Businesses nowadays are increasingly adopting new technologies to obtain competitive advantages. Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands out as an advanced, novel technology that has potential benefits across industries. The fast-food industry is one such industry that is highly competitive, evolving, and requires advanced technologies to cater to modern customers who increasingly demand fast, digitized services. Increased customer engagement has also become a main driving force to adopt technologies since these consumers demand quick, personalized, digitized services. The fast-food industry, compared to other industries, produces food that is perishable, and quick, which demands proper handling before, during, and after preparation, for instant consumption. Services should be quick, fast, and accessible, where adopting advanced technologies has become a necessity for the industry players' survival. Larger organizations have successfully adopted AI and have harnessed a competitive advantage. Conversely, Smaller and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have successfully adopted digital technologies, assuming it as AI. They have not yet translated to adopt AI, which could threaten their survival and competitiveness in a highly evolving, dynamic industry. On the other hand, AI is a novel technology that has much potential, yet many are unaware of where the technology is heading, specifically, SMEs have a limited understanding and exposure to this technology, demanding more research.  The main purpose of this study is to gain a comprehensive understanding of how fast-food SMEs in Sweden perceive AI, the reasons for non-adoption, and the reasons influencing the behavioral intention to utilize AI for customer engagement within the organization. The study utilizes the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework to analyze how performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions influence individual SMEs' behavioral intentions towards AI adoption on customer engagement by studying it from an individual, organizational context. Through qualitative interviews with fast-food SME owners, IT managers, and marketing managers, the research explored a nuanced understanding of how AI is being perceived by SMEs, challenges, barriers, and factors influencing their adoption behavior.  The research findings indicated that AI technology itself is immature and the immediate business use case is not apparent for SMEs. It was also revealed that SMEs have a misconception between AI and digital technologies. Though there is enthusiasm and willingness to adopt AI within SMEs, significant challenges remain, such as a lack of understanding about AI, resource constraints, complexity, skills, and influences from competitors and stakeholders. The research identified factors specific to SMEs that contribute to extending the UTAUT framework, such as customized payment plans, establishing technology associations, and new business models suiting SMEs. It was further evidenced that customer engagement is not an impactful mediator that influences AI adoption within SMEs. It was concluded that though SMEs have the potential to improve performance, their adoption is limited due to the immaturity of AI and due to identified challenges.

La presente investigación se realizó con el propósito de estudiar el desarrollo de la resiliencia empresarial en los negocios de panadería; esto surge debido a la pandemia generada por la enfermedad de Coronavirus del 2019 y a la necesidad que presentaron las empresas de mantenerse funcionando a pesar de la coyuntura. Para ello se estableció como objetivo general el análisis de la resiliencia empresarial en las MIPYMES del sector panadero durante la pandemia por COVID 19 en la ciudad de Lambayeque 2021; se utilizó un enfoque cualitativo de diseño no experimental, cuyo instrumento fue la entrevista; se trabajó con una muestra intencional compuesta por los propietarios de 6 empresas que permanecieron activas durante la coyuntura y tuvieran un mínimo de 2 años dentro del mercado. Los resultados obtenidos permitieron identificar todas las estrategias que ayudaron a las panaderías a seguir funcionando, como también la falta de estructura organizacional en este tipo de negocios; concluyendo así en la presencia de la resiliencia empresarial en este sector y en la practicidad de su aplicación empírica dentro del sector panadero. / The present investigation was carried out with the purpose of studying the development of business resilience in bakery businesses. This arises due to the pandemic generated by the 2019 Coronavirus disease and the need that companies presented to keep operating despite the situation. For this, the analysis of business resilience in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the bakery sector during the COVID 19 pandemic in the city of Lambayeque 2021 was established as a general objective. A qualitative approach of non-experimental design was used, whose instrument was the interview. We worked with an intentional sample made up of the owners of 6 companies that remained active during the situation and had been in the market for a minimum of 2 years. The results obtained allowed us to identify all the strategies that helped the bakeries to continue operating, as well as the lack of organizational structure in this type of business; this concluding in the presence of business resilience in this type of business and in the practicality of its empirical application within the bakery sector.

Las MYPES son impulsadoras del crecimiento económico en el país y a su vez generadoras de empleo, pero existe un conocimiento mínimo en la aplicación de las leyes o normas, es importante señalar este desconocimiento ante temas tributarios, pues establece un problema de formalidad para las MYPES y que los dueños o gerentes, no conocen. Por lo tanto, esta investigación tuvo como objetivo analizar los efectos de la Ley N° 28015 en las MYPES del sector Comercial del Distrito de la Victoria 2021, en este caso se aplicó un enfoque cuantitativo, de tipo aplicada y nivel descriptivo, el diseño de la investigación es no experimental, debido a que la información recolectada ya existe en los contribuyentes del distrito la Victoria, la población está conformada por 128 MYPES, donde la técnica utilizada fue la encuesta, aplicada a las 52 MYPES que arrojó la muestra, luego de la aplicación de la fórmula. Por tanto, esta investigación busca el análisis de la Ley y la conveniencia que tiene el contribuyente al acogerse para conocer sus beneficios en las MYPES; mediante la recopilación de información se logró entender que los contribuyentes no aprovechan estos beneficios que trae la Ley N° 28015 pero aun así se encuentran formalizados. / The MYPES are driven by economic growth in the country and in turn generate employment, but there is minimal knowledge in the application of laws or regulations, it is important to point out the ignorance regarding tax issues since it establishes a problem, since the MYPES have benefits that their owners or managers do not know about. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze the effects of Law No. 28015 on the MYPES of the Commercial sector of the District of Victoria 2021, in this case a quantitative approach was applied, of applied type and descriptive level, the design of the investigation is not experimental, because the investigation will be obtained from existing information from the taxpayers of the La Victoria district, the population is made up of 128 MYPES, where the technique used was the survey, applied to 52 MYPES that yielded the sample, then from the application of the formula. Therefore, this research seeks the analysis of the Law and how much it is convenient to contribute to know about these benefits of application in MYPES; Through the collection of information, it was improved to understand that taxpayers do not take advantage of these benefits that Law No. 28015 brings, but even so they are formalized.

La presente investigación tiene como propósito analizar la gestión de los responsables de las mypes chiclayanas durante el desarrollo de crisis como consecuencia de la pandemia del Covid-19. Este estudio se basó en un enfoque cualitativo, de diseño fenomenológico, de tipo básica y de nivel descriptivo. Para lo cual, se desarrolló una entrevista semