Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / This study will refer specifically to the reasons why SMEs are not willing to use e-payment as their first-choice method: the reasons hampering e-payment adoption. / South Africa

L’industrie européenne demeure la base du dynamisme économique del’Union. Cependant, on peut difficilement considérer qu’à ce jour l’UE mène unevéritable politique de compétitivité internationale permettant de soutenir son industrie.L’objet de cette thèse est d’évaluer le « manque à gagner » dont souffre l’Union enraison de sa passivité. Le premier chapitre introduit les principes de la politiqueindustrielle et examine les facteurs de blocage et les échecs de l’Union, dans le butd’expliquer l’absence d’une politique industrielle active. Le second chapitre étudie lapolitique de la concurrence ainsi que la politique commerciale, qui semblent avoirconsidérablement limité la mise en place d’une telle politique industrielle au sein del’UE. Le troisième chapitre revient sur le rôle de la politique des clusters sur lacompétitivité des entreprises européennes. Enfin, le dernier chapitre de cette thèses’intéresse au renouveau de la politique industrielle. Après avoir remis en questionl’idée d’un patriotisme industriel européen, l’objectif de ce chapitre est d’étudier lesperspectives d’une stratégie industrielle en soutien à la croissance de long terme, etcelles d’une politique industrielle verte. / While the economic dynamism of the European Union relies on itsindustry, one can hardly consider that the EU is currently pursuing a real internationalcompetitiveness policy to support it. The purpose of this thesis is to assess the shortfallafflicting the EU because of its passive approach. The first chapter of this thesisintroduces the principles of industrial policy and examines a number of factors andfailures impeding its application, to explain the absence of an active industrial policy.The second chapter examines the EU competition policy, as well as its trade policy,which have considerably limited the implementation of such an industrial policywithin the EU. The third chapter describes the role of cluster policy oncompetitiveness of European firms. Finally, the fourth chapter discusses the renewalof industrial policy. After reviewing the hypothesis of a European industrialpatriotism, the purpose of this chapter is to examine the prospects of an industrialstrategy to support long-term growth, and those of a green industrial policy.

The general topic of this thesis is Green ICT and its support. But specifically is this work focused on Green ICT maturity model, as a starting point for the implementation of Green ICT practices in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. The main goal of this thesis is therefore the definition of this maturity model. This definition primarily consists of defining the questions, possible responses and assigning weights for these responses from the perspective of Green ICT maturity. By answering these questions, Green ICT maturity of any small or medium-sized enterprise can be measured. To achieve the main goal, the areas of Green ICT and Green ICT maturity levels for small and medium-sized enterprises were defined. However, for making this maturity model a relevant result of the thesis, testing it in practice was necessary. For this purpose was therefore created an interactive website with self-assessment form, through which companies were able to evaluate their Green ICT. Than the results of this self-assessment, were analyzed. The personal benefit of this thesis is definition of the Green ICT maturity model with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, including implementation and verification in practice. This part is considered as practical. For theoretical part I consider defining the areas of Green ICT for small and medium-sized enterprises, which is also seen as personal benefit.

Chatbots är mjukvarubaserade system som syftar till att simulera konversation mellan olika aktörer med hjälp av text och/eller tal. Vanliga användningsområden för en chatbot är exempelvis kundservice, marknadsföring och underhållningssyften. Chatbots har växt fram som ett alltmer väletablerat fenomen på marknaden, och fenomenet fortsätter att växa. En anledning till dess popularitet är att chatbots kan leda till kortare svarstid, förbättrad kundservice, förbättrad kundtillfredsställelse samt ökat engagemang hos kunder. De många fördelar som chatbots möjliggör har lett till att särskilt små och medelstora företag (SMF) vill utveckla och implementera chatbots för kundservice i sina verksamheter. Många SMF saknar emellertid de färdigheter och resurser som krävs för att fullt ut ta till vara på digitaliseringens möjligheter och den kompetens som krävs för att utveckla chatbots anpassade till ett SMF:s specifika behov. Mot denna bakgrund formuleras det problem vi avser att utforska: Det finns en brist på designkunskap som stödjer utveckling av kundservice-chatbots för SMF. Baserat på problemet har vi valt att studera följande forskningsfråga: Hur bör kundservice-chatbots för SMF designas? För att besvara forskningsfrågan har vi tagit inspiration från forskningsmetoden Action Design Research. Med stöd av metoden har ny kunskap och nya lärdomar identifierats genom utveckling och utvärdering av en chatbot i samverkan med studiens samarbetsföretag. Studiens resultat består av en IT-artefakt (chatbot) och tre designprinciper som syftar till att förenkla och möjliggöra utveckling av andra instanser av samma systemklass. De tre designprinciperna studien resulterat i är; Design för personlighet, Design för initial kapacitetsbeskrivning och Design för enkel integration. Vår slutsats är att designprinciperna ger nytta för sitt syfte och bidrar med designkunskap som kan inspirera och vägleda i både fortsatt forskning och praktik. / Chatbots are software-based systems aiming to simulate conversation between different actors using text and/or speech. Common uses for chatbots are e.g., customer service, marketing, and entertainment purposes. Chatbots have emerged as an increasingly well-established phenomenon that continues to grow. A reason for its popularity is that chatbots can lead to shorter response times, improved customer service, improved customer satisfaction and increased customer engagement. The many benefits chatbots enable have led to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wanting to develop and implement customer service chatbots in their organization. However, many SMEs lack the skills and resources needed to take full advantage of the potential of digitalization and the skills needed to develop a chatbot tailored for the specific needs of a SME. Against this background, the problem we intend to address is formulated as follows: There is a lack of design knowledge that supports the development of customer service chatbots for SMEs. Based on this problem, we have decided to investigate the following research question: How should customer service chatbots for SMEs be designed? To answer the research question, we have used the research method Action Design Research. With support of this method, new knowledge and lessons have emerged during evaluation in collaboration with a SME. The results of the study consist of an IT artifact (chatbot) and three design principles that aspire to simplify and enable the development of other instances of the same system class. The three design principles that the study resulted in are; Design for personality, Design for initial capacity description and Design for simple integration. Our conclusions are that the design principles provide benefits for their purpose and contribute with design knowledge that can inspire and guide in both further research and practice. Note that this bachelor’s thesis is written in swedish.

