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Business leaders in Nigeria are concerned about the high rates of business failure and economic loss from security incidents and may not understand strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats on business performance. Guided by general systems theory and transformational leadership theory, the focus of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders use to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 SME leaders who worked in SME firms that support oil and gas industry sector in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, had a minimum of 2 years experience in a leadership role, and had demonstrable strategies for minimizing the effects of information security threats in a SME. The thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed 10 strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats: network security, physical security, strong password policy, antivirus protection and software update, information security policy, security education training and awareness, network security monitoring and audit, intrusion detection, data backup, and people management. The findings may contribute to social change by providing SME leaders with more insight about strategies to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. The improved business performance can increase the flow of funds into the local economy and allow community leaders to provide social services to residents.

My dissertation thesis deals with new non-financial causes of bankruptcies of small and medium-sized enterprises. The origin of the idea is based on considerations of leading experts on Czech insolvency law, who believe that the financial tightness, which leads to bankruptcy, is necessarily preceded by anomalies in non-financial areas. Research questions for confirming appointed hypotheses have been addressed directly to bankruptcy managers, insolvency administrators and owners of the South Moravia region companies, which have become insolvent. Innovations and consistent attitude towards them, the number of members and their function in the management of the enterprise, employees who are familiar with the visions and plans of business and outsourcing are defined as key areas for the function of a small and medium enterprise. My dissertation thesis offers a rapid test in corporate health with regard to the hypothesis identified in a particular company ond it offers a detection whether the company is healthy, immunocompromised or sick. The thesis also offers the following use of recommended remedies.

Strategy involvement of boards in small and medium-sized businesses has not been given adequate focus in contemporary research. The main concern has been on exploring the phenomenon in large corporations, which means that the field remains fairly unexplored. The purpose of this study is two folded. Firstly we want to understand what obstacles boards of small and medium-sized businesses face for strategy involvement. Secondly we want to generate new insights and knowledge about how these obstacles can be tackled. In order to accomplish these goals we assume the following two research questions: Research Question 1: Are there any obstacles in the way for strategy involvement of boards in small and medium-sized businesses? Research Question 2: What solutions are there to overcome these obstacles for strategy involvement of boards in small and medium-sized businesses? The first question aims to explore and map potential obstacles for strategy involvement, whereas the second question addresses potential solutions. By utilizing a qualitative approach and interviews we want to better understand the context. Our goal of using this method was to reveal motives and opinions to get a better understanding of how small and medium-sized businesses deal with strategy issues. The participants held various positions within small and medium-sized businesses in Sweden. CEOs, directors and busy directors participated in semi-structured interviews. This study is based upon two frameworks. Firstly we constructed an obstacle framework consisting of five obstacles derived from existing literature. Secondly we made a solution framework, which includes potential solutions connected to the obstacles, also derived from contemporary research. These two frameworks were then used to see what opinions our participants held about them. The data were analyzed by performing a thematic analysis. The idea of using this technique was to identify themes participants held in common. We found some patterns among the respondents which led us to revise both of the frameworks. The main finding of this study is that the presence of a board role conflict seems to be very limited in the context of small and medium-sized businesses. We furthermore found that there are differences in how to solve obstacles in regards to firm size. Two of the suggested solution in existing literature was found to be irrelevant for small and medium-sized businesses. Namely that it is not necessary to get CEOs to embrace strategy involvement, and stopping CEOs from handing over deceiving information is not solved by changing incentives. We also found patterns of two new solutions which were added in the revised solution framework. The first solution involves having regular strategy sessions and meetings. The second solution suggests that it can be advantageous to replace directors uncommitted to strategizing.

Små och medelstora företag är betydelsefulla för en växande ekonomi och utgör 99 % av samtliga företag i Sverige. Nya idéer och innovationer skapas ofta av småföretag som växer snabbt vilket ger incitament till att skapa en miljö som bidrar till att små och medelstora företag kan driva, innovera och skapa nödvändiga jobb. Små och medelstora företag spelar därför en betydande roll för sysselsättningen och ekonomin som helhet vilket gör studier på detta område relevant. Små och medelstora företag står inför ett flertal svårigheter jämfört med större företag. En faktor som påverkar företagens möjlighet till att växa är en begränsad tillgång till finansiering. Större företag är mer benägna att låna pengar vilket också denresursbaserade teorin förutspår. Tillgång till finansiering kan ses som en konkurrensfördel och leder till fler investeringar vilket stimulerar tillväxten och därmed sysselsättningen.Resursbaserade teorin utgår från konkurrenskraftiga resurser hos företag och kommer att i denna studie att användas till att identifiera företagsspecifika faktorer som på något sätt kan förklara sysselsättningen hos små och medelstora företag. Studien inriktar sig på hotellbranschen med restaurangverksamhet på den svenska marknaden. I uppsatsen undersöksdet hur skuldsättningsgraden, tillväxten, storleken, ålder och fördröjd variabel av antal anställda påverkar antalet anställda. Studien baseras på en kvantitativ undersökning med deduktivt angreppssätt över tidsperioden 2008 till 2016. Resultatet redovisas i en univariat analys i form av deskriptiv statistik, bivariat analys bestående av en korrelationsanalys samt en multivariat analys i form av en regressionsanalys. Det empiriska resultatet indikerar på att större företag med högre skuldsättningsgrad är mer benägna att anställda fler. En slutsats är att tillgången till ekonomiska resurser ger företagen konkurrensfördelar, fler möjligheter att överleva, tillväxt och ökad efterfråga på arbetskraft. / Small and medium-sized enterprise are important for a growing economy and make up 99% of all companies in Sweden. New ideas and innovations are often created by small businesses that grow fast, which gives incentives to create a platform that helps small and medium-sized enterprises drive, innovate and create necessary jobs. Small and medium-sized enterprisestherefore play a significant role in employment and the economy as a whole, which makes studies in this area relevant. The companies face a number of difficulties compared with larger companies. A factor that affect small and medium-sized enterprises ability to grow is a limited access to funding. Larger companies are more likely to borrow money, which also predicts the resource-based theory. Access to finance can be seen as a competitive advantageand leads to more investment, stimulating growth and hence employment.Based on the resource-based theory of competitiveness of a company, this study will be used to identify company specific factors that in some way can explain the employment of small and medium-sized enterprises. The study focuses on the hotel industry with restaurant activities in the Swedish market. The paper examines how debt, growth, size, age and lagged variable of the number of employees affects the number of employees. The study is based ona quantitative study with a deductive approach over the period 2008 to 2016. The result is presented in a univariate analysis in the form of descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis consisting of a correlation analysis and a multivariate analysis in the form of a regression analysis. The empirical result indicates that larger companies with higher debt ratios are more likely to employ more. One conclusion is that access to financial resources gives businesses competitive advantages, more opportunities for survival, growth and increased demand for labor.

Today’s companies are struggling with the competitive environment driven by resource scarcity, technical progress and market demand for increased value and flexibility. For these reasons companies are shifting their focus from selling products to selling need fulfillment. The result-oriented product-service (PSS) is a PSS type that provides value mainly through delivery of services with the premise of the producer taking responsibility over the entire product life cycle. It is highlighted in the literature as a business strategy to generate a high profit and stable the revenue. Despite the new market opportunities related to the provision of PSS, it inherently comes with complexity linked to the extended responsibility. More importantly, very little is mentioned in the PSS literature regarding real case PSS development and how service-oriented PSS contracting impacts Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The objective of this thesis is to examine how result-oriented PSS can create new opportunities for SMEs. It is targeting to explore this topic from a cost and value creation perspective for both the company and customer. To achieve the objective a main research question is stated which answer is given by answering the two sub questions as below. How can a result-oriented product-service system be implemented in small and medium-sized enterprises? 1. What result-oriented PSS solution can be designed for the recycling equipment industry to increase the value for both the manufacturer and the customer? 2. What are the financial implications of a result-oriented PSS? To explore answers for the research questions, a case study inquiry is carried out on MRT (Mercury Recovery Technology) System International AB. It is a small international recycling equipment manufacturer in Karlskrona. A PSS development process resulting in a new concept referred to as “Pay per screen” is developed. The development and analysis of the result-oriented PSS shows that it is more profitable for the company to offer the proposed Pay per screen concept compared to the current product- oriented business. Even the customer has proven to be profitable while providing several advantages such as avoid being responsible for initial investment and maintenance costs. / Dagens företag kämpar med att hantera den konkurrenskraftiga miljön som drivs av resursbrist, teknisk utveckling och efterfrågan av ökat värde och flexibilitet. Av dessa skäl byter företagen fokus från att sälja produkter till att uppfylla behov. Det resultatorienterade produkttjänstesystemet (PSS) är en sorts PSS som ger värde huvudsakligen genom att leverera tjänster med förutsättningen att producenten tar ansvar över hela produktens livscykel. Den framträder i litteraturen som en ny strategisk affärsstrategi som genererar en hög vinst och stabiliserar inkomstflödet. Trots de nya marknadsmöjligheterna i samband med tillhandahållandet av PSS följer komplexitet med det utökade ansvaret. Dessutom nämns mycket lite i PSS-litteraturen om PSS-utveckling i ett verklighetsbaserat fall och hur tjänsteorienterad PSS-koncept påverkar små och medelstora företag. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur resultatorienterade produkttjänstesystem kan skapa nya möjligheter för små och medelstora företag. Det riktar sig till att utforska detta ämne ur ett kostnads- och värdeskapande perspektiv för både företaget och kunden. För att uppnå målet anges en huvudforskningsfråga vilket delvis svaras genom att svara på de två delfrågorna nedan. Hur kan ett resultatorienterat produktservice system genomföras i små och medelstora företag? 1. Vilken resultatorienterad PSS-lösning kan utformas för återvinningsindustrin för att öka värdet för både tillverkaren och kunden? 2. Vilka är de ekonomiska konsekvenserna av ett resultatorienterat PSS? För att utforska svaren på forskningsfrågorna utförs en fallstudie på MRT (Mercury Recovery Technology) System International AB. Det är en liten internationell tillverkare av återvinningsutrustning i Karlskrona. En PSS-utvecklingsprocess som resulterar i ett nytt koncept som kallas "Pay per screen" är utvecklat. Utvecklingen och analysen av resultatorienterad PSS visar att det är mer lönsamt för företaget att erbjuda det föreslagna Pay per screen konceptet. För även kunden har det visat sig vara lönsamt samtidigt som ger en rad fördelar så som att slippa ansvara för investerings- och underhållskostnader.

I Sverige är 99.9 % av alla företag SME-företag. I dagens samhälle har förändrade förutsättningar och globala marknader ändrat kundkraven på exempelvis ledtid. Svenska tillverkande SME-företag kräver således ett sätt att anpassa sin produktion till dessa förändrade förutsättningar. VSM är en metod där current- och future-state mappas för att tydliggöra hur produktionen ser ut idag och hur det ska se ut imorgon. Det påvisas dock i tidigare studier att det finns hinder med VSM som motverkar framtagning av FSM. Det ska dock noteras att merparten av de studier som tidigare utförts har gjorts vid utländska företag eller företag större än SME. Dessa studier har dessutom genomförts i syfte att observera VSM i helhet och de fördelar som metoden har, eller undersöka vissa få hinder. Syftet med arbetet är därför att undersöka vilka hinder som kan försvåra för svenska SME-företag att designa future-state värdeflödeskartor som är lämpliga sett till deras verksamhet. Detta för att bättre möjliggöra för VSM implementation hos dessa företag. Detta har utförts genom att jämföra tidigare litteratur med en fallstudie på ett svenskttillverkande SME-företag inom metallindustrin och undersöka de mönster i hindren som observerats. Resultatet av arbetet var en modell av hinder som kan komma att försvåra försvenska SME-företag att designa future-state värdeflödeskartor som är lämpliga sett till deras verksamhet. Från denna modell tydliggörs ett stor överlapp mellan det empiriska resultatet och resultatet från tidigare studier. Ett hinder från tidigare litteratur motbevisas även och exkluderas från modellen. Detta medför att framtida utövare på svenska tillverkande SME-företag aktivt kan göra sig medvetna om de hinder som de kan tänkas stöta på samt vad dessa kan ha för påverkan på deras FSM, och genom detta förbereda sig för att möta dessa hinder. Framtida studier skulle kunna undersöka hinder vid användning av VSM-metoden på flera olika svenska tillverkande SME-företag och således skapa en bredare bild av hinder med VSM för framställning av en FSM / In Sweden, 99.9% of all companies are SMEs. In today's society, changing conditions and global markets have altered customer requirements, such as lead time. Therefore, Swedish manufacturing SMEs require a way to adapt their production to these changing conditions. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is one such method that maps the current and future states to clarify how production looks today and how it should look tomorrow. However, previous studies have shown that there are obstacles with VSM that hinder the development of Future State Maps (FSMs). It should be noted that the majority of previous studies have been conducted in foreign or larger-than-SME companies. These studies have also been carried out to observe the entirety of VSM and its benefits or to investigate a few specific obstacles. The purpose of this study is to examine the obstacles that may hinder Swedish SMEs from designing future-state value stream maps suitable for their operations, in order to better enable VSM implementation in these companies. This has been accomplished by comparing previous literature with a case study conducted at a Swedish manufacturing SME in the metal industry and examining the patterns observed in the obstacles. The result of this work was a model of obstacles that may hinder Swedish SMEs from designing future-state value stream maps suitable for their operations. This table clearly shows a significant overlap between the empirical findings and the results from previous studies. Additionally, one obstacle from previous literature is contradicted. As a result, future practitioners in Swedish manufacturing SMEs can actively become aware ofthe obstacles they may encounter and understand their impact on their FSMs, thereby preparing to address these obstacles. Future studies could investigate obstacles in the use of the VSM method in several different Swedish manufacturing SMEs to create a broader understanding of obstacles with VSM for the development of an FSM.

