This dissertation examines the role of social media in the communication process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on communication and social media theories, this study examines how small and medium-sized enterprises incorporate social media in their marketing and communication strategy. As a result, this study concludes that social media has an important role in the communication process of SMEs. The study shows, that to increase a two-way communication via social media, SMEs must focus more on enabling interactions, to collect responses and feedback. A professional appearance on the platforms has been considered as crucial. The results additionally show that SMEs recognize space and need for improvement of their social media skills. The integration of social media into the overall concept differs among the cases. A major obstacle can be found regarding the detection of target groups on social media. Moreover, a lack of strategic orientation can be found in terms of social media goals and budgets, as well as performance measurement.

In recent years, with the economic development in China and the direct flights between Taiwan and China; there are more and more Taiwanese enterprises invest in China industrial market. This business environment change results in the increasing Taiwanese employees travelling between China and Taiwan frequently, or even been dispatched to China for long-term. In the future, the opportunities of work exchange between Taiwan and China will increase rapidly. Taiwan and China has no language barrier, however, the thinking logic, attitude towards work, and corporate management style between two places are fairly divergent. All these differences impact both Taiwanese and Chinese enterprises development. Today, China¡¦s workers strive for their work and almost catch up with Taiwan. Do Taiwan¡¦s workers notice it? The author has been dispatched to China for more than five years, and returned to Taiwan for three years. We can see the way of business management and the working environment between Taiwan and China through the experience of author. This narrative will give an overview and suggestions to those Taiwanese who is willing to work in China, and to those Taiwanese who plan to return to Taiwan market. For the workers who are seeking for opportunities of work exchange, the author suggests they should have abilities such as authorization management, regulate the rhythm of the work, resource integration, and excellent communication skill with local workers. On the other hand, for the workers who return to Taiwan job market, face to the primary depression, adjust mindset, and balance work and family lives are the keys to a successful transfer.

This is a case study of Taiwan¡¦s bicycle industry. With the view of international standards we tried to explore the integration of the new product development process in Taiwan¡¦s bicycle industry. We have found that Taiwan¡¦s assemblers and components suppliers are parallel connected to interact with foreign buyers simultaneously. And all the R&D services to which every member offered are finally integrated under the instructions of the foreign buyers. We describe such a cooperation mode as ¡¥Parallel Connecting New Product Development Process¡¦. We argue that this new kind of cooperation mode is better than the traditional sequential staging model that is represented as ¡¥vertical connecting¡¦ cooperation mode in innovation flexibility and speed because of the communication efficiency and convenience to the OEM buyers. In this thesis we will describe the new product development interactions among the foreign buyers, components suppliers and the assemblers. And we will also discuss the competitive advantages and the causes of such a new cooperation mode. With this kind of cooperation mode we also discuss the R&D management implications for the small and medium sized enterprises in Taiwan. We argue that this new kind of cooperation mode can bring a new management implication to the small and medium sized enterprises in Taiwan, which is different from the main argument in the literature of strategic flexibility.

<p>Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is established among a majority of small and medium sized companies in Kista Science City and seems to have a positive effect on organizational effectiveness. Kista Science City is Sweden’s largest corporate centre, with more companies and employees in a limited area than anywhere else in Europe. This study looks at the level of adoption of ERP functions, perceived organizational effectiveness and critical success factors. The most common use of ERP is for financial control and reporting, followed by order entry and purchasing. A significant relationship between the level of adoption and organizational effectiveness was found.</p><p>Although Enterprise Resource Planning has become an established phenomenon the investments in ERP software are far from fully utilized. Most companies have started to use ERP to integrate functional areas but few companies have moved to extended ERP (ERPII). The adoption of functionality for customer relationship management seems to have started, but the use of e-commerce, business intelligence and supply chain management is very low. Different reasons for the low level of adoption are discussed and it is suggested that the interrelationship between SMEs and ERP-consultants be investigated further. ERP-consultants are important change agents and knowledge transfers for ERP and one way to interpret the data is that ERP-consultants are caught in a negative spiral where they focus on installations and technical maintenance of core ERP, which prevents them from developing new, extended ERP competence.</p><p>An analysis of critical success factors showed that although technical competence was important socially oriented factors such as project teamwork and composition as well as communication had a greater effect on organizational effectiveness. Surprisingly enough, project management did not have any effect on organizational effectiveness. Common implementation methods for ERP focus on project management. It is suggested to further analyse if these methods could be improved by an increased adaptability to differences in company settings and requirements as well as through a better use of critical success factors. Organizational effectiveness can be measured in many ways and it was found that the success factors varied in terms of how they correlated with different measures.</p><p>In the next step, the doctorial thesis, it is suggested that a prototype environment is developed to stimulate an increased use of extended ERP among small and medium sized companies. Several actors, such as SMEs, consultants, vendors and students would be involved. The prototype environment could facilitate enhancements of implementation methods and reduction of implementation costs through the development of reusable objects such as add-on solutions, process maps and system configurations. It could also help small and medium sized companies to investigate the business benefits of ERP by increasing involvement and familiarity while on the same time decrease costs and risks.</p> / QC 20100713

