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The aim of this master’s paper is to identify the optimal joint stock company “Zokniai” development alternative with orientation to European regional development fund‘s (ERDF) support for small and medium size business. Two scientific approaches towards SME‘s support were identified in the final paper. ERDF requirements for SME‘s and their projects are analysed. Three alternatives of enterprise activity are analysed using financial and economical indicators. The need for ERDF‘s support for JSC „Zokniai“ is grounded by the comparative analysis of investments alternatives. It is recommended to use described and practically used methods and indicators in order to ground ERDF‘s support for JSC „Zokniai“ and other small and medium size enterprises.

At the beginning of the 21st century it becomes more obvious that the established free market economics systems, even nowadays perceived as universal models, collide with the ecological boundaries imposed by the Earth’s biosphere. Protection of the living environment is also the topic of this thesis. This doctoral thesis presents the research results of investments made to protect the natural environment. The work focuses on the Czech Republic-based manufacturing industry. The doctoral thesis covers the following objectives: • Czech legislation and related information of the living environment protection are processed, confronted and evaluated in the analytical part of the work. This part also features a description of used Macro-economical approaches followed by an evaluation of externality quantification. The work even describes new trends in the implementation of Environmental Managerial Systems. This part presents basic procedures to assess the manufacturers’ environment protection investments. Strong and weak aspects of specific approaches are emphasized. • The environmental investments evaluation methods for the selected manufacturing companies are identified in the practical part of the doctoral thesis based on the primary data sources supported qualified research. Suitable criteria-meeting rating methods are selected, based on the statistical evaluation of multi factorial analysis. Furthermore, the work evaluates the influence and significance of environment protecting investments on the corporate goals. The final part of the work features a critical review of the discovered facts with suggested advanced procedures for the environmental protection investments evaluation.

The aim of this research was to discover the issues influencing the adoption of e-commerce by small and medium business enterprises (SMEs) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The demand aspect of the theory of diffusion of innovation enabled the formulation of a number of research propositions which formed the focus for this research. Seventy-five randomly-selected SMEs within the ACT were interviewed. Of these seventy five, fifty had adopted e-commerce and twenty-five had not. Findings complemented results from other studies, but also added to them. Factors from the demand aspect of the theory of time, resources (personnel, financial, technological), business organisation, size, return on investment, push by outside agencies or clients, and communication channels were found to be of little importance. Of greater importance were characteristics of the SME operators themselves (such as their innovativeness, their relative youth and educational level), the size of their business, the number of years it had been operating, and marketing issues. A prime consideration was that of attaining and maintaining a competitive edge over their competitors. Security and privacy issues were of little consideration prior to the adoption process, but became of much greater importance once SMEs had adopted e-commerce. Some things discovered by this research that have not appeared in the reporting of other studies included: � The importance of tertiary education for the primary decision-makers in the organisation; � The role banks played in the adoption process; � The high cost and difficulty of compliance with government regulations, especially regarding the employment of staff; and � The lack of use of specifically established communication channels, set up by government bodies or associated industry organisations to educate and inform SMEs about the potential and process of e-commerce. Results of this research have implications for a large number of associated stakeholders � government, educational institutions, and trade, industry and professional associations � and as such deserve to be widely disseminated.

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This thesis focuses on the development of commercial opportunities and public services in the town of Strakonice. The main aim was to carry out marketing research of people and businesses of the city, leading the interviews with the mayor and city project manager. The last part was a SWOT analysis and then selected the circumstances and opportunities in selected areas of development.

Presented thesis aims at possibilities of implementation of the ITIL best practice at small and medium businesses. The main target is to prove that this methodology can be used not only in big companies, but also in small and medium business sector. First part defines the conception of small and medium business and its specificity. It is concerned with basic definitions, which are used in the main text, such as a service, process, best practice etc. It also demostrates the need of managing IT and some ways how to do it. The second part dwell on ITIL itself, it describes its characteristics, history, it also discusses purpose and content of each ITIL book with emphasis on service operation books. The third part is about deployment of ITIL in SMB, conditions and process of implementation and it proposes some essential processes for small and medium business IT. Also it defines benefits of deployment of ITIL, its limitations and barriers. The final part is concerned about Incident Management implementation in a particular company, it describes the state before and after the implementation. It describes software support tool for this process, its possibilities and costs. At the end of this part an employee survey demonstrates the benefits of the Incident Management process and the SW support tool. It shows resulting improvement of IT support perception among the management and employees of the company.

The aim of this master's thesis is to created a business plan for a new project in area of retro furnishings. The thesis consists of two sections. The first being a theoretical part contains general principles and recommendations for compiling a business plan, deals with its structure and analyzes the individual points.In the practical part is created a business plan for the project. The structure and concent is based on the theoretical part. Among other things, the plan is focused mainly on the target market, marketing stratégy and financial plan. Main user of the business plan is the author of the thesis, which it will use for the project.

Diploma thesis aim small and medium business and how to improve real small business. Theoretical part investigates SME´s unique characters and specially influence SME in economic system, developement of business plan.Second part analyse small business and aspects of carry on stagnation small business.