Preparation and creation of a business plan of a small enterprise is a main topic of my diploma thesis. In the thesis key terms related to setting-up of an enterprise are being characterized, as well as theoretical description of a business plan and its structure is being provided. The thesis analyzes the current situation in the particular field of business that influences the setting-up of the enterprise. Finally, the draft business plan of a production company is included.

Cette thèse se compose de quatre essais portant sur les effets des contraintes de financement sur l'utilisation du crédit commercial (TC) et d'autres sources alternatives de financement des entreprises. Dans le premier essai, nous étudions les effets des contraintes sur l'emprunt bancaire (BL) sur l'utilisation du TC par les entreprises vietnamiennes. Nous étudions plus particulièrement l’effet de la taille sur le choix entre les deux types de financement. Nous constatons que les grandes entreprises lorsqu’elles sont rationnées sur les BL comptent plus sur le TC que les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME). En particulier, nous constatons que les grandes entreprises dont la demande de crédit a été refusée utilisent plus de TC tandis que les PME dans la même situation en utilisent moins. Dans le deuxième essai, nous étudions les effets des contraintes sur les BL sur l’utilisation du TC en fonction de la taille et de l'âge des entreprises ainsi que du développement institutionnel des différents pays. Nos résultats suggèrent que le TC et le BL ont tendance à être des substituts pour les entreprises les plus grandes, les plus âgés et lesquelles situées dans les pays développés (développement institutionnel plus fort). En revanche, le TC et le BL sont complémentaires pour les entreprises les plus jeunes, les plus petites et lesquelles situées dans les pays en développement (développement institutionnel faible). Ce résultat est particulièrement net dans le cas où la demande de crédit est refusée. Dans notre troisième essai, nous étudions les effets des contraintes sur les BL sur l'utilisation de six sources alternatives de financement par les PME dans le monde entier. Les formes de financement étudiées sont: le TC, le crédit-bail, les cartes de crédit, la finance informelle, les fonds provenant de la famille et des amis et les capitaux propres. Nos résultats suggèrent généralement que les PME rationnées par les banques ont tendance à compter davantage sur les fonds de la famille et des amis et sur les prêts des usuriers. Nous trouvons aussi qu'elles utilisent les modes de financement alternatifs plutôt pour financer le fonds de roulement que pour financer de nouveaux investissements. Dans le dernier essai, à partir d’un échantillon d'entreprises non financières du S&P 500, nous examinons l'interaction entre l'utilisation du papier commercial (CP), des lignes de crédit bancaire (CL) et du TC sur la période 2003 à 2014. Nos résultats suggèrent que les entreprises avec le risque de refinancement le plus élevé empruntent plus sous la forme de CL et de TC que sous la forme de CP. Cet effet est plus fort pour les CL. Nous constatons également que plus le niveau d'asymétrie d’information est fort, plus les entreprises utilisent les CL et le TC par rapport à CP. En revanche, plus les problèmes d'aléa moral sont graves, plus les entreprises favorisent les CP par rapport aux CL et TC. / This thesis consists of four essays investigating the effects of financing constraints on firms' use of trade credit (TC) and other alternative financing sources. In the first essay, we investigate the effects of bank loan (BL) constraints on the use of TC by Vietnamese firms across size. We find that bank-constrained large firms rely on TC more than bank-constrained Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Particularly, we find that denied large firms use more TC whereas denied SMEs use less of it. In the second essay, we study the effects of BL constraints on firm's use of TC across size, age and institutional development by using an international sample. Our results suggest that TC and BL tend to be substitutes for larger, older firms and those in developed countries with stronger institutional development; and complements for smaller, younger firms and those in developing countries with weaker institutional development, especially when constraints relate to credit denial. In our third essay, we investigate the effects of BL constraints on the use of six alternative financing sources by SMEs worldwide, i.e. TC, leasing, credit cards, informal finance, sources from family and friends and equity. Our results generally suggest that bank-constrained SMEs tend to rely more on sources from family and friends and those from money lenders. We also find that they use alternative financing to finance working capital requirement to a greater extent as compared to new investments. In the last essay, by using a sample of nonfinancial S&P 500 firms, we examine the interplay between the use of commercial paper (CP), bank credit lines (CL) and TC for the period 2003-2014. Our results suggest that firms with higher rollover risk borrow more from CL and TC relative to CP with a stronger effect for CL. We also find that higher level of asymmetric information is associated with more usage of CL and TC relative to CP while more severe moral hazard problems are associated with more usage of CP relative to CL and TC.

