att intressenterna tycker att trovärdigheten i företagens finansiella information försämras om man tar bort revisionsplikten. Intressenterna pekar på att revision som bra för företagen själva med att snabbt upptäcka fel och brister i deras redovisningar. Våra intressenter är även överens om att man bör utveckla alternativ till den lagstadgade revisionen för att säkerställa att den finansiella informationen är korrekt. Ingen av våra respondenter tog upp några av de alternativ andra länder har använt. Kreditgivare kan komma att lösa detta på andra sätt, t ex avtalsliknande former eller att de begär revision av räkenskaperna för att låna ut pengar. Det är då svårare för EBM och SKV.</p>

<p><strong>Purpose - </strong>The goal of this research is to demonstrate that financial performance of current year is dependent to the amount of maturity of the supply chain processes. This aim is achieved through considering current supply chain process maturities of the firm together with financial performance of prior years. <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Research question - </strong>How supply chain process maturities in relation to financial performance of prior years are related to current financial performance  <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Methodology - </strong>The deductive approach has been followed to use theories and literatures to build the hypothetical model in order to test it empirically.<strong></strong></p><p>This quantitative research is benefited from the primary data of Swedish steel SMEs including the secondary data from financial ratios from Scandinavian financial database</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Findings - </strong>The effect between supply chain process maturity and current year financial performance, the effect between prior year financial performance and current year financial performance, and also total effect of prior year financial performance and supply chain process maturity on current year financial performance proved empirically. <strong></strong></p>

<p>Svenska Lantchips is a Swedish SME sized snack manufacturer. Being a small, medium sized, family-owned business with branches throughout the world, they make an interesting company for a case study. The case study I have conducted focuses on the internationalisation process of this family owned company – how they, despite their size, find ways to keep up an unique business structure, designed for internationalisation.The aim of this essay is to compare Svenska Lantchips’ internationalisation process with traditional internationalisation theories and see if these are compatible with this company. The theories used are The Uppsala Model, The Network Model, and The Born Global Theory, with The Born Global Theory representing the younger generation of models.After undertaking an in-depth interview with Michael Hansen, business developer at Svenska Lantchips, I collated a substantial amount of material, which I have used as the basis of this essay. Theories of storytelling have been used to interpret the information I got from Michael Hansen. Michael Hansen was chosen not only for his role as a business developer, but he is also the co-founder of the company, together with his wife, and brother in law. Previous research was studied to get information about attitudes within this research field today. The result from this thesis is that Svenska Lantchips have forged their own distinctive route out on the global market. Despite being a relatively small, family-owned company, with a low dependency on sophisticated technologies, they have managed to expand and internationalise at an impressive rate. By opening factories on foreign markets, sometimes even before exporting to them, they have produced a unique competitive advantage. Their internationalisation process at times more closely resembles that of a high-tech, innovative company, than a small, family-owned firm. The driving force behind them is their personal determination, and the philosophy that the world is one big market; they refuse to see cultural and geographical differences as an obstacle.</p>

<p>Society demands more and more that corporations take over responsibility on the effects of their business actions in a stakeholder view. Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance are catchwords in this context that stand for a management view there one focuses on more than profits and quality. In corporate responsibility management one takes a stakeholder view and integrates also issues such as supplier relations, supply chain management, environmental practices and sustainability as well as labor standards and human rights into the management view. The integration and balance between economic, environmental and social issues going above legal requirements is called triple bottom line thinking.</p><p>Today, corporate responsibility is no more only an issue for large international corporations but also for SMEs with limited resources and less market power. The purpose of this thesis is to describe and understand how a sustainable business approach can develop and be maintained in SMEs. By examining the case Coffee Queen, we want to find out about driving forces for development of corporate responsibility.</p><p>To receive nuanced information and deeper insight into the corporate responsibility of a company, a single case study with a qualitative research approach was chosen. The empirical material for this case was collected during a visit of Coffee Queens’ plant in Arvika and three open personal interviews.</p><p>Based on a literature review and narratives from the empirical material it was found that driving forces for the development towards sustainable business are strongly related to leadership by values. The engagement of one or more organization members that are supported by the top management and a values base that gives a framework for corporate behavior and supports the reputation of the company were found to be important variables to reach an ISO 14000 certification for Coffee Queen. From the management side, the corporate responsibility can be seen as a market requirement and used as a marketing tool for competitive advantage. A strategic approach to corporate responsibility was appeared to be helpful as it increases the accountability of positions, and demanded in SMEs.</p><p>Total quality management according to ISO 9000 and 14000 was in this context found as additional driver for sustainable development. On a basis of continuous improvement companies have to forward their positions step-by-step towards an integrated sustainability approach. This idea of corporate responsibility development is demonstrated by a model showing the steps towards an integrated triple bottom line.</p><p>With these findings, this study provides insight into corporate responsibility in a SME and links values-based management and quality management to the process of developing a sustainable business approach.</p>

