<p>This master thesis has been written at the School of Mathematics and System Engineering (MSI) at Växjö University in the field of computer science. IT security has become one of the main topics of every enterprise since they all use information technology in their business. Investments have to be done in order to achieve a high protection status of the IT environments. Specially small and medium-sized enterprises need more knowledge and advisory how to handle their IT security. This thesis analyses management tools that have the goal to improve the IT security. The second and main part of the thesis is the design of a tool that should helps to solve the described problems.</p>

Der Mini-Guide wendet sich an Prozess- und Qualitätsmanagementverantwortliche in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen, die eine Systematik suchen, mit einfachen Mitteln ihre Prozesse grafisch darzustellen, um in ihnen Verbesserungspotential zu erkennen. Der Modellierungsleitfaden im ersten Teil des Buches gibt dafür eine wertvolle Methodenhilfe. Die praktische Umsetzung wird mit Hilfe des Grafiktools MS Visio demonstriert. Es wurde dabei mit Standardeinstellungen (EPC-Shape) gearbeitet. Die Modellierungsmethodik kann damit auf sehr unkomplizierte Weise in einer Firma, die MS Visio installiert hat, genutzt werden. Der zweite Teil des Buches widmet sich dem Aufbau eines webbasierten Qualitätsinformationssystems, das die Arbeit von Teams an unterschiedlichen Standorten bei der Kommunikation, dem Dokumentenmanagement und dem Wissensmanagement unterstützt. Der Entwurf eines solchen Systems als webbasierte Kollaborationsplattform wurde auf Basis von MS Sharepoint WSS 3.0 prototypisch umgesetzt. Die dargestellten Inhalte sind Ergebnis eines von der Deutschen Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG) geförderten Projektes an der Fakultät für Maschinenbau der TU Chemnitz. Das Projekt hatte das Ziel, kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) bei der kooperativen Zusammenarbeit, insbesondere in Produktionsnetzwerken, zu unterstützen. Das aus erfahrenen Wissenschaftlern, Praktikern und Studenten zusammengesetzte Team des Instituts für Fertigungsmesstechnik und Qualitätssicherung (IFMQ) zeichnete im Projekt für das Thema Qualitätsmanagement (QM) und Qualitätsinformationssysteme (QIS) verantwortlich.

Mažos ir vidutinės įmonės – dinamiškiausia, nuolat besikeičianti įmonių grupė, vidurinioji ūkio sandaros grandis, turinti lemiamą įtaką ekonominiam augimui ir socialinių santykių stabilumui. Mažos ir vidutinės įmonės (toliau - MVĮ) sudaro gausiausią Lietuvos įmonių grupę, todėl jų skatinimas kurtis, veikti ir plėtotis tampa prioritetine Lietuvos ekonomikos plėtros kryptimi. Lietuvos valdžia įvairiais būdais stengiasi remti MVĮ, kad šios galėtų vystyti savo veiklą bei numato vis daugiau paramos priemonių. Pagrindinis darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti valstybės paramos smulkiam ir vidutiniam verslui įgyvendinimo sistemą Lietuvoje bei pateikti tobulinimosi kryptis. Darbe analizuojama smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo rėmimo politika vykdoma Europos Sąjungoje, kurios pagrindu bus pateikiamos tobulinimosi gairės valstybės paramos SVV teikimui Lietuvoje. / Small and medium sized business is the middle structure link of national economy, which has decisive impact to the economy development and social relation stability. Small and medium sized enterprises (further – SME) are amount the biggest part of all Lithuanian enterprises. Thus, governments promotion is requested for business enterprises. Yearly Lithuanian government take about SME and sets supports forms in national market. Thus this becomes the economy development priority in Lithuania. The government, according to instruments of support for SME, attempts to engage people to take part actively in the small and medium business. The main purpose of this work is describing and studying the instruments of government supports for SME and to reveal, which instrument of existing national supports system should be further developed as well as possible to propose ways, how they can be achieved hereafter. Also there are discussed about the main directions of businnes stimulations, which are used in European Union countries and which may be used in Lithuania. It is necessary to mention governments promotion for SME forms, like the creation of business infrastructure net, the establishment of business incubators, tax concessions, municipalities support and etc. Goverment is responsible for financial and non-financial support. It gives the support according to small and medium business programs. The promotion of government for SME could raise not only the development of the... [to full text]