No description available.

In Unternehmen mit wissensintensiven Wertschöpfungsprozessen werden oft innovative und einzigartige Produkte hergestellt, die eine enge Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kunden erfordern. Das bedeutet einen hohen Entwicklungs- und Abstimmungsaufwand innerhalb des Unternehmens. Vor allem für kleinere und mittlere produzierende Unternehmen sind praktikable Werkzeuge wichtig, mit denen unter Einbezug der Mitarbeiter solche Dienstleistungsanteile analysiert und passende Dienstleistungsprozesse gestaltet werden können.:1 Der Leitfaden auf einen Blick 5 2 Dienstleistungen in Produktionsunternehmen 6 3 Dienstleistungen im Unternehmen etablieren - Vorbereitung auf eine veränderte Sichtweise 10 4 Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe - Ein Werkzeugkasten stellt sich vor 12 5 Anwendung der WEGANO-Werkzeuge 15 6 Dienstleistungen bewerten, integrieren und verstetigen 34 7 Die Pilotfirmen kommen zu Wort 39 / Enterprises with skill-intensive value added processes in many cases manufacture innovative and unique products. This requires a close collaboration with the customer, a high development effort and a high level of coordination within the company. Especially small and medium size enterprises need practicable instruments to involve their staff into analyzing refering service contents and into designing the related processes.:1 Der Leitfaden auf einen Blick 5 2 Dienstleistungen in Produktionsunternehmen 6 3 Dienstleistungen im Unternehmen etablieren - Vorbereitung auf eine veränderte Sichtweise 10 4 Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe - Ein Werkzeugkasten stellt sich vor 12 5 Anwendung der WEGANO-Werkzeuge 15 6 Dienstleistungen bewerten, integrieren und verstetigen 34 7 Die Pilotfirmen kommen zu Wort 39

No description available.

Titel: Balanserade styrkort i små och medelstora företag - Styrkor, svagheter, fallgropar och framgångsfaktorer Forskningsfrågor:  - Hur kan balanserade styrkort tillämpas i små och medelstora företagi Sverige? - Vilka är det balanserade styrkortets främsta styrkor och svagheter i små och medelstora företag? - Vilka faktorer kan vara avgörande för det balanserade styrkortets framgång i små och medelstora företag? Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och förstå hur balanserade styrkort framgångsrikt kan tillämpas i små och medelstora företag i Sverige. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en abduktiv forskningsansats. Vidare har en kvalitativ och interpretativ studie genomförts genom djupgående intervjuer med konsulter, användare och forskare.  Slutsats: Resultatet av studien visar att det balanserade styrkortet är lämpligt för alla organisationer men att tolkning och tillämpning skiljer sig stort. Det balanserade styrkortet kan med fördel anpassas efter det enskilda företaget. Konceptets styrkor är att det stimulerar diskussion, enar ledningsgruppen och konkretiserar mål vilket kan skapa en större förståelse för verksamheten. Konceptets svagheter är att det kan upplevas som komplext och att det är tidskrävande. Avgörande för styrkortets framgång är att det finns en tydlig strategikoppling och att strategin följs upp och omprövas regelbundet. Förståelse, stöd och acceptans från både ledning och övriga anställda samt att inte inkludera för många nyckeltal är också viktiga framgångsfaktorer. / Title: Balanced scorecards in small and medium-sized enterprises – Strengths, weaknesses, pitfalls and success factors Research questions: - How can balanced scorecards be implemented in small and medium-sized enterprises? - What are the strenghts and weaknesses associated with the balanced scorecard in small and medium-sized enterprises? - Which factors could be critical for the success of the balanced scorecard in small and medium-sized enterprises? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and understand how balanced scorecards can be successfully implemented in small and medium-sized businesses in Sweden. Method: The study has been performed using an abductive approach. Furthermore, a qualitative and interpretative study has been performed by in-depth interviews with consultants, users and a researcher. Conclusion: The results of the study shows that the balanced scorecard is suitable for all types of organisations but also that the interpretation and implementation can vary alot. The balanced scorecard can and should be adapted to the individual company. The strenghts of the concept includes that it can stimulate conversation, unite the management team and concretize the goals which in turn can create a better understanding of the business. The weaknesses of the concept is that it can be seen as complex and time consuming. A clear connection to the strategy and follow-up and reassesment of the strategy on a regular basis are important factors for the success of the balanced scorecard. Understandning, support and acceptance from both the management and other employees as well as a limited set of measures are also important for the success of the balanced scorecard in small and medium-sized enterprises.