<p>The globalization of markets is hindering the competitive position of organizations throughout the world. On one hand, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which have settled in a niche market face an escalating difficulty to defend their market share. On the other hand, increasing fragmentation of value chains throughout the world is turning many SMEs into powerless suppliers (Gammelgaard and Mathiasen, 2007). Consequently, SMEs are obliged to improve their competitiveness, and outsourcing is an effective tool to achieve that. However, its use is still not widespread throughout SMEs (Knowledge Wharton, 2004). In fact, SMEs are perceived to be stimulators of the local economies (Blackford as cited by Odaka and Hawai, 1999, p.58) and to be more attached to their local environment. The weight of emotional responses in decision making of outsourcing might be related to the low occurrence of it amongst SMEs. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand in which way the emotional factors affect the decision making of outsourcing in SMEs.The study follows a qualitative strategy with an explanatory research design. We did not only want to explore the impact of emotional factors, but understand the reasons behind it. Accordingly, we first identified the possible economic and emotional factor through the construction of the theoretical framework. This allowed us to know their individual relevance in the decision making, but unfortunately we could not obtain a coherent picture of their relationship. In order to accomplish these relations, the primary data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Six SMEs with headquarters in Umeå were interviewed and provided us with the necessary data. Consequently, our analysis unveiled the relationship between the factors that affect the decision of outsourcing - managing to fulfill the purpose of our study.Basically, our obtained results led us to the conclusion that the small or medium nature of the enterprise does not condition their emotional behavior. Therefore, we concluded that the fact that the enterprise being an SME does not imply that emotional factors have more weight in the decision making. In fact, we discovered that the emotional factor with the highest degree of influence in decision making of outsourcing in SMEs is the type of corporate culture of the business.The globalization of markets is hindering the competitive position of organizations throughout the world. On one hand, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which have settled in a niche market face an escalating difficulty to defend their market share. On the other hand, increasing fragmentation of value chains throughout the world is turning many SMEs into powerless suppliers (Gammelgaard and Mathiasen, 2007). Consequently, SMEs are obliged to improve their competitiveness, and outsourcing is an effective tool to achieve that. However, its use is still not widespread throughout SMEs (Knowledge Wharton, 2004). In fact, SMEs are perceived to be stimulators of the local economies (Blackford as cited by Odaka and Hawai, 1999, p.58) and to be more attached to their local environment. The weight of emotional responses in decision making of outsourcing might be related to the low occurrence of it amongst SMEs. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand in which way the emotional factors affect the decision making of outsourcing in SMEs.The study follows a qualitative strategy with an explanatory research design. We did not only want to explore the impact of emotional factors, but understand the reasons behind it. Accordingly, we first identified the possible economic and emotional factor through the construction of the theoretical framework. This allowed us to know their individual relevance in the decision making, but unfortunately we could not obtain a coherent picture of their relationship. In order to accomplish these relations, the primary data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Six SMEs with headquarters in Umeå were interviewed and provided us with the necessary data. Consequently, our analysis unveiled the relationship between the factors that affect the decision of outsourcing - managing to fulfill the purpose of our study.Basically, our obtained results led us to the conclusion that the small or medium nature of the enterprise does not condition their emotional behavior. Therefore, we concluded that the fact that the enterprise being an SME does not imply that emotional factors have more weight in the decision making. In fact, we discovered that the emotional factor with the highest degree of influence in decision making of outsourcing in SMEs is the type of corporate culture of the business.</p>

<p><p>Internationalization research has for a long time been dominated by a strong focus on how large firms from large and developed economies expand into other developed countries. Until recently, little attention has been devoted towards understanding that part of the internationalization process in which small and medium sized firms from small and open economies, attempt to establish themselves in undeveloped countries. This research gap is the point of departure for this thesis.</p><p> </p><p>By using a recently published conceptual framework by Laanti et al. (2009) the authors study how five groups of factors have shaped the internationalization process of a small Swedish electricity company in the midst of starting up business in Congo Kinshasa. In this in-depth single-case study, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives of PPC Engineering AB. The study finds that the importance of different factors vary throughout the process, but in this case, when seen as a whole, <em>host country factors</em> and <em>company specific factors </em>play the most prominent roles. Furthermore, Laanti et al.’s (2009) conceptual framework is redesigned to explain the dynamic process of internationalization. However, more research is needed to determine the extent to which this framework can be generalized.</p></p>

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face numerous challenges to stay competitive in the international marketplace. They have to align their business models to suit the needs and wants of customers in different markets. They also have to counter the competition of larger, more affluent firms. To meet these challenges, firms must continually create new business solutions. Whereas larger firms may tap into extensive internal knowledge bases for business creation, SMEs often have to reach outside themselves for creative input. This thesis contends that international entrepreneurship can be fostered in constellations of firms and individuals; in some instances, it may even be more accurate to talk about entrepreneurial networks than about entrepreneurial firms. The bedrock assumption of this thesis is that entrepreneurial opportunities are virtually ingrained in the network structure. Relationships across national borders provide multiple avenues for knowledge to intersect, thus creating new business solutions. It is argued that the internationalization of SMEs can unfold as an ongoing pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities that emerge in everchanging networks. The findings suggest that network knowledge combination can be addressed as a capability that strongly shapes SMEs’ competitiveness in foreign markets. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010</p>

Environmental (‘Green’) issues have become an increasingly important issue in contemporary business management. Pressure on business regarding environmental issues is increasing and is expected to continue to do so into the future. Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are thought to have a large combined effect on the environment and this area has been cited as problematic for the SME sector. This thesis investigates collaboration amongst SMEs through networks as a way to increase environmental activity in this sector – focusing on the Hackefors model (a joint ISO 14001 certification network). The empirical study of this thesis involved a survey study of 4 networks that have implemented the Hackefors model to achieve ISO 14001 in Sweden. The networks represented SMEs from a large variety of industries and the study brought a 75% response rate. It explored different aspects of the Hackefors model, such as the motives and benefits for entering the network, drawbacks and disadvantages of the model, network relations, pressures for ISO 14001 certification and the possibility of extended network relations after certification. The results showed that group ISO 14001 certification using the Hackefors model is an effective way for an SME to implement an EMS. Not only is the model successful in achieving certification, it also brings many other benefits with it. The Hackefors model can be seen as an effective way to encourage SMEs who may not have previously considered an EMS, to implement ISO 14001. In addition, it helps companies become ISO 14001 certified at a significantly lower cost and to overcome some of the problems traditionally associated with SMEs, such as size and lack of time.