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.

Zimbabwe's entrepreneur owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) comprise approximately 94% of business owners but contribute only 50% of the country's gross domestic product. Entrepreneur owners play an important role in strengthening Zimbabwe's economy because they create approximately 60% to 80% of employment opportunities. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies owners of SME in Zimbabwe use to sustain their businesses. The population consisted of 5 owners of SMEs who have successfully implemented the strategies to sustain their businesses for over 5 years. The general systems theory was the conceptual framework of the study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and review of company financial documents. Member checking and methodological triangulation were used to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of the findings of the study. The data analysis process was conducted using Yin's 5-phases of qualitative data analysis. Four themes emerged from data analysis, including passion and dedication, quality of products and services, customer satisfaction, and employing staff with the right skills. The results of the study could lead to positive social change for SMEs and the communities by helping owners of SME to create growth strategies, increase revenues for the country, and create long-term employment opportunities for the communities. The findings from the study could catalyze positive social change by improving workforce capabilities, creating awareness of the success of entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe, and increasing the interest of financial institutions in lending to SMEs.

About 70% of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies fail because the strategies employed do not integrate all the critical success elements, leaving SMEs without the needed capital to take advantage of strategic and market opportunities. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the M&A strategies SME owners in Ghana employed to raise capital. Seth's value creation theory was the conceptual framework adopted for this study. The population consisted of 5 SME owners in Ghana who had successfully raised financial resources through inbound M&As within the past 10 years. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and review of corporate annual reports and M&A documents. The data were organized and analyzed using Yin's 5-step data analysis and cross-case synthesis techniques to identify patterns and emergent themes. The 6 themes that emerged from the analysis were value creation, control and autonomy, entrepreneurial quality, leadership, trustworthiness, and effective negotiation. SME owners can integrate entrepreneurial quality and effective negotiations to achieve successful closure of M&A deals. The findings of this study might facilitate SME access to capital for expansion and growth that will contribute to positive social change through job creation and increased youth employment in emerging economies.

Purpose: This master thesis aims to investigate the SMEs' perceptions about digitalization and sustainability of the firm and distinguish the factors that affect them. Furthermore, it illustrates how the SMEs’ digitalization process is linked to their sustainability.  Theoretical approach: This master thesis is based on the previous research and literature on SMEs’ digitalization and sustainability of the firm. Additionally, it proposed a conceptual model that links SMEs' digitalization process to their sustainability. Methodology: This research followed the qualitative method in which the data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with eight SMEs. These SMEs are located in Sweden, France, and Iran. However, the responses were analyzed based on the secondary analysis method. Findings: The study's findings demonstrate that digitalization affects an SME's sustainability through growth, competitiveness advantages, value creation, internal efficiency, and saving costs. Regardless of where SMEs are located, they mostly have the same perception of digitalization and insufficient knowledge about the firm's sustainability, and mainly the same factors affect their digitalization process and sustainability. Practical implications: The results of this study could provide a perspective on adopting the new technology by SMEs. It could inspire SMEs to increase their digitalization capability by adopting new technologies to ensure long-term sustainability in their organizations. It also sheds light on confusing the firm’s sustainability with SDGs, which SMEs must investigate. Originality/Value: This study adds to the digitalization and sustainability of the firm literature by investigating SMEs' perceptions about digitalization and firm’s sustainability, factors that influence the digitalization and sustainability process of the SMEs and examining how SMEs' digitalization processes are linked to their sustainability

Climate change presents a significant global challenge, affecting various aspects such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and altered precipitation patterns. Climate adaptation and climate mitigation are two fundamental strategies for addressing climate change. While mitigation focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation involves adjusting to climatic changes and their consequences. Both strategies are essential for a comprehensive response to climate change. For construction SMEs in the Koronoberg region, recognizing the importance of this dual approach is vital when offering climate adaptation-related renovation services. The construction sector plays a crucial role in shaping the built environment and has a substantial impact on greenhouse gas emissions, making it a vital area for addressing climate change. This study focuses on assessing the readiness and challenges faced by construction small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Kronoberg region of Sweden in providing climate adaptation-related renovation services. The study aims to evaluate the current state of preparedness of SMEs, identify specific challenges, and develop strategies to support their transition towards sustainable and resilient climate adaptation renovations. The findings reveal a growing awareness among construction SMEs regarding climate adaptation needs, with strategies emphasizing the use of wooden materials, energy efficiency, and sustainable practices. The outcomes provide valuable insights and recommendations for construction SMEs operating in the Kronoberg region, facilitating their long-term viability in supporting sustainable and resilient communities. However, challenges such as limited resources, absence of regulations, and standardized guidelines hinder implementation. Despite these challenges, the study highlights opportunities for growth and innovation through stakeholder collaboration, technological advancements, and sustainable strategies. The implications for construction SMEs include the need for continued awareness, adoption of sustainable practices, overcoming challenges, stakeholder collaboration, and embracing innovation and technology. Overall, construction SMEs in the Kronoberg region have the potential to contribute to a sustainable future by prioritizing climate adaptation, engaging in knowledge sharing, and actively participating in collaborative efforts. Their actions can drive positive change in the construction sector, mitigating the environmental impact of buildings and fostering a more sustainable and resilient built environment. Moreover, this research lays the foundation for further investigation in other regions or countries, fostering the global transition towards sustainable and resilient built environment.