Although literature reveals that significant efforts have been made to study ICT adoption and diffusion, the diversity of research in terms of theory and methodology is very low. Most studies have relied on traditional adoption theories (e.g., TAM and DOI) and these theories are not capable of providing rich explanantion on how the adoption and post-adoption develop over time. It is argued here that ICT adoption involves multi-dimensional and complex issues. These issues range from how various roles played by actors in emerging ICT are accounted for to ensuring successful adoption. Therefore, this research aims to advance our understanding of emerging ICT adoptions in SMEs from a dynamic process perspective. The specific objectives of this research are to: establish the stages of the dynamic process, identify the key actors and their roles, explore the critical factors affecting the emerging ICT adoption process, identify the challenges and provide recommendations and implications for stakeholders in promoting future adoption and diffusion in UK SMEs. The research adopts a social-technical approach that challenges the ideas of the mainstream thinkers. More specifically, it adopts Actor Network Theory (ANT). The key ANT concepts that influenced the empirical investigation are inscription, translation, framing and stabilisation. The research adopted a qualitative method using face to face interviews. Two rounds of data collection were undertaken. The first round started with a theoretical review, the analysis of relevant literature, and unstructured interviews mainly with small business managers. Eleven interviews were carried out. The second round of interviews was semi-structured with key human actors identified in the first round of interviews. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted. They included the small business manager; SMEs service sector customers, government agencies, SMEs consultants, and IT vendors. The aim was to further explore the dynamic adoption process, the roles and challenges of actors and to validate the outcomes of the findings. The analysis was guided by a hybrid approach of thematic analysis using NVivo software. The study proposed and validated a conceptual framework that illustrates the dynamic process of emerging ICT adoption in SMEs from the Actor Network Theory perspective. This framework helps to understand the adoption process, actors involved, actors’ roles and interactions, and the critical factors. Using the key concepts of ANT as the basis of the investigation, the findings identify a number of key activities associated with the adoption process. These activities include: problem assessment and evaluation, concept generation and evaluation, concept specification, product outsourcing /role delegation, misalignment and alignment of interests, product trial, product modification, adaptation, and impact and problem redefinition. These activities reveal that adoption of emerging ICT in a small business context is not constant, straightforward and certain; instead it is unpredictable, dynamic, and an on-going and reiterative process. ANT concepts were further used to analyse and categorise 20 roles that different actors play, 15 critical factors influencing emerging ICT adoption in SMEs, and the challenges facing actors. While all of these roles, factors, and challenges are critical, in this study, the findings reveal that monitoring and legislation are the most recurring roles at each stage. Furthermore, ease of use, managerial time, shared support, customer focus and adoption costs are the factors affecting the success of multiple stages (three stages). Finally, the thesis presents the contributions and implications for both research and practice in future adoption and diffusion.

This thesis reports on the association between particular psychological attributes of owner/operators and organisational financial performance in New Zealand small to medium sized enterprises (SME's). The specific psychological attributes of interest are ambiguity tolerance, self efficacy, resilience and planning orientation. A direct response mail survey was sent to 4,500 New Zealand organisations fitting the criteria for this study. Ambiguity tolerance, self efficacy and resilience were assessed using established item scales from the literature. Planning orientation was assessed using planning scenario analysis. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling. Results show that the planning orientation of owner/operators has a significant direct association with organisational financial performance. Ambiguity tolerance, self efficacy and resilience were found to have a significant indirect association with financial performance. The findings of this research have implications for both theory and practice. Theoretically there are implications for cognitive and personality psychology, organisational theory and behaviour, entrepreneurship and research related to the psychological attributes of interest in this thesis. Practically, the results provide managers with a meaningful tool to aid in the selection, training and management of individuals responsible for strategic decision making in SME and other organisational settings.

