<p>Small and medium-sized enterprises play much more important roles in both domestic and international markets nowadays. The issue that factors influence their export performance (mainly the export sales and profits) also becomes much more attractive these years. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the factors which influence the SMEs’ export performance and how each factor influences the SMEs’ export performance. This study is built on a modified model of the factors influencing the SMEs’ export performance. The authors use case study to conduct this research, and one company’s (Company B’s) data is collected through the semi-structured interview. Some findings are obtained: the important factors which influence Company B’s export performance contain the trade shows, the expenses on getting the authentication, capital sources, export rebate, firm network, firm previous experience, firm competencies, personal network, international orientation and personal previous experience. In addition, the authors also find the effect of firm size is indirect. However, customs duty, transportation, as well as building up the brand do not play important impacts on export performance. Take the trade shows as an example, personal cards and product samples are sent to the customers, then the customers who are interested in the products will contact Company B. In this way, the customers are accumulated and the export sales increase. Thus, the export performance is enhanced.</p>

Small and medium-sized enterprises play much more important roles in both domestic and international markets nowadays. The issue that factors influence their export performance (mainly the export sales and profits) also becomes much more attractive these years. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the factors which influence the SMEs’ export performance and how each factor influences the SMEs’ export performance. This study is built on a modified model of the factors influencing the SMEs’ export performance. The authors use case study to conduct this research, and one company’s (Company B’s) data is collected through the semi-structured interview. Some findings are obtained: the important factors which influence Company B’s export performance contain the trade shows, the expenses on getting the authentication, capital sources, export rebate, firm network, firm previous experience, firm competencies, personal network, international orientation and personal previous experience. In addition, the authors also find the effect of firm size is indirect. However, customs duty, transportation, as well as building up the brand do not play important impacts on export performance. Take the trade shows as an example, personal cards and product samples are sent to the customers, then the customers who are interested in the products will contact Company B. In this way, the customers are accumulated and the export sales increase. Thus, the export performance is enhanced.

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Problem: There has been a limited amount of study in procurement within SMEs (Quayle, 2002). In general, for all sizes of organizations, the procurement function has often been regarded as a transactional based function and plays a supporting department to the value-adding process. These organizations view procurement as a simple function of the entire firm (Hutchins, 1992). It is more commonly found that procurement in SMEs tend to be fragmented and non-strategic (Zheng et al., 2007). Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate innovation in procurement in small and medium-sized enterprises Method: A qualitative research method with an abductive approach was used to conduct this research. A primary and secondary material was gathered from Sensys Traffic AB which was used as a case study in investigating into the innovation in procurement within small and medium-sized enterprises. Theories: The theoretical framework that was utilized in this investigation consisted of procurement processes, strategies, roles, and innovation. Conclusion: An organization can compete for the present and the future by placing more emphasis and priority within procurement in SMEs, developing the procurement department and employment skills, coordinating and collaborating within both internal and external members, forming 'win-win' relationships with suppliers, and proactively looking for ways to innovate. Furthermore, by specifically looking to innovate within these areas the procurement function can leverage itself and its firm to be able to achieve reduced total cost of ownership and higher quality products/services. These special areas which were outlined by Spray (2009) are new sourcing ideas, new insights, new partnerships and new technologies.

What kinds of business environmental problems do Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises that invested in Mainland China have faced? On the other hand, what kinds of factors influence the enterprises management in China¡¦s business environment? How do Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises cope with business environmental problems in mainland China? In the past, many studies were mainly to investigate problems of the business environment in mainland China by the way of questionnaire which can only realize where the problem have existed, however, it is hard to understand the environmental states which impact on Taiwan enterprises clearly. Because of special culture and social background in China, a lot of problems interlock and coincide with each other, which can not solve the problem in a systematic way. Furthermore, the way of Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises cope with the business environment in mainland China is related to the role of the owners and how long the owners stay in mainland China. In order to understand how the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises cope with the business environment in mainland China. This study has adapted case study method, a way of qualitative research to collect and analyze data. The propositions are as follows¡G Proposition 1: The basic influence of the business environment in mainland China on Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises is unable to estimate a cost; therefore, it is difficult for the Taiwan enterprise to finance in mainland China, and cause the enterprise unable to plan its future development. Proposition 2: The owners of Taiwan enterprises are often limited to the experience of life and the way of management in the past, this phenomenon causes the misunderstanding of business environment in mainland China. Proposition 3: In mainland China, a lot of problems interlock and coincide with each other, Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises can not solve the problem in a systematic way. Proposition 4: The role of the owners of Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises is the person who solves problems; so it needs to depend on those owners to solve any problems of the business environment in mainland China. Proposition 5: The owners of enterprises must spend whole time and energy on the business, in order to cope with business environmental problems in mainland China. Proposition 6: If the owners of Taiwan small and medium-sized enterprises want to overcome environmental impact in mainland China, they need to keep establishing trusting Guanxi with stakeholders.

