Современное общество всё больше усваивает ценности постиндустриального развития, поэтому в основу принципа функционирования субъектов экономики ложится инновационное развитие, которое направлено на максимальное использование накопленного интеллектуального капитала и человеческих ресурсов в процессе создания ценности. Малые и средние предприятия в большинстве развитых стран играют ключевую роль в развитии экономики, создавая значительные количество рабочих мест и объем валового внутреннего продукта. / Modern society more and more assimilates the values of postindustrial development, therefore innovative development is based on the principle of functioning of economic entities, which is aimed at maximizing the use of accumulated intellectual capital and human resources in the process of creating value. Small and medium-sized enterprises in most developed countries play a key role in the development of the economy, creating a significant number of jobs and the volume of gross domestic product.

The rapid changes in the global economy have imposed high pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their operations. Many SMEs have realized how important it is to integrate all units in the business by introducing Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP systems).    The adoption decision phase in ERP systems is an early phase and is often confused with implementation, which is a major cause of failure. This confusion can especially hit hard on small and medium-sized companies that may lack sufficient resources. The adoption decision phase can be particularly crucial in such case. The purpose of this study is to investigate which driving forces that influence the adoption decision phase of ERP systems within SMEs. The Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) theoretical framework was used to create a theoretical foundation for finding drivers from previous research.   Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with six ERP consultants. Respondents' responses were analyzed thematically, and 12 themes were identified as driving forces. These could then be compared with previous research. The driving forces identified were management and decision makers, benefits and efficiency, functionality, regulations and security, competition and the future, industry type and complexity, education and competence, finance and resources, supplier and solutions, integration with existing systems, maintenance and support, and challenges and uncertainty. The driving forces that were identified but could not be linked to previous research were functionality, and challenges and uncertainty.   Keywords: Adoption decision, driving forces, Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP system), small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE).

[ES] Esta investigación propone un modelo que orienta a las PYMES en sus procesos para incrementar su capacidad innovadora. La metodología utilizada se basó en la caracterización de las prácticas para la construcción y el desarrollo de la capacidad de innovación a partir de revisiones sistemáticas de la literatura científica. Posteriormente, se validó en una muestra de las pymes para los sectores priorizados por el gobierno (Agroindustria, Sistema Moda, Construcción y TIC), el nivel de aplicación de las variables y estadísticamente se definió el modelo que explica la incidencia de las variables en los resultados financieros de las pymes. Por último, se realizó un mapeo riguroso de los actores que componen el Sistema Nacional de Competitividad, Ciencia y Tecnología e Innovación de Colombia, al identificar su geolocalización, objetivo, instrumentos disponibles y roles bajo la teoría de Ecosistemas de Innovación. Como variable dependiente se consideraron los resultados exitosos de las empresas medidos a partir de la rentabilidad igual o superior a la media del sector. Precisamente, se identificaron nueve variables relacionadas con aquellos factores que permiten la construcción y el desarrollo de la capacidad innovadora, las cuales inciden en los resultados financieros de las pymes. Por otra parte, frente al mapeo de actores del ecosistema y de los instrumentos disponibles para promover el desarrollo de estrategias innovadoras en las pymes de los 4 sectores de estudio, se evidenció una alta concentración de geolocalización en las 2 ciudades más grandes de Colombia (Bogotá D.C. y Medellín), y pese a que ofrecen programas con alcance nacional se tiene poco acceso por la falta de recursos. Estas brechas se describen en el CONPES 3866 sobre la adquisición de conocimiento y tecnología, y ponen en desventaja a empresas localizadas en regiones apartadas de ciudades intermedias que no cuentan con actores articuladores y facilitadores. Sumado al modelo, este proyecto explica las variables que inciden en el éxito financiero de las pymes con lo cual podrán proponerse programas relacionados. / [CA] Aquesta investigació proposa un model que orienta a les PIMES en els seus processos per a incrementar la seua capacitat innovadora. La metodologia utilitzada es va basar en la caracterització de les pràctiques per a la construcció i el desenvolupament de la capacitat d'innovació a partir de revisions sistemàtiques de la literatura científica. Posteriorment, es va validar en una mostra de les pimes per als sectors prioritzats pel govern (Agroindústria, Sistema Moda, Construcció i TIC), el nivell d'aplicació de les variables i estadísticament es va definir el model que explica la incidència de les variables en els resultats financers de les pimes. Finalment, es va realitzar un mapatge rigorós dels actors que componen el Sistema Nacional de Competitivitat, Ciència i Tecnologia i Innovació de Colòmbia, en identificar la seua geolocalització, objectiu, instruments disponibles i rols sota la teoria d'Ecosistemes d'Innovació. Com a variable dependent es van considerar els resultats reeixits de les empreses mesurats a partir de la rendibilitat igual o superior a la mitjana del sector. Precisament, es van identificar nou variables relacionades amb aquells factors que permeten la construcció i el desenvolupament de la capacitat innovadora, les quals incideixen en els resultats financers de les pimes. D'altra banda, enfront del mapatge d'actors de l'ecosistema i dels instruments disponibles per a promoure el desenvolupament d'estratègies innovadores en les pimes dels 4 sectors d'estudi, es va evidenciar una alta concentració de geolocalització en les 2 ciutats més grans de Colòmbia (Bogotà D. C. i Medellín), i malgrat que ofereixen programes amb abast nacional es té poc accés per la falta de recursos. Aquestes bretxes es descriuen en el *CONPES 3866 sobre l'adquisició de coneixement i tecnologia, i posen en desavantatge a empreses localitzades en regions apartades de ciutats intermèdies que no compten amb actors *articuladores i facilitadors. Sumat al model, aquest projecte explica les variables que incideixen en l'èxit financer de les pimes amb la qual cosa podran proposar-se programes relacionats / [EN] This research proposes a model that guides SMEs in their processes to increase their innovative capacity. The methodology used was based on the characterization of practices for the construction and development of innovation capacity based on systematic reviews of the scientific literature. Subsequently, the level of application of the variables was validated in a sample of SMEs for the sectors prioritized by the government (Agribusiness, Fashion System, Construction and ICT), and statistically the model that explains the incidence of the variables in the financial results of SMEs. Finally, a rigorous mapping of the actors that make up the National System of Competitiveness, Science and Technology and Innovation of Colombia was carried out, by identifying their geolocation, objective, available instruments and roles under the theory of Innovation Ecosystems. As a dependent variable, the successful results of the companies were considered, measured from profitability equal to or greater than the sector average. Precisely, nine variables were identified related to those factors that allow the construction and development of innovative capacity, which affect the financial results of SMEs. On the other hand, facing the mapping of ecosystem actors and the available instruments to promote the development of innovative strategies in SMEs of the 4 study sectors, a high concentration of geolocation was evidenced in the 2 largest cities of Colombia (Bogotá D.C. and Medellín), and even though they offer programs with a national scope, there is little access due to lack of resources. These gaps are described in CONPES 3866 on the acquisition of knowledge and technology and put at a disadvantage companies located in remote regions of intermediate cities that do not have coordinating and facilitating actors. Added to the model, this project explains the variables that affect the financial success of SMEs with which related programs can be proposed. / Diaz Delgado, MF. (2023). Modelo multidimensional para la construcción y desarrollo de la capacidad de innovación abierta en pymes [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/193494

The key to an organization's long-term success is a sustainable competitive advantage. In a global market characterized by fierce competition, organizations differentiate themselves no longer through their competitive position or technological or human resources but through knowledge. Such a decisive economic resource needs to be managed, giving rise to the theory of Knowledge Management (KM). Because knowledge is created and shared through social interactions, knowledge transfer is the most critical part of KM. Especially in tourist destinations, the diversity of stakeholders, each with unique skills and knowledge, represents great opportunities for innovation and the sustainable development of destinations but also great challenges. Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) are responsible to maintain the attractiveness of a destination by encouraging competing and complementary organizations to collaborate to exchange knowledge. Ultimately, the tourist experience and image of a destination are created interdependently by the tourism stakeholders. By conducting a case study in the destination of Kalmar, this paper aimed to explain to what extent a DMO manages inter-organizational knowledge transfer within a tourist destination. An explanatory sequence was used to gather primary data in three steps. First, a survey was conducted with local tourism stakeholders. Then, the local DMO and the university were interviewed. The data collected from 32 local tourism stakeholders suggest that tourism stakeholders, primarily SMEs, are lacking the resources to engage in knowledge transfer and overlook the value of external sources of knowledge. The findings of the interviews point to that there is a need to support tourism stakeholders with digitalization, to encourage tourism stakeholders to join a destination network and to close the knowledge gap through research produced by universities. This study contributes to gaining a broader understanding of the opportunities and challenges of inter-organizational knowledge transfer within the destination of Kalmar.