As Micro, Pequenas e Médias empresas, MPME, são responsáveis por em torno de 30% do PIB e por mais da metade dos trabalhos formais no Brasil, tamanha importância aponta a crescente necessidade de pesquisas que suportem o seu desenvolvimento e amadurecimento. Neste contexto, esta tese teve como foco as MPMEs, procurando responder quais são as práticas de gestão que mais impactam na lucratividade, bem como a associação destas práticas de gestão ao porte. As práticas de gestão foram concebidas a partir da cadeia de valor, formando-se nove dimensões: Estratégia, Estrategista, Gestão de Pessoas, Gestão de Valor, Gestão Financeira, Gestão de Operações, Mercadológico, Sistemas de Informação e Governança. Para a construção do instrumento de coleta de dados utilizou-se as referencias conceituais apontadas ao longo do referencial teórico. Dessa forma, montou-se um questionário com 204 perguntas, sendo 160 ligadas diretamente à representação destas práticas e mais 44 que suportaram o alcance do objetivo proposto. Por conseguinte, obteve-se um instrumento robusto para ser respondido em 60 minutos. Foi formada uma amostra de 197 empresas respondentes de diversos setores da economia, sendo 91 micro, 65 pequenas e 37 médias. Para a análise destas respostas utilizou-se a metodologia quantitativa exploratória, uma vez que a amostra foi não-probabilística por conveniência. Foram utilizadas diversas técnicas estatísticas através do software SPSS. Primeiramente foi verificada a associação entre cada uma das 160 variáveis e a lucratividade através dos testes Qui-quadradado e Kendall. Como resultado foram identificadas 32 variáveis com associação positiva e significativa e mais 8 variáveis com associação positiva. Com base nestas variáveis foi aplicada a análise CATPCA que resultou em 9 dimensões, as quais foram submetidas à correlação de Spearman e à regressão múltipla. Estas análises forneceram fortes evidências sobre a correlação direta entre a adoção de práticas de gestão e a lucratividade e o porte. Para possibilitar a identificação de grupos similares dentro da amostra foi utilizada a análise de cluster, a qual possibilitou comparar grupos com diferentes graus de adoção e diferentes lucratividades. Verificou-se a existência de um cluster no qual mais práticas de gestão levam a maior lucratividade, bem como outro que apresentou menores práticas de gestão e menores lucratividades. Como contribuição à gestão das MPMEs foram levantadas algumas evidências através do gráfico de regressão e das disposições das empresas no gráfico. Foram apresentadas quais práticas de gestão são adotadas por empresas com maior lucratividade e estas foram comparadas a empresas do mesmo porte e mesmo setor com menor lucratividade, possibilitando recomendações para a adoção de certas práticas administrativas. Espera-se contribuir para que os dirigentes de MPMEs vejam seus negócios como empresas que podem evoluir através de técnicas de gestão e analisem a sua possibilidade de adoção, pois como apresentado no presente estudo a associação foi positiva em ambos os casos, com lucratividade e com porte. / The Micro, Small and Medium business, MSMBs account around 30 % of GPD and more than 50% of formal jobs in Brazil, such importance underscores a growing need for research to support its development and maturation. In this context, this study focused on MSMBs by seeking the management practices that most impact the profitability and how it is associated of the size management. Management practices are designed from the value chain, in nine dimensions: Strategy, Strategist, People Management, Management Value, Financial Management, Management Operations, Marketing, Systems Information and Governance. To build the data collection was used the conceptual references cited throughout the theoretical framework. Therefore, a questionnaire with 204 questions, including 160 questions directly related to the representation of these practices and 44 questions which bore the scope of the proposed objective. Consequently, there was obtained a robust questionnare to be answered in 60 minutes. Was coleted a sample of 197 respondents companies from various sectors of the economy, with 91 micro, 65 small and 37 medium busness. For analysis of these responses was used exploratory quantitative method, since the sample was non- probabilistic. Statistical techniques were used by SPSS software. First, was analysed an association between each of the 160 variables and the profitability through the Chi-square and Kendall tests. As a result were identified 32 variables with positive and significant association and 8 more variables with positive association. Based on these variables was applied to CATPCA analysis that resulted in 9 dimensions, which were submitted to Spearman correlation and multiple regression. These analyzes provide strong evidence about the direct correlation between the adoption of management practices and profitability and the size. To identify similar groups was used cluster analysis, which enabled comparing groups with different degrees of adoption and different profitability. Was noted the existence of a cluster in which more management practices lead to higher profitability, as well as other cluster who had lower management practices and smaller profitabilities. As a contribution to the management of MSMBs have been raised through the evidence regression graph and the provisions of the companies in the chart. Which management practices were presented are adopted by the most profitable and these were compared to companies of similar size and same industry with lower profitability, providing recommendations for the adoption of certain maneger practices. It is expected to contribute to the MSMBs leaders to see their business as companies that can evolve through management techniques and analyze their possible use, because as shown in this study, the association was positive in both cases, as profitability and size.