Family businesses are rapidly becoming the dominant form of business enterprise in both developing and developed economies. Family businesses are also being recognised as a potential driver of economic growth and wealth creation in the world. Family businesses in particular, have been making a positive contribution towards the South African economy for the last 300 years. Approximately 80% of businesses in South Africa could be classified as family businesses and they comprise 60% of the companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Family business wellness, which often forms the underlying causes for a lack of family harmony, is, however, a neglected area of research. The primary objective of this study is to explore selected determinants of family business wellness in small and medium-sized family-owned businesses in South Africa and to make recommendations to ensure effective management of these determinants in the family business. Topics such as the characteristics of the job, work stress and burnout, job engagement, family member commitment, the perceived success of the family business, among others, was investigated. In order to achieve the primary objective of this study, a survey was undertaken using a structured questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by calculating the Cronbach alpha coefficient, which indicated that the questionnaire used in this study conformed to the criteria of acceptable reliability and can be regarded as internally consistent. The survey yielded 45 usable questionnaires from 17 family businesses restricted to Gauteng and the North-West provinces in South Africa. Because this study was exploratory in nature, descriptive statistics was then used to analyse the statements that captured the information to measure the selected determinants of family wellness. The correlations between the variables were assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients and the relationships between the variables assessing family wellness were used for the discussion and conclusion points. Practical recommendations are suggested to improve family business wellness and, subsequently, increase the sustainability of such business. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Family businesses are rapidly becoming the dominant form of business enterprise in both developing and developed economies. Family businesses are also being recognised as a potential driver of economic growth and wealth creation in the world. Family businesses in particular, have been making a positive contribution towards the South African economy for the last 300 years. Approximately 80% of businesses in South Africa could be classified as family businesses and they comprise 60% of the companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Family business wellness, which often forms the underlying causes for a lack of family harmony, is, however, a neglected area of research. The primary objective of this study is to explore selected determinants of family business wellness in small and medium-sized family-owned businesses in South Africa and to make recommendations to ensure effective management of these determinants in the family business. Topics such as the characteristics of the job, work stress and burnout, job engagement, family member commitment, the perceived success of the family business, among others, was investigated. In order to achieve the primary objective of this study, a survey was undertaken using a structured questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by calculating the Cronbach alpha coefficient, which indicated that the questionnaire used in this study conformed to the criteria of acceptable reliability and can be regarded as internally consistent. The survey yielded 45 usable questionnaires from 17 family businesses restricted to Gauteng and the North-West provinces in South Africa. Because this study was exploratory in nature, descriptive statistics was then used to analyse the statements that captured the information to measure the selected determinants of family wellness. The correlations between the variables were assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients and the relationships between the variables assessing family wellness were used for the discussion and conclusion points. Practical recommendations are suggested to improve family business wellness and, subsequently, increase the sustainability of such business. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Familjeägda företag har oftast en styrelse bestående av ägare och i vissa fall, någon eller några familjemedlemmar till ägaren. Detta kan bidra till att styrelsen inte når sin fulla potential. Ett flertal forskare inom verksamhetsstyrning och familjeföretag argumenterar för vikten av att tillsätta externa ledamöter till familjeföretags styrelser. Detta verkar dock inte vara helt oproblematiskt. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det är motiverat för ett litet eller medelstort familjeföretag att tillsätta externa ledamöter i sin styrelse. Den empiriska datan har inhämtats dels från en kvantitativ datainsamling i form av en enkätundersökning, dels från en kvalitativ datainsamling i form av sex djupgående intervjuer med ägare av familjeföretag, interna och externa styrelseledamöter samt en person med mångårig erfarenhet av styrelsearbete. En slutsats från denna studie är att externa ledamöter kan innebära en kompetenshöjning som kan vara nyttig för många företag, dock är det viktigt för en ägare av ett familjeföretag att veta vad denne vill få ut av en extern ledamot. Vidare kan externa ledamöter bidra med en objektivitet och ett breddat nätverk vilket talar för att det skulle vara motiverat att tillsätta externa ledamöter i familjeföretag. Samtidigt har dock externa ledamöter en sämre insyn i företaget jämfört med interna ledamöter, och de är därför inte alltid kapabla att fatta de beslut som är mest gynnsamma för verksamheten. / The family-owned companies usually have a board consisting of owners and, in some cases, one or more family members of the owner. Because of this the board may not reach its full potential. A number of researchers in operations management and family business argues for the importance of adding external directors to the family business boards. This may however not be entirely unproblematic. The purpose of this study was to research whether it is relevant for a small or medium-sized family business to appoint outside directors on its board. The empirical data has been collected from a quantitative data collection in the form of a questionnaire, and from a qualitative data collection in the form of six in-depth interviews with owners of family businesses, internal and external board members and a person with many years of experience from board work. One conclusion from this study is that externally appointed directors can bring competence and experience to the board that may be useful for many companies. However, it is important for an owner of a family business to know what they want to get out of an external board member. Furthermore, external members contribute with objectivity and an expanded network, which suggests that it would be relevant to appoint external directors of the family business. However, external board members often have less insight into the company compared to internal board members, and therefore are not always better equipped to make the decisions that are most favorable to the business.