Föränderlig, ofullständig eller osäkerhet kring informationen från företagslåntagare kan skapa betydande utmaningar med kreditrisker för bankerna. På grund av detta ser banker de små och medelstora företagen (SMF) som högre risk. Tidigare forskning tyder på att följder av informationsasymmetri är att banker försvårar företagens tillgång till finansiering. Utifrån detta är syftet med denna studie att beskriva och analysera hur de svenska storbankerna hanterar kreditriskerna vid utlåning till SMF, samt vilka likheter och skillnader det finns mellan bankerna. Med användningen av en kvalitativ datainsamlingsmetod genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med relevanta bankanställda på SEB, Handelsbanken och Swedbank från vilket en tydlig empiri kunde sammanställas. Detta analyserades sedan utifrån teorin om negativt urval och minskad kapitalkostnad samt signaleringsteorin.  Studien fann att de svenska storbankernas strategier för kreditriskhanteringen vid utlåning till SMF utgår från liknande delar. Detta för att både kunna identifiera, förebygga och åtgärda eller minska påverkan från kreditrisker. Skillnaderna mellan bankernas strategier i kreditriskhantering ses i hur de genomför vissa processer och vad de främst fokuserar på vid utlåningen till SMF. Dessa skillnader ses inom vilka externa källor storbankerna använder för informationsinsamling, vilka som har ansvaret för beslutet om kreditvärdighet och om banken använder standardiserade lånevillkor eller inte. / Changing, incomplete or uncertain information from corporate borrowers can create significant credit risk challenges for banks. Because of this, banks see the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as higher risk. Previous research suggests that consequences of information asymmetry are that banks make it more difficult for companies to access financing. Based on this, the purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how the major Swedish banks manage credit risks when lending to SMEs, as well as what similarities and differences exist between the banks. Using a qualitative data collection method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant bank employees at SEB, Handelsbanken and Swedbank from which a clear empirical record could be compiled. This was analyzed based on the theory of adverse selection and reduced cost of capital, as well as the signalling theory.  The study found that the major Swedish banks strategies for credit risk management when lending to SMEs are based on similar elements. This is to be able to both identify, prevent and remedy or reduce the impact from credit risks. The differences between the banks strategies in credit risk management are seen in how they carry out certain processes and what they mainly focus on when lending to SMEs. These differences are seen in which external sources the big banks are using for information gathering, who is responsible for the decision on creditworthiness and whether the bank uses standardized loan terms or not.

This study investigates how small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and other resource-lacking organisations can utilise automated machine learning (AutoML) to lessen the development hurdles associated with machine learning model development. This is achieved by comparing the performance, cost of usage, as well as usability and documentation for machine learning models developed through two AutoML frameworks: Vertex AI on Google Cloud™ and the open-source library AutoGluon, developed by Amazon Web Services. The study also presents a roadmap and a time plan that can be utilised by resource-lacking enterprises to guide the development of machine learning solutions implemented through AutoML frameworks. The results of the study show that AutoML frameworks are easy to use and capable in generating machine learning models. However, performance is not guaranteed and machine learning projects utilising AutoML frameworks still necessitates substantial development effort. Furthermore, the limiting factor in model performance is often training data quality which AutoML frameworks do not address.