With growing levels of organic food consumption in the retail sector and government municipality goals to increase consumption of organic foods at public schools and institutions, private, independant food service businesses in Sweden risk slipping under the radar when it comes to understanding how they are responding to the global problem of industrialised, fossil fuel intensive and highly unsustainable agriculture. In Sweden, KRAV, an incorporaed association that develops standards for organic agriculture, governs certification for a range of industry actors, including restaurants. From the perspective of corporate social responsibilty (CSR) in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), independant, owner-managed food-service businesses become the subjects of a study into motives for engaging in CSR through environmental certification. Guided by an explorative case study research approach, qualitative data in the form of semi-structured interviews were conducted with management representatives of a number of food service businesses in Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden. Supported by a thorough literature review, the motives of these persons were identified and explored with the help of a conceptual framewrk based on profitability, legitimacy and sustainability motives. Additionally, the political view of CSR, using the concept of global corporate citizenship, was considered with regard to these commincated motives. Lastly the findings were reflected upon with respect to previous research specifically related to CSR in SMEs. As it turns out, it was found that the motivating factors for certifying with the KRAV restaurant certification were difficult to demarcate from broader ethical guiding principles related to supporting the organic movement. However, it was clear that legitimacy, specifically moral legitimacy, as well as profitabilty are critical elements to consider in understanding what motives restarant owner-managers to obtain KRAV restaurant certification. Finally, it was also concluded that in reacting to globalisation, the behaviour of the restaurants can be considered as global corporate citizenship inasmuch as they are providing a channelling role with regard to citizens’ political rights to actively participate in the global space and collective will formation.

Increased interest in small business (SME) and entrepreneurship, foster researchers to discuss about methodology of this object and to look for possible ways of development of this sector. In spite of that interest, there is a lack of common, unified methodology, accepted in all countries. Absence of systematic research of entrepreneurship process- is relevant scientific problem, which should be solved. Author describes term “entrepreneurship process” and it’s main elements. Also is presented a broad analysis of terms “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneur” in different economical schools. Is analyzed impact of small and medium seized business on economy and it’s place in entrepreneurship process. Business environment is changing radically and one of the main tasks for organizations – to become entrepreneurial. Research model of Lithuanian entrepreneurship process is composed. According this model, level of entrepreneurship process researches, implemented in Lithuania, is identified. Varies factors, influencing entrepreneurship process, are described and presented in dissertation. In order to solve identified problems, model of formation enterprising business in SME is presented. Activities of entrepreneur are formulated in order to implement enterprising culture in organization and to foster entrepreneurial behavior of such organization. / Išaugęs susidomėjimas smulkiu ir vidutiniu verslu ir jo reikšme pasaulio ekonomikai ir visam verslininkystės procesui, skatina mokslininkus diskutuoti apie šio objekto tyrimo metodologija. Nors ir visuotinai pripažįstama, kad verslininkystė yra vienas iš svarbiausių veiksniu, įtakojantis pokyčius ekonomikoje, reikia pastebėti, kad nėra nusistovėjusios vienos visoms šalims priimtinos metodikos. Tad nepakankamai ištirtas verslininkystės procesas – yra aktuali mokslinė problema. Disertacijoje atskleidžiamas šiuolaikinis požiūris į verslininkystės reiškinį ir jo reikšmę. Pateikiama išsami „verslininkystės“ ir „verslininko“ sampratų analizė skirtingose ekonominėse mokyklose. Taip pat pristatomas smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo vaidmuo šalies ekonominiuose procesuose. Analizuojama verslininkystės proceso samprata. Nagrinėjamas antrepreneriškumo reiškimasis versle ir antrepreneriškos organizacijos samprata. Parengiamas Lietuvos verslininkystės proceso tyrimo modelis. Remiantis juo, identifikuojamas Lietuvos smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo ir verslininkystės proceso ištirtumo lygį. Išryškinami veiksniai, įtakojantys Lietuvos smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo būklę ir vystymosi galimybes. Taip pat išryškinamos probleminės sritys, trukdančios verslininkystės proceso raidai. Siekiant spręsti tyrimo metu išaiškėjusias problemas, pateikiamas antrepreneriškos verslininkystės formavimo modelis smulkiame ir vidutiniame versle.