Sedan tidigt 90-tal har internet utvecklats och fått ett större inflytande på marknaden. Web 2.0 har varit en del i den utvecklingen och definieras som en teknologisk infrastruktur som har aktiverat det sociala fenomenet på webben. Web 2.0 har där igenom gett konsumenter en möjlighet att kommunicera med företag via sociala medier. I och med utvecklingen av Web 2.0 kan företag interagera med sina kunder genom nya kommunikationskanaler såsom Facebook, Twitter och Youtube med flera. Sociala medier har en ekonomisk fördel då marknadsföring kan genomföras till en lägre kostnad. Dock menar vissa forskare att sociala medier fortfarande befinner sig i ett embryo-tillstånd då experter tvivlar på dess faktiska betydelse. Att marknadsföra sig online har även bidragit till att teknologiska barriärer minskat, oavsett företagetsstorlek och resurser. Syfte med studien var att mäta små och medelstora företags attityder till och användande av sociala medier. Uppsatsen har genomförts med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod där vi valde att skicka ut en webbenkät till 350 slumpmässigt utvalda små till medelstora företag. Utifrån studiens resultat fann vi tendenser som pekade mot att det var vanligare att B2C företag använder sociala medier. De företag som inte använde sig av sociala medier menade bland annat på att företaget saknade kunskap eller anledning till att använda sociala medier samt att det var för tidskrävande. / For the past twenty years Internet has developed and increased its as cendant on themarket. Web 2.0 has been a part of that development and can be defined as a technical infra structure, which activated the social phenomena on the web and consumers chance to respond and interact with companies through social media. Facebook,Twitter and Youtube are examples of popular social media channels. Social media has economic advantages and can be implemented on a low budget compared to other marketing channels. How ever, some researchers state that social media is still in anembryonic state since experts are having doubts about social media’s actual importance. Online marketing has decreased the technological gap, regardless of company size and resources. The purpose with this study was to measure small and medium sized companies’ attitudes towards and usage of social media. A quantitative method was used for this assignment. A web survey was sent out to a random sample of 350 companies. Based on the results, we could see differences between B2B companies and B2C companies that suggested that users of social media were more common among B2C companies. Companies, which did not use social media,suggested that their company lacked knowledge or reason to use social media. In addition some companies claimed that social media was time consuming.

This thesis aims to develop an inter-organisational knowledge transfer (KT) framework for SMEs, to help them have better understanding of the process of the KT between a SME and its customer (or supplier). The motivation is that knowledge management issues in SMEs is very neglected, which is not in line with the importance of SMEs in the UK national economy; moreover, compared to KT within an organisation, between organisations is more complicated, harder to understand, and has received much less attention. Firstly, external knowledge is generally believed to be of prime importance for SMEs. However, there is little empirical evidence to confirm this hypothesis. In order to empirically evaluate the hypothesis, and also specifically to identify SMEs' needs for external knowledge, a mail questionnaire survey is carried out. Then, based on the key findings of the survey, some 5MB managers are interviewed. The conclusions triangulated from both the key findings and the interview results strongly support the hypothesis, and demonstrate that SMEs have very strong needs for inter-organisational KT, and thus provide very strong empirical underpinning for the necessity of the development of the framework. Secondly, drawing support from a process view, a four-stage process model was proposed for inter-organisational KT. Then a co-ordinating mechanism underpinned by social networks and organisational learning is developed. The process model, co-ordinating mechanism together with cultural difference between organisations constitute an initial framework. Through interviews with SME managers, the initial framework is revised a final framework. The framework validation exercise shows that the final framework could help SMEs have better understanding of the KT. In order to remind and help SMEs to address the 'boundary paradox' embedded in interorganisational KT, and further reflect its complexities and difficulties, the important factors related to each stage of the framework are identified from a strategic perspective, with the help of the co-ordinating mechanism and relevant literature. The factors are also verified by interviews in SMEs. As a result, the initial factors are revised by removing the factors that are perceived as unimportant. The interview results demonstrate that the important factors, as a checklist, can remind and help SMEs to address the 'paradox', and are thus very useful for them.