Den Europeiska Unionen vill med Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) standardisera hållbarhetsredovisning för företag som är verksamma inom unionen. Återigen kommer fler och fler företag omfattas av reglerna att behöva upprätta en obligatorisk hållbarhetsredovisning – vilket kan utgöra en utmaning för mindre erfarna små och medelstora företag. Denna studie undersökte små och medelstora företags syn på hållbarhetsredovisning samt deras uppfattning för dess kärnbegrepp; närmare bestämt ESG och materialitet. Studien utfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex företag och med hjälp av sju respondenter. Studien visade att det finns en överväldigande positiv inställning till hållbarhetsredovisning bland de studerade företagen. Hursomhelst framgick det tecken på att företagen var bristfällig i vissa aspekter. Till exempel upplevde samtliga företag svårigheter med att koppla delar av sin verksamhet till hållbarhet på en bolagsstyrningsnivå (eng. governance). Liknande resultat upptäcktes för materialitet. Alla företag upplevdes ha svårigheter att begripa innebörden av begreppet ’materialitet’. Studien visade, trots svårigheten att begripa innebörden av materialitet, att de studerade företagen visade tecken på att vara effektiva i identifieringen av materiella hållbarhetsaspekter. / The European Union wants to standardize sustainability reporting with the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Once again, more and more enterprises will be subject to the mandatory requirements to disclose sustainability information – which may pose a challenge for less experienced small and medium sized enterprises. This study examines the perception of small and medium sized enterprises on sustainability reporting and its foundational concepts; namely environmental, social and governance (ESG) and materiality. The study was conducted on six individual companies and seven interviewees in total. The study concludes that there exists an overwhelmingly positive perception of sustainability reporting amongst the studied enterprises. However, there were signs that the studied companies were deficient in certain aspects. For example, all enterprises experienced difficulties in identifying aspects of their business that could be linked with governance sustainability. Similar results were discovered on the materiality topic. All enterprises had difficulties in understanding the term ‘materiality’. The study concludes that, despite the difficulty understanding materiality, the studied enterprises showed signs of being efficient in identifying material sustainability topics.

Developing software that meets the customers’ requirements, expectations, and quality standards is a challenging task for all software organizations. As modern software becomes more and more complex, so do the defects of the software. The aim of this study was to develop a simplified and consistent defect taxonomy that could be executable and usable for smaller enterprises or organizations that want to implement a simplified taxonomy. The aim of this study was also to find characteristic defects that exist in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by using the taxonomy. A manual defect classification was done on bug reports collected from three organizations with the same company size as SMEs. An agreement analysis was also conducted in this study to investigate the consistency of the taxonomy. This was done by letting different people classify a subset of the bug reports collected for this study using the proposed taxonomy. Furthermore, in this study, I also investigated how executable and usable the taxonomy would be for smaller enterprises. This was done through four interviews and a survey with seven respondents. The result of the defect classification indicates that Program anomaly (58%), GUI (17%) and Configuration (13%) are three of the most common defect types that exist in SMEs. The result of the defect classification indicates that SMEs have a problem with defects breaking features that worked correctly before, where 19% of all bug reports used in this study were classified as Regression. The survey result indicates that taxonomy is easy to use. However, the result of the different classifications showed that the use of the taxonomy is not consistent between different classifiers. The results of the interviews and the survey indicate that the taxonomy would be executable for smaller enterprises. However, to also be fully usable, the proposed taxonomy needs to be adapted to the particular enterprise, and requires the right competence to propose appropriate measures for the particular enterprise. / Att utveckla mjukvara som möter kundernas krav, förväntningar och som håller en hög kvalité är en utmanande uppgift som alla företag står inför. Den moderna mjukvaran blir allt mer komplex, vilket i sin tur även bidrar till fler och mer komplexa mjukvarufel. Den här studien har som mål att skapa en ny förenklad och konsekvent defekttaxonomi som kan vara genomförbar och användbar för mindre företag och organisationer som vill använda sig av