Single use plastic products (SUPs) are a primary cause of plastic pollution causing significant environmental harm. These products have little to no value after use and are challenging to recycle cost efficiently. In a bid to combat this issue and foster circular economy, the European Union has declared a series of directives to gradually phase out SUPs as a strategy to eliminate these disposables from the market. This approach allows the market time to discover alternative solutions to replace SUPs, promoting the adoption of reusable products. To make a sustainable system of reusable products feasible and profitable, the key lies in devising a business model designed for a circular strategy of repeated use of goods. One effective approach involves establishing a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) which entails the entire life cycle of a product, from sourcing raw materials, through manufacturing, utilisation, collection, reverse logistics and recycling. The purpose of this study was to develop a CLSC system for reusable plastic products between a plastic producing small or medium sized enterprise (SME) and an incumbent firm customer to attain a smooth transition from linear to circular economy. Employing an inductive approach, this case study considered the EU-directives as observational data, the change of business model as the result, and a general recommendation as the rule. The research method encompassed conducted interviews, mathematical prototyping, product design, and life cycle analysis, using various tools and methods in the process. Two case companies were involved: one large incumbent firm and one plastic producing SME. The aim was to design a circular business model (CBM) to capture the value of the collaboration between these two companies. After an analysation of the current situation, the main obstacles to a successful transition were identified. A comprehensive solution was developed, including a network of partners for the CLSC, a reusable product design, and the necessary implementation calculations. The finalised business model was anchored in the principles of the CLSC, the product design specifications and the calculations that determined the system’s viability. Implementation of the CBM would yield economic advantages for both stakeholders, as well as an improved green image factor and advancement in circular economy. Furthermore, this transition would cultivate valuable and lasting business relationships for both companies. These case findings harmonise with established theories which emphasise the significance of business models that are dependent on collaboration and long-term strategic planning. Lastly, they also underscore that value is created in product utilisation and not ownership.

<p dir="ltr">Small and medium enterprises generally employ the use of custom developed quoting programs to bid on goods and services. Custom bid programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel) are used to capture the company-specific costs of production. The inputs of variable costs, such as machine rate and scrap rate, are critical to get correct (Brassington & Pettitt, 2013); however, companies often rely on educated guesses and industry expertise to quote packaging products to end-users. Due to the guesswork involved there can be a financial difference between the quoted costs and actual costs. This variance is often the cause of significant lost dollars. Price, if not determined correctly, could negatively impact both the company’s and the product’s profitability (Helna, 2020). Predictive analytics can be used to support quoting activities by providing a future value based on previous job performance. The purpose of the present study is to identify whether predictive analytics can be used to predict machine rate and scrap rate to give more accuracy to quoting estimation.</p>

The pharmaceutical sector is important for human health due to the increasing demand for medical products but is also a pollution and waste intensive industry. There is an urgent need for the industry to review its environmental footprints and simultaneously consider the industrial transformation called Industry 4.0. This is especially true for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). To achieve these objectives, it is presumed that artificial intelligence (AI) will have an important role.  This thesis sets out to identify barriers that pharmaceutical SMEs may encounter when implementing AI to improve environmental efforts. Furthermore, due to the lack of efficient tools the Green Performance Map is analyzed to see if additional value in the design phase and running of a production system can be obtained. Semi-structured interviews were conducted as this thesis is a case study and follows an inductive process. Other qualitative data and literature were used to investigate the research questions. The results indicate that organizational, resource, regulatory and knowledge specific factors can create barriers. Furthermore, there are indications that the Green Performance Map will be useful in both the design phase and running of a production system, this is however dependent on the resources. / Läkemedelssektorn är viktig för människans hälsa på grund av den ökade efterfrågan av medicinska produkter men bidrar även till stora mängder avfall och föroreningar. Det finns ett akut behov att industrin granskar sina miljöavtryck och samtidigt överväger den industriella omvandlingen som kallas Industri 4.0. Detta gäller särskilt för små och medelstora företag. För att uppnå dessa mål kan Artificiell Intelligens (AI) komma att ha en betydelsefull roll.  Detta examensarbete syftar till att identifiera de hinder som små och medelstora läkemedelsföretag kan stöta på när de implementerar AI för att förbättra sitt miljöarbete. På grund av brist på effektiva verktyg analyseras dessutom Green Performance Map för att se om ett mervärde i designfasen och under driften av produktionssystemet kan erhållas. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes då examensarbetet är en fallstudie och följer en induktiv process. Kvalitativa data och litteratur användes för att undersöka forskningsfrågorna. Resultatet indikerar att organisatoriska, resurs-, reglerings- och kunskapsspecifika faktorer kan skapa barriärer. Dessutom, finns det indikatorer på att Green Performance Map kommer vara användbart både i designfasen och när produktionssystemet är i drift, detta är dock beroende på nivån av resurser.