Tinkamai atliekamos bankų kreditavimo operacijos yra labai svarbios, nes jos padeda nukreipti, paprastai limituotus, šalies piniginius išteklius į dinamiškiausias ir perspektyviausias verslo sritis. t.y. vienas pagrindinių gerai veikiančios rinkos ekonomikos dėsnių. O smulkus ir vidutinis verslas yra ekonomikos varomoji jėga ir socialinio valstybės stabilumo garantas. Šio verslo reikšmės didėjimas tapo akivaizdžiu viso civilizuoto pasaulio esminiu bruožu. Teisinga valstybės politika šioje srityje yra labai svarbus kiekvienos valstybės vidaus politokos uždavinys. Analitikai taip pat sutaria, kad smulkaus ir vidutinio verslo plėtra yra vienas iš prioritetinių Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos politikos tikslų. Pirmiausia SVV įmonės yra nuolatinio užimtumo pagrindas – smulkusis verslas tai svarbi priemonė, kovojanti su struktūriniu nedarbu. Antra, didesnis įmonių skaičius duoda postūmį ekonominiam augimui, paskatintam intensyvesnės konkurencijos.SVV įmonės greičiau pajunta rinkos paklausos ir pasiūlos pokyčius, prisitaiko prie jų, užimdamos konkrečias rinkos nišas. Praktinėje dalyje pateikiami tyrimo rezultatai gauti anketinės apklausos būdu iš smulkių ir vidutinių įmonių atstovų. Gauti rezultatai yra interpretuojami bei vertinami, darbo gale pateikiamos tyrimo išvados ir pasiūlymai. / The object of this paper is the crediting possibilities of the small and middle – size lithuanian enterprises.The small and middle business of Lithuania is the garanty of the economics stability and growth.. A risk element always exists in granting loans, so that’s why banks’ must organize rational and will – considered crediting process. Owning to the banks, vacant monetary capital is directed to the most dynamic and perspective business areas, in other words, is converted from idle to functionating capital. The main results of the research are: o the main users of the loans are trade, communication and transport companies; o the main credit market player is Vilnius bank, that takes 48% of the loan market. o the most popular crediting product is big loans ( over 50 000 lt.) with long term period (over 3 year).

Chemical pollution has become an environmental and human health concern. Small and medium-sized enterprises are becoming the focus of environmental researchers, as they have been found to collectively contribute a significant amount of the pollution due to improperly managed chemicals. This case study of Nova Scotia small and medium-sized enterprises aimed to collect baseline information regarding environmental and chemical management including what positive practices were in place, what areas required more assistance, what information is being requested and who should be the focus of information programs. Results indicated that there is significant room for improvement in both the environmental and chemical management practices of small and medium-sized enterprises, even though participants indicated they were employing responsible practices. Participants were however, able to provide multiple suggestions regarding information they require in order to improve their business operations and environmental performance, thereby indicating they are aware improvements are needed.

The expectations’ on companies to take responsibility for their business practices aregrowing. Still, limited research have been conducted on consumer expectation on corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Thereforethe purpose of this study was to investigate how consumers’ expectations of CSR practices inSME’s differ concerning the five areas of CSR; environmental, social, ethical, human rightand labour rights, to provide suggestions on how SME’s could allocate their resources onCSR. This was investigated by a mixed method consisting of a survey and a focus group witha sample of students at Uppsala University. The findings of the study demonstrate that theconsumers have the highest expectations on labour rights responsibility, second highest onethical responsibility, followed by human rights responsibility, environmental responsibilityand finally the lowest expectations on social responsibility. The main theoretical implicationof the study is that the expectations on the social area of CSR differ much from previousresearch and the main managerial implication indicates that SME’s should allocate a majorityof their resources to ensuring labour rights.

Different stakeholders are now showing a higher interest in organisations’ social responsibility than ever before, creating an increased pressure on organisations' sustainability performance. Various researchers (e.g. Emerson, 2003; Lingane &amp; Olsen, 2004) stress that in order to meet this pressure and to achieve a true sustainable development, organisations need to fully incorporate social values through social accounting. Although numerous organisations report on their social impacts (Hahn &amp; Kühnen, 2013), it is often said that small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are lagging behind in terms of sustainability performance (Cassells &amp; Lewis, 2011). A few studies have addressed this by investigating difficulties for social enterprises to conduct social accounting but a research gap is evident regarding practical implications for SMEs in the for-profit sector. Through an embedded case study design of a sustainability network of for-profit SMEs on Gotland, we sought to explain SME managers perception of difficulties and benefits associated with social accounting, and how such attitudes relate to their sustainability practices. Through a triangulation design, surveys and qualitative interviews were applied to determine the relationship between attitudes and actions. A theoretical framework by Thomas and Lamm (2012), based on Ajzen’s (2005) theory of planned behaviour and Suchman’s (1995) typology of legitimacies was used for analysis. The SME managers were found to have a neutral attitude towards social accounting and they all engaged in practical actions rather than social impact measurement or social reporting. Thus, the results reflect consistency between attitudes towards social accounting and actions, i.e. the intention to perform social accounting. The SME managers perceived the difficulties of social accounting to outweigh the benefits of it, and were insecure about their abilities to perform social accounting. The findings of this study could confirm previously found implications of social accounting and further found that the SME managers expected additional difficulties for companies in the service sector and for those without employees.