en enklare taxonomi. Målet med det här examensarbetet är också att kartlägga karaktäristiska mjukvarufel i små och medelstora företag med hjälp av den nyutvecklade taxonomin. För att lyckas med detta klassificerades felrapporter från tre organisationer som är av samma storlek som små och medelstora företag. Den här studien analyserade även hur konsekvent taxonomin är genom att låta olika människor klassificera en delmängd av studiens felrapporter. Den här studien undersöker även hur genomförbar och användbar defekttaxonomin är för mindre företag. Detta genomfördes genom fyra intervjuer och en enkätundersökning med sju respondenter. Resultatet av den här studien indikerar att små och medelstora företag främst har problem med mjukvarufel som ger upphov till oväntat och oönskat beteende kopplat till mjukvarans funktionalitet (58%). Den här studien indikerar även att gränssnittsdefekter (17%) och konfigureingsproblem (13%) också är vanliga mjukvarufel inom dessa organisationer. Den här studien har även uppmärksammat att mindre företag kan ha problem med mjukvarufel som tar sönder funktionalitet som fungerat korrekt tidigare, även kallad regressioner, där 19% av alla felrapporter blev klassificerade som det. Resultatet av enkätundersökningen indikerar att taxonomin är enkel att använda. Å andra sidan, de olika klassifikationerna visade att användningen av taxonomin inte var konsekvent. Resultatet av intervjuerna och enkätundersökningen indikerar att taxonomin är genomförbar för mindre företag. Å andra sidan, för att defekttaxonomin ska vara användbar behöver den anpassas efter det särskilda företaget. Den kräver även den rätta kompetensen för att ta fram lämpliga åtgärden för det särskilda företaget.

Titel: Kapitalstruktur i en lågkonjunktur – En kvalitativ studie av medelstora tillverkande företags kapitalstruktur. Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkas kapitalstrukturen i medelstora tillverkande företag av en lågkonjunktur? Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att få en förståelse för hur medelstora tillverkande företag resonerar gällande att finansiera sig med eget kapital kontra med skuldfinansiering i en lågkonjunktur. Metod: Studien har genomförts genom en kvalitativ metod med en abduktiv ansats, en kombination av deduktiv och induktiv ansats. Genom denna kombination av metoder har vi tagit del av vetenskapliga artiklar och analyserat vår insamlade empiriska data för att undersöka hur verkligheten stämmer överens med teorin. Slutsats: Studien visade på tre resultat. Det första resultatet visade på att det finns en tydlig koppling mellan ägarstruktur och kapitalstruktur i tillverkande medelstora företag. Privatägda företag tenderar att vara mer flexibla i sina finansieringsval medan koncernägda företag föredrar intern finansiering eller lån under gynnsamma marknadsförhållanden. Det andra resultatet visade på att en gemensam nämnare för alla företagen var betydelsen av en god relation med banken, särskilt i tider av lågkonjunktur eftersom bankens tillgång till likviditet och flexibla avbetalningsplaner kunde bli avgörande. Det tredje resultatet visade på att trots företagens medvetenhet om riskhantering så tolkades begreppet finansiell stress på olika sätt, vilket visar att begreppet är subjektivt. Däremot visade de sig att företagen är flexibla i sina finansieringsval och anpassar sig efter marknadsförhållanden i pressade ekonomiska tider. / Title: Capital structure in a recession – A qualitative study of medium-sized manufacturing companies' capital structure Problem statement: How is the capital structure of medium-sized manufacturing companies impacted by a recession? Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to gain an understanding of how medium- sized manufacturing companies’ reason regarding financing the firm with equity versus debt during a recession. Method: The study has been conducted through a qualitative method with an abductive approach, combining deductive and inductive approaches. With this combination of methods, we have reviewed scientific articles and analyzed our collected empirical data to gain an overview of how reality aligns with theory. Conclusion: The study showed three main findings. The first finding showed a clear link between ownership structure and capital structure in medium- sized manufacturing companies. Private-owned firms tend to be more flexible in their financing choices, whereas group-owned firms prefer internal financing or loans under favorable market conditions. The second finding highlighted a common denominator among all companies, emphasizing the importance of a strong relationship with the bank, particularly during economic downturns, as the bank's access to liquidity and flexible payment plans became crucial. The third finding demonstrated that despite companies' awareness of risk management, the concept of financial stress was interpreted differently among them, indicating its subjective nature. However, it was observed that companies are flexible in their financing choices and adapt to market conditions during economically challenging times.