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The Small- to Medium- Sized Enterprise (SME) has attracted the attention of researchers and governments because of the increasingly important role it is playing in national and international economies. The current research is directed towards understanding the internationalisation of this important economic unit, specifically the internationalisation of SMEs in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. The research adopts a critical realist philosophy, used by researchers to explain the decision-making process, and applies it in a different context to provide insights into the internationalisation process of the SME. A critical realist approach is used as it enables an understanding of the roles of structures and the contingent environment in facilitating differing levels of SME internationalisation. These are factors that are believed to operate at a level below that of the observable. The study adopts a mixed methodology (a questionnaire survey and two company case studies) that identifies three main issues, including, the international orientation of the industry, previous international experience of management, and the age of the firm. The survey also identified two other issues, perceptions of competition levels, and technology. All of these factors heavily influenced the differing internationalisation levels seen. The two case study companies were used to illustrate the issues at a real level, highlighting the effect of the structures of the capitalist mode of production and the supply chain. The roles of these structures were shown as not deterministic, as the affect of structure was only exhibited under particular contingent conditions in the external and internal environments

This study aims at analyzing and explaining the use of information technology (IT) and its effect on organizational structures in SMEs in Turkey. Today, information technology has come to play a more and more important role in most organizations and especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Researchers give different meanings on the concept of IT as how IT is used or interpreted in organizations. This thesis focuses on the impact of IT on organizational structure. A framework for analysis consisting of four eras of IT use has been developed and forms the basis of research method for analyzing the effects of IT in SMEs. In the framework, the dominant technology actually creates an organization metaphor, which helps to determine how organizational structures will be affected by the use of information technology. The variables to be investigated in the areas of organizational structure are control, specialization, formalization, span of control, communication and collaboration, interorganizational relations. Through a case study of two small and medium sized companies in the electronics and manufacturing industries, it is found that formation of information networks especially external networks has a precise effect on organization structures. The results prove that IT has significant impacts on decentralization, specialization, communication, and interorganizational relations. Also, it is clear that managerial support for IT and IT implementation is found to be a major factor for information technology to be used effectively.

Studies of small and medium-sized enterprises have provided evidence that CEOs of such firms can have a dominating influence on firm activities. Drawing on upper echelons theory, we analyze the influence of CEO personality (CEO internal locus of control), CEO ownership and CEO education on the evaluation of middle manager performance. In line with our expectations, we find evidence for a direct effect of CEO ownership (negative) and CEO education (positive) on the use of objective performance evaluations and for a direct effect of the CEO's internal locus of control on the use of subjective performance evaluations. Moreover, we provide evidence for a moderating role of both CEO ownership and education with respect to the influence of the CEO's locus of control on the use of subjective evaluations. We use a sample of 247 small and medium-sized manufacturing firms to test our hypotheses.

Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, various changes were introduced to the Namibian Income Tax Act. None of these changes were specifically targeting small and medium enterprises although the majority of entities in Namibia can be classified as small and medium enterprises. Recognising the contribution made by small and medium enterprises, Government recently indicated that tax reform for small and medium enterprises should be treated as a priority. Differentiated tax treatment is applied in the United Kingdom and South Africa and aims to reduce the tax burden. Although previous studies have been carried out on differentiated tax treatment for small and medium enterprises, none of these studies were done from a Namibian perspective. The aim of this study is to analyse literature on taxation for small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom and South Africa to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of tax policies aimed at the small and medium enterprises sector. The study also compared tax policies for small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom and South Africa to recommend possible implementation for the Namibian tax system. Namibia should learn from these countries and apply the best practices. The study reached the conclusion that tax reform in Namibia for the small and medium enterprises sector is desperately needed and recommends that tax policies aiming at reducing the tax compliance burden should receive preference over those reducing the tax rate burden. This research may serve as the starting point for revised tax policies and legislation specifically aiming at small and medium enterprises. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Taxation / unrestricted