After entering WTO, Taiwan faces the challenges of globalization. At the same time, migration of manufacturing industries to mainland China seems to be an endless trend. To avoid failure, firms have to make constant changes, expand their sizes, and seek strategies for sustaining profit growth under the severe competitive environment of today¡¦s global markets. To maintain competitive advantages, small and medium enterprise have to leverage their resources and competences for sustainable profitability and growth by careful strategies formulation. The diversification processes to expand a firm¡¦s size and business fields are related to its competence and its efficiency of leveraging resources. This research is about the relationship between resources based view and diversifying strategies. Based on the diversification process of company L, we explore the strategies for the case company by considering changes in industry environment and the company¡¦s conditions ,with the evaluation of the company¡¦s competence and resources. The findings are: 1. The fields of new businesses for diversification of a company are restrained by their existing resources. 2.The diversification will be more likely to success, if the products to be carried in the new business are highly connected to the company¡¦s current customers. 3.The new business will eventually need new resources ,which will be accumulated and become one of the firm¡¦s important resources.

Most enterprises in the United Arab Emirates are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); some owners of these enterprises lack the knowledge of branding strategies to succeed financially. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore branding strategies used by owners of some successful service SMEs. Krake's funnel model for the role of brand management in SMEs was the conceptual framework used in the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of 6 owners of medium-sized service enterprises who used branding strategies to improve the financial performance of their companies, and a review of company documents and company websites. Data analysis was conducted using the principles of the content analysis method, which included identifying codes and themes. Findings indicated owners of SMEs should be the personification of their brand, must do internal branding, should use the Internet and social media for marketing and branding, and should use innovative marketing strategies to promote their brand. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential for owners of SMEs, who successfully implement branding strategies, to participate in the social causes started by the local governments for the welfare of people and communities.

Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) have contributed significantly to the economic growth of Hong Kong and it is worth investigating how they prosper. This study was based on an examination of a sample of SMEs in the logistics industry operating during the economic crisis in Hong Kong. The factors influencing the growth of small firms are many, complex and erratic. The primary objective of this study was to test the determinants of SME growth. The research question addressed was how and to what extent the characteristics of the owner-manger, the nature of the firm, and company strategy, together with the economic and government factors, impact upon the growth of small business. This study was conducted in 2004, based on a survey of 102 SMEs within the logistics industry in Hong Kong SAR. By studying the factors contributing to the growth of SMEs, this research investigated and analyzed the characteristics of SMEs which were at least three years old during of the period 1998 - 2003. The appropriateness and the support of the determinants that affect SME growth were empirically analysed. The research design was quantitative in nature, testing various hypotheses and theories about the associations between perceived constructs. Outcomes were then compared with factual indicator data, subjected to multiple regression analysis and co-efficiency analysis. The results of the regression analysis showed no tremendous incongruity compared to research conducted in previous studies, although there were some factors associated significantly and some factors associated positively but insignificantly with firm growth. Even though some findings appeared to be inconsistent with previous studies, the preoccupation of researchers and policy-makers worldwide with matters relating to SME growth was recognized. / These empirical findings provide evidence that owner-managers may adopt different managerial styles and strategies as a consequence of the amount of growth desired, and the amount of risk they are willing to assume. Of the four main factors identified as influencing the growth of small firms - the characteristics of the owner-manager, the nature of the firm itself, the business strategies adopted, and the external factors concerned - all these four components need to be combined appropriately for growth to be achieved. This means that it is very difficult to identify whether or not a firm will be a success or a failure. The significances of these factors and their impacts have been addressed and reported in the study. Recommendations are made for business practitioners who are still trading, distinguishing between businesses with high and low growth expectations. Owner-managers are encouraged to acquire better management skills and qualifications to improve their managerial capabilities and experience. Appropriate strategic planning, technology advancement, education, training and government support are recommended for improving growth performance. In recognition of the need to improve small business growth, these research findings reveal that some of the factors considered important to success in Hong Kong small businesses are unique to the Hong Kong business environment. In this sense, the findings provide good references for scholars and policy-makers to design policies and provide assistance that are appropriate for use particularly in Hong Kong. Future research directions have been discussed and managerial implications for both practitioners and researchers have been suggested.

Along the irreversible trend of globalization, the market competition is getting even more rigorous around the world. Meanwhile, the dynamic revolution of management concept has brought unprecedented challenges for small and medium enterprises. However, amid the era of pandemic internet and smart phone, when small and medium enterprises can utilize the strength of organizational team work, the potential of a greater leaping growth is nevertheless more substantial than the past. As a result, it is even more vital for the small and medium enterprises to consider how to success under the limited resources, pursuing a clear vision, establish a sound company culture, execute a comprehensive management system, to achieve the ultimate goal of maintaining the spring of stamina as countermeasure for ever changing environment. The objective of this study is to investigate the corporate development background of Y company; dissect key successful factors within Y company, while focused primarily on practical experience of incorporating visions and balanced score card as subjects for this research. This study has observed that most companies and institutions failed to successfully implement the establishment of vision and execution of strategies. Primary parameters for such futile endings are usually due to the inconsistency of strategies with regard to communication of strategy, performance assessment, and incentive remunerations. Using balanced score card, managers of small and medium enterprises can develop future direction, substantiate the vision and strategy, and achieve corporate and personal goals. Due to the scale of small and medium enterprises, usually they are relatively more conservative and practical while incorporate new policy, which is likely not to put vast amount of cash and time in vain. Small and medium enterprises can take advantage of strategic transformation via balanced score card to readjust the short term goal and long term development strategy; in order to elevate the competitiveness and commitment of a sustainable business. The approaches for such transformation are : 1. Identify and interpretation of vision and strategy; 2. Assessment, communication and integration of strategic goals and appraisals, set up key performance index; 3. Lay out policies and action plans; 4. Audit the performance, enhance strategic feedback, embrace remediation plans and continuous learning.

Nowdays the exhibition business and whole economics are attacked by the impacts of world-wide crisis. The organizers of exhibitions and trade fairs are afraid of massive decrease in exhibitors interest info taking part at these shows. Is it really important to realize that these shows offer a quality presentation of wide assortment and companies from current branch at one place and at the same time. This fact cause that exhibitions or trade fairs are often more effective than any grandiose marketing campaign.

South Africa is listed among the world's top ten countries with the highest unemployment levels (World Bank, 2018). The National Development Plan (2013) envisioned that by 2030, 90% of new jobs in the country will be created by small and growing enterprises. Worryingly however, South Africa lags in meeting its target for job creation as set out in the National Development Plan despite some effort made by the government to promote and grow small businesses. Globally small and medium enterprises have been acknowledged for their key role in driving economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation. Despite this important role, South Africa still has one of the highest small and medium enterprise (SME) failure rates in the world (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2014). To circumvent this challenge, the South African government established development strategies including the notable Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) to drive the growth and expansion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). BBBEE is intended to drive enterprise and supplier development (ESD) and improve the development and long-term growth of SMEs. Notably, large private corporations in South Africa have made significant investments in ESD; however many SMEs fail to survive past three years. This study therefore investigates the extent to which integration into a large corporate value chain promotes the sustainability of a SME. The study also examines the impediments that inhibit the growth of SMEs that are integrated in large corporate value chains. The research was conducted using an explanatory qualitative methodology. Five SME owners and six large corporate managers were interviewed to assess their perspectives and opinions on the SME-Corporate relationship. The research results concluded that corporate initiatives on ESD are of a significant benefit to SME growth, however challenges such as negative corporate perception and access to external funding remain a hindrance to SME growth. The study proposed recommendations to improve the successful integration of SMEs into corporate value chains.

Micro-finance institutions are leading a revolution in the financial sector, particularly in banking. This provides a renewed focus on the way financial credit is provided to the marginalised society of the developing countries. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, small and medium enterprises constitute almost 80% of the entrepreneurial population. There is therefore, considerable urgency to advance the performance and competitiveness of these small and medium enterprises. The aim of this study is to establish the effect of micro-finance institutions, on the performance of small and medium enterprises in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Literature reviewed for this study provided insights into the effects of micro-finance institutions on the performance of small and medium enterprises that accessed micro-loans. This study comprises of 77 small and medium entrepreneurs that participated in the empirical research. The performance of small and medium enterprises was assessed through the use of a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of statements on socio-demographics, the functioning of micro-finance institutions and the performance of small and medium enterprises. The study revealed that the largest group of respondents were male entrepreneurs, married, in the age group category of 30 to 50 years, have a household size of 1 to 5 people and have 1 to 5 years of experience in business. Entrepreneurs mostly utilized financial services such as saving accounts, money transfers and training and technology. Furthermore consulting services in the areas of leadership finance and operations were mainly received from micro-finance institutions. The study revealed that micro-finance institutions principally play the role of facilitator of growth, tool for social change, provider of banking systems and instrument for empowerment to SMEs. The two sources of financing utilized mostly by small and medium enterprises were loans from micro-finance institutions and from commercial banks. The borrowed finance was used principally to start a new business, expand an existing business and for working capital. The amounts of money borrowed from micro- loans were as follow: 5 000,00 (US $) or less, between 6 000 and 10 000,00 (US $) and 11 000,00 to 15 000, 00 (US $) The interest rates paid were from 11% to 20%, 21% to 30% and 51% and above. The collateral provided was in the form of physical assets such as a car or a house. The results of the mean score factor indicated that on average, responses for questions 14 to 19 were above 2.5 on the scale of 1 to 4. The mean score above 2.5 was the indication that respondents agreed to a larger extend to these statements. This leads to the conclusion that overall, the effect of micro-finance institutions on the performance small and medium enterprises in the Democratic Republic of Congo was positive, as proved by the mean score factor. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

O trabalho apresenta reflexões sobre a importância de um sistema de custos baseado em atividades (ABC) para a sobrevivência e desenvolvimento de pequenas e médias empresas industriais brasileiras no ambiente competitivo atual. A pesquisa possui um caráter exploratório. Através da análise das características dessas empresas, sua estrutura gerencial e a sua escassez de recursos, e dos benefícios e restrições do ABC, que é um sistema de custos adotado cada vez mais pela empresas de grande porte mas com pouca divulgação entre as pequenas e médias; são realizadas reflexões sobre a importância de um sistema de custos mais adequado as mudanças ocorridas nos últimos anos como diminuição do ciclo de vida dos produtos, aumento da diversidade dos produtos e intensificação dos investimentos em tecnologia. Mudanças que proporcionaram o aumento dos custos indiretos, que é a categoria de custos causadora de distorções no sistema de custos tradicional. / The work has exploratory character, based in bibliography research. It shows reflections about the importance of a management cost system, the Activity-Based Costing (ABC), for survival and development of Brazilian industrial small and medium enterprises in the actual competitive environment. Through the analysis of the characteristics of those companies (their managerial structure and their shortage of resources) and the benefits and restrictions of ABC (that is a cost system adopted more and more by the big sized companies but with little popularization between the small and medium ones), reflections are accomplished on the importance of a cost system more appropriate for changes happened in the last years as decrease of the cycle of life of the products, increase of the diversity of the products and intensification of the investments in technology. Changes that provided the increase of the indirect costs, the type of cost responsible for distortions in the traditional cost system.

Most owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria are inadequately prepared to perform the financial management tasks required for business sustainability. This case study, guided by institutional theory, was conducted to explore how SME owners can be prepared to implement financial management effectively for business sustainability in Edo state, Nigeria. The research question addressed the understanding of experienced SME owners regarding how they can develop necessary financial management skills for sustaining a business in Edo state. Data were collected using semistructured interview, and field notes from 15 SME owners in Edo state who had prior knowledge of, experience with, and education on financial management and had been managing an SME for at least 3 years. Through Yin's 5-step data analysis process, member checking, and triangulation, the themes that emerged were strategic accounting practice, knowledge of financial planning, hiring an accountant, record keeping, obtaining accounting education, and embracing technology and financial management software. The study findings have the potential to contribute to positive social change by indicating how SMEs can be more effective in generating employment, ensuring sustainability, and improving the standard of living.

<p>The globalization of markets is hindering the competitive position of organizations throughout the world. On one hand, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which have settled in a niche market face an escalating difficulty to defend their market share. On the other hand, increasing fragmentation of value chains throughout the world is turning many SMEs into powerless suppliers (Gammelgaard and Mathiasen, 2007). Consequently, SMEs are obliged to improve their competitiveness, and outsourcing is an effective tool to achieve that. However, its use is still not widespread throughout SMEs (Knowledge Wharton, 2004). In fact, SMEs are perceived to be stimulators of the local economies (Blackford as cited by Odaka and Hawai, 1999, p.58) and to be more attached to their local environment. The weight of emotional responses in decision making of outsourcing might be related to the low occurrence of it amongst SMEs. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand in which way the emotional factors affect the decision making of outsourcing in SMEs.The study follows a qualitative strategy with an explanatory research design. We did not only want to explore the impact of emotional factors, but understand the reasons behind it. Accordingly, we first identified the possible economic and emotional factor through the construction of the theoretical framework. This allowed us to know their individual relevance in the decision making, but unfortunately we could not obtain a coherent picture of their relationship. In order to accomplish these relations, the primary data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Six SMEs with headquarters in Umeå were interviewed and provided us with the necessary data. Consequently, our analysis unveiled the relationship between the factors that affect the decision of outsourcing - managing to fulfill the purpose of our study.Basically, our obtained results led us to the conclusion that the small or medium nature of the enterprise does not condition their emotional behavior. Therefore, we concluded that the fact that the enterprise being an SME does not imply that emotional factors have more weight in the decision making. In fact, we discovered that the emotional factor with the highest degree of influence in decision making of outsourcing in SMEs is the type of corporate culture of the business.The globalization of markets is hindering the competitive position of organizations throughout the world. On one hand, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which have settled in a niche market face an escalating difficulty to defend their market share. On the other hand, increasing fragmentation of value chains throughout the world is turning many SMEs into powerless suppliers (Gammelgaard and Mathiasen, 2007). Consequently, SMEs are obliged to improve their competitiveness, and outsourcing is an effective tool to achieve that. However, its use is still not widespread throughout SMEs (Knowledge Wharton, 2004). In fact, SMEs are perceived to be stimulators of the local economies (Blackford as cited by Odaka and Hawai, 1999, p.58) and to be more attached to their local environment. The weight of emotional responses in decision making of outsourcing might be related to the low occurrence of it amongst SMEs. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand in which way the emotional factors affect the decision making of outsourcing in SMEs.The study follows a qualitative strategy with an explanatory research design. We did not only want to explore the impact of emotional factors, but understand the reasons behind it. Accordingly, we first identified the possible economic and emotional factor through the construction of the theoretical framework. This allowed us to know their individual relevance in the decision making, but unfortunately we could not obtain a coherent picture of their relationship. In order to accomplish these relations, the primary data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Six SMEs with headquarters in Umeå were interviewed and provided us with the necessary data. Consequently, our analysis unveiled the relationship between the factors that affect the decision of outsourcing - managing to fulfill the purpose of our study.Basically, our obtained results led us to the conclusion that the small or medium nature of the enterprise does not condition their emotional behavior. Therefore, we concluded that the fact that the enterprise being an SME does not imply that emotional factors have more weight in the decision making. In fact, we discovered that the emotional factor with the highest degree of influence in decision making of outsourcing in SMEs is the type of corporate culture of the business.</p>