Since the emergence and the subsequent evolution of lean manufacturing concepts, numerous enterprises of different scale and specialties have adopted lean tools and techniques in their facilities with varying success. In general, lean manufacturing related studies have been conducted on large manufacturing firms, such as the automotive industry. Yet, lean manufacturing tools and techniques are also suited for small enterprises. Thus, the main concern of this study is to investigate the success of set-up time reduction efforts (one of the steps needed to achieve 'one-piece flow') in secondary wood products manufacturing facilities on four woodworking machines (moulder, shaper, table saw, and band saw) based on firm size. The first objective of this research is to explore the results of the implementation of set-up time reduction efforts on selected woodworking machines in enterprises of varying size. It is assumed that company size is a major factor influencing the rate of set-up time improvements. To that end, the first hypothesis, which states that 'Small firms are less successful in reducing set-up time through set-up time reduction efforts than are large firms,' has been developed and supportive questions have been corresponding created. While statistical testing of the hypotheses created for this is not possible due to the limited number of participants, speculations about the possible outcome can be made. Thus, for hypothesis one, the data obtained does not show any sign of a relationship between a firm size and the success rate of set-up time reduction efforts. The second objective of this study is to investigate how a firm's productivity is affected by set-up time reduction efforts as related to firm size. With regards to some of the weaknesses of typical small manufacturing firms (e.g. having limited budget and resources, intuitive management strategies including lack of strategic planning), large firms, by and large, are expected to be more successful in increasing productivity through set-up time reduction. To that end, the goal is to investigate results of the set-up time reduction efforts in terms of productivity improvement in manufacturing facilities. With this in mind, the second hypothesis was proposed, which reads 'Small firms achieve lower productivity gains through set-up time reduction than do large firms.' For the second hypothesis, while no conclusive proof can be offered, no sign of a relationship between firm size and productivity gain through set-up time reduction could be found. Another objective of this study is to explore the success rate of set-up time activities on the four types of woodworking machines in industry facilities considering the training activities provided by manufacturers. The aim is to compare set-up time improvement performance of manufacturers between enterprises which trained their workers/operators and enterprises which did not train their employees. To understand the relationship between the scale of firms (and/or facilities) and training activities to improve set-ups, the third hypothesis, which reads 'Small firms are less concerned with set-up time reduction through training than are large firms,' has been developed. For the third hypothesis, while testing is not possible, it appears that there is no relationship between firm size and the level of concern for set-up time reduction through training activities. The final objective of this research is to investigate whether the secondary wood manufacturing firms studied experienced a bottleneck in their production due to the long set-up actions of machines. In order to accomplish this objective, the final hypothesis, 'In both, large and small firms, bottlenecks occur at machines with high set-up times,' has been developed. The final hypothesis cannot be accepted or rejected due to the limited number of responses obtained, set-up time was a frequently indicated explanation for the occurrence of production bottlenecks in secondary wood products manufacturing firms. / Master of Science