Dissertation (M Techy( Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011 / The importance of e-commerce for SMEs has been well established. However, it remains an area of strategic concern amongst organisations across all industries. Furthermore, there is distinct lack of strategic planning in the majority of SMEs. Performance measurement has been identified as an important mechanism for making strategic decisions and it has been suggested that organisations align their strategic planning with their performance measurement systems. However, a large percentage of SMEs have no formal performance measurement systems in place. This has therefore been identified as a potential growth area for SMEs on which the success of the informal sectors depends.Despite the importance of SMEs throughout all economies, to-date limited research has been conducted on SMEs and e-commerce performance measurement. The aim of the present study was to investigate the manner in which the lack of e-commerce performance measurement is influencing the effective management of SMEs in the Western Cape province of South Africa. To achieve this aim, an electronic survey, investigating various aspects of e-commerce performance measurement, was compiled and sent via electronic mail to SMEs of various industries in the Western Cape. A total of 31 SMEs responded. Results indicated that the majority (67.7%) of SMEs in the Western Cape were not currently measuring their e-commerce performance. It was, however, considered highly important to a large percentage of the respondents and 65% of the respondents indicated that they do plan to measure e-commerce performance in the future; however, they need to overcome a number of obstacles to do so. These obstacles were identified and a list of e-commerce performance measurement critical success factors was compiled to guide SMEs in future strategic planning.The present research has proved that SMEs in the Western Cape Province of South Africa are no different from the rest of the world in that they are lagging behind their larger counterparts in terms of e-commerce performance measurement and therefore are lagging behind in terms of strategic concern and the ultimate growth of the organisation is therefore at risk. E-commerce performance measurement is thus an important area that SMEs need to align with their organisations‟ strategy.

Dans le cadre de cette thèse doctorale, intitulée « Titrisation en droit lituanien : théorie et pratique », le phénomène de titrisation est apprécié vis-à-vis du droit lituanien. Pour pouvoir identifier la place du phénomène de titrisation au sein du système de droit lituanien, tout d'abord, sont analysés le stade de développement du droit financier et son autonomie vis-à-vis d'autres branches du droit, notamment, du droit civil et du droit des finances publiques. L'étude révèle que même si les éléments importants d'autonomie du droit financier sont présents, l'autonomie définitive de cette branche du droit n'est pas encore achevée. Cela est principalement dû à l'absence de clarté des limites entre le droit financier et le droit civil. La titrisation n'étant pas expressément réglementée par le droit lituanien, elle est qualifiée en tant qu'ensemble contractuel – phénomène émanant du droit civil. À la suite de la qualification des contrats de l'opération de titrisation en tant qu’ensemble contractuel, la structure, les limites et le contenu d'un tel ensemble sont identifiés. La suite de l'étude révèle les effets qu'une qualification évoquée pourrait porter sur les contrats de l'opération de titrisation. Notamment, les effets entre les contrats de l'ensemble et les « contractants extrêmes » sont appréciés. La deuxième partie de l'étude estconsacrée aux aspects pratiques de la mise en oeuvre des opérations de titrisation des actifs des PME en Lituanie. Notamment, il est démontré qu'il est possible de réaliser des opérations de titrisation des actifs des PME dans le cadre réglementaire lituanien actuel. Pourtant, une telle mise en oeuvre serait fortement encombrée par le cadreréglementaire, qui n'est pas adapté à ce type de montages juridico-financiers. Des propositions respectives quant aux modifications du cadre réglementaire lituanien sont faites. / In this doctor thesis, entitled “Securitisation Under Lithuanian Law: Theory and Practice”, the phenomenon of securitisation is analysed in respect of Lithuanian law. In order to identify the place of the phenomenon of securitisation within the legalsystem of Lithuania, firstly the state of development of the financial law and its autonomy with respect to other branches of law, such as civil law and public finance law, were analysed. The research revealed that despite the presence of importantelements, proving the autonomy of the financial law, its complete autonomy is note yet achieved. This is basically due to the absence of clarity as to the limits between the financial law and the civil law. As securitisation is not specifically regulated bythe Lithuanian law, it was qualified as a group of related contracts – phenomenon of the civil law. After qualifying of securitisation as a group of related contracts, the structure, limits and contents of such group of related contracts were identified. Further studies revealed the effects that such qualification could make on the contracts of the securitisation transaction. In particular, the effects of such qualification among related contracts and the “distinct contractors” were analysed. The second part of the study was dedicated to the practical issues of the realisation of the operations of securitisation of the SMEs' assets in Lithuania. It was demonstrated that it would be possible to put in place operations of securitisation of the SMEs' assets in the frame of existing legal regulations in Lithuania. However, such operations would be heavily restricted by the regulatory framework, which is not adapted to such type of legal-financial transactions. Relevant propositions regarding the amendments of the Lithuanian legal framework were made.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka förutsättningar för lärande för mikroföretagare(ägare/chefer i företag med färre än 10 anställda). En webbenkät används för att samla in svarfrån 52 mikroföretagare i Sverige. Datamaterialet analyseras med hjälp av ett teoretisktramverk bestående av fem punkter för förutsättningar för lärande. De fem punkterna ärhandlingsutrymme, interaktionsutrymme, utbildningsmöjligheter, organisationskultur samtindividens lust och engagemang att lära. Alla statistiska beräkningar och analyser görs medhjälp med av SPSS. Ur studiens resultat går det att utläsa att handlingsutrymmet är stort dåarbetstyper med stor lärpotential förekommer mest i mikroföretagarnas arbete.Interaktionsutrymmet är även stort då mikroföretagarna anser att de kan fråga om råd ochdiskutera problem med både medarbetare och andra professionella. Majoriteten avmikroföretagarna nätverkar i ganska stor till stor utsträckning. Utbildningsmöjligheterna ärtvetydiga då svaren är väldigt spridda och inte förmedlar en enhetlig bild.Organisationskulturen hos mikroföretagarna präglas av normer som uppmuntrar till att görakarriär horisontellt, ta initiativ, utrymme för risktagande och misstag samt kritisktifrågasättande av arbetsuppgifter. Individens lust och engagemang att lära är också stor dåmikroföretagarna känner trygghet inför förväntningar på utveckling samt har en positiv attitydtill utbildningsaktiviteter och teknik som verktyg för lärande. Mikroföretagarna tycker attlärande främst sker i det dagliga arbetet. Resultatet visar vidare att mikroföretagarna ärsplittrade när det gäller både om företagsklimatet i Sverige är gynnsamt för deras företag samtom de använder lärande och kompetensutveckling som en strategi. Slutsatserna som dras äratt förutsättningarna för lärande för mikroföretagare är goda när det gäller handlingsutrymme,interaktionsutrymme, organisationskultur samt individens lust och engagemang att lära.Utbildningsmöjligheter är däremot svårtolkad. Studien bör replikeras men med användandetav ett OSU samt ett större urval för att möjliggöra generalisering samt jämförelser mellangrupper.

CSR has been a more popular subject in the last few decades. However, CSR is seldom connected with SMEs. Many scholars suggest that the reasons are: firstly the attention on CSR practice falls much more on MNCs since publics perceive MNCs have bigger impact on the society. Secondly, most SMEs do not have required resources to work with CSR and many SMEs regard CSR as a burden. However, there are more and more SMEs that start to work with CSR. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of why SMEs work with CSR and how do SMEs implement CSR strategies.   The theoretical framework contains strategy, CSR pyramid, decision making process, stakeholder theory, business opportunity model of CSR for SME, legitimacy, strategy implementation and business relations. The emiprical findings contain the case firms’ view on what stimulate them to work with CSR and how they implement its CSR strategies within and outside the firms.   In the analysis we have connected the theoretical framework with our empirical findings. We analyze who the decision makers are and most important stakeholders within the firm as well as what stakeholders are interested in to be able to answer our firs research quesiton. Furthermore, we describe the implemetion process of our case firms as well as to analyze what types of business relations they have wirh its supplier, which will help us to answer our second research question.   The conclusions of this thesis are that it is profitability that drives SMEs to work with CSR. Furthermore, SMEs carry out its CSR strategy differently and the differences depend on how much resources do firms have and the types of relationship with suppliers.

The diploma thesis deals with the impact of different fixed assets presentation standards according to the Czech Accounting Legislation (CAL) and International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs). The main goal of the diploma thesis is to evaluate the impact of different presentation standards from CAL and IFRS for SMEs perspective on the values of financial statement items that affect the transparency of the selected financial analysis indicators. The theoretical section of the thesis focuses mainly on fixed assets according to IFRS for SMEs and its comparison with fixed assets according to CAL and IFRS for SMEs. The practical section of this thesis identifies the areas of fixed assets which are described differently by CAL and by IFRS for SMEs and sets them to model cases. Then a quantification of the differences in the financial statements is performed by using model accounting units arising due to different ways of reporting. The quantification is then followed by an evaluation of the impact on selected indicators of financial analysis.

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Background: Major attention in researches within the field of internet technologies andits usage in service providing Small and medium Enterprises has been devoted in thedeveloped countries. Little or almost no attention or studies have been given on most ofthe developing or third world countries specifically, Ethiopia which can be consideredas a black hole in related researches. Recently there are some encouraging signals hereand there, with a hopeful transition to the digital era and utilization of internettechnologies, in the service providing small and medium enterprises businesses. Thearea of attention here is directed to Ethiopia, in the existing internet technologies usagein SMEs with the prospects, benefits and problems of utilization in the businessoperations. Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to find out the benefits, prospects and utilizationproblems of internet technologies in small and medium size service enterprises inEthiopia. The study discusses the service business operations and their internet usage inthe small and medium enterprises value chain activities theories. Definitions: The term SME (Small and Medium size Enterprises) generally refers to, inmost developing economies, the following broad categories: For this research purposeUNIDOs quantitative and qualitative SMEs definition criterions will be used: Micro enterprises: employment level below 10; Registered Capital < $ 42,000  Small enterprises: employment level from 10 to 49; Registered Capital > $ 42,000 Medium enterprises: employment level from 50 to 249. Registered Capital > $ 42,000 Internet Technology: is all about connectivity, accesses and utilization of internet. Realization: This study is based on multiple case study of 5 small and medium sizedservice enterprises‘ using internet in their business activities. Unstructured interviewwas handled with managers in the business, for this purpose qualitative research methodis applied with an inductive approach more dominantly. Completion and Results: A qualitative multiple case studies on SMEs businesses inAddis Ababa, Ethiopia was carried out and the results revealed that:      The Benefits of Internet Technologies as :  The falling costs and increasingutility of cutting edge technologies without bearing the high costs of discarding olderlegacy systems and carrying massive cost of technological  R & D, Historicopportunity  for SME‘s to create new information rich industries and competitiveentrepreneurships of global reach with no abstraction/ marketing chains or less capital , Provided Product/service and Operation / Processes Efficiency for SMEs, Enhancedthe businesses‘ value proposition, quality and flexibility,  SMEs  are better positionedto participate in global value chains, with minimal capital , R&D and Technology cost.  The Problems of Internet Technologies as: - Poor literacy, both computer basedand formal education, - Lack of good infrastructure, both physical and regulatory - lackof access to technology in rural or remote areas with lack of content in local languagessettings (Language & Diversity Barriers), - Service interruptions in basic infrastructuresuch as telecoms and electricity interruptions, - And lack of expertise in IT.   The Implications and Conclusion as: The utilization of internet technologies andthe growing number of entrepreneurial firms(SMEs) signals the way forward inEthiopia is  with a lot of  prospects among them are opportunities of  participating in theglobal market arena, strategic alliances with local and foreign firms that creates hugepossibilities of exploring and exploiting information, knowledge and culture industrieson which the country is endowed with, provided that the above mentioned impedimentsare addressed.  The theoretical issues in this research indicates that unlike the developedeconomies perspective on the value activities of firm which states the primary activitiesas a critical and detrimental activity in the value chain, in this research the supportactivity is found to have an equivalent, if not, a greater influence in the value activitiesof Ethiopian or developing country context that challenges the pre-establishedtheoretical concept (Porter, 1985)in the matured and developed economies giving muchof the credit to primary activities.  The underlying conclusion in this research is that, thesupport activities mentioned on Porter (1985) and (Rayport &Sviokla ,1995) as in bothcases (physical and virtual SMEs presence) are found to be equivalentlycritical/determinant as it is analyzed in the cases and shortly portrayed in the conclusivetable, where the support activities are found to be playing a significant role andcontribution  even in the sustenance of the primary value activities   and further to thewhole value system as far as the internet connectivity to business presence/ [VISIBILITY,MIRRORING CAPABILITY& NEW DIGITAL VALUE] (Rayport &Sviokla ,1995)  is takenin to consideration. Therefore an adapted / amended model to the context of developingcountries/Ethiopia is suggested based on the empirical findings and analysis. Search Terms: - Internet Technologies (ICT), Small & Medium Service Enterprises(SMEs), Infrastructure, Human Resources, Primary and Secondary Value Activities,Physical &Virtual Value Chain, Search, Evaluation Problem Solving & Transaction.

Purpose: Waste and negligence in the construction industry is a way too big factor of the high costs occurring. To reduce those wastes, some companies in the manufacturing industry has started to apply Lean to get a more effectively work. Lean Construction is the construction industries counterpart and this investigation investigates what Lean Construction methods for waste management can do for small and medium-sized enterprises.The goal of this work is to analyze how small and medium-sized enterprises can work to get Lean in to the companies processes to reduce perceived wastageMethod: The methods that is used to achieve the goal and to answer the chosen questions is literature studies, interviews and participant observation.Findings: Based on the methods that is used has different factors to reduce waste been acquired. Better communication, awareness among employees, management commitment and keep the work to the time schedules is important factors for improvement.Implications: Better planning is basis for a more efficient construction process.The most important thing for small and medium-sized enterprises can think about is that expensive solutions do not need to be better than simple methods. The developed factors in this investigation can help companies that want to achieve a more efficient construction process. The reason that this investigation is theoretically based, the derived factors should be applied in real projects to see what impact they have.Limitations: The investigation is limited to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is a case study at Brantås Bygg. The study include rework, waiting, movements and transports. The interviews are made with working managers, foremans and carpenters at Brantås Bygg. The participate observation is made at a project in the central parts of Vetlanda, Sweden.Keywords: Lean Construction, Wastes, SME, Implementation issues.

Nowadays, managing business performance is becoming a relatively difficult and complex process for managers since it is undertaking major change both in research and practice. With the growing global interest in Business intelligence (BI), it has also been identified as an important role for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to satisfy their customer’s needs by analyzing through BI system. However, the limited financial resource and lack of human capital are becoming the constraint for SMEs to invest in Business Intelligence system; as well the return of their investment in BI system is still being considerable for SMEs to invest in the system. This study proposes an innovative approach for assessing and prioritizing the use of BI, which can help SME owners to prioritize their customer’s needs and communicate with their stakeholder by using Kano model. This paper is prepared in a way to define and convey the idea of Kano Model and its application to aspiring organizations.

This PhD is an exploratory study examining the current cost accounting systems and key indicators in SMEs in Germany. The study is based on a survey and interviews with SME managers. Data are collected that provide information on the extent to which SME managers use their cost accounting and key indicators to obtain sound facts as the basis for their business decisions. On the one hand, this is about determining the current situation in German SMEs. On the other hand, the collected data should shed light on what information SME managers would like to have to support their work. In addition, it is being examined whether the target group of SMEs in the development of cost accounting and performance indicator systems is clearly addressed in economics. The aim of the research is to develop key indicators and a cost accounting system that is tailored to the specific needs of SMEs in Germany. In addition, the current scientific state of these two areas will be examined in a Literature Review. It also provides information on the extent to which SMEs are different from large companies, and whether these types of businesses are so different that a specialized cost accounting and key indicator system is justified and necessary for SMEs. For the development of a special system of cost accounting and the individual key figures, both quantitative and qualitative data are collected and analyzed. The results show that the way SMEs and large companies work differs significantly. Different levels of technology, different financing options on the capital market or the concentration of many tasks on a small number of employees in SMEs require different strategies than in large companies. A clear reference to the target group of SMEs often lacks in economics. In addition, research often lacks suggestions as to how the theoretical models can actually be put into practice. This is an access barrier for many SME managers, even though they are aware of the importance of tools that help them in planning, management and monitoring. The data collected has resulted in a cost accounting system and a set of indicators that can map the most pressing needs of SMEs managers, but at the same time, it is kept to a minimum so as not to overburden SME managers when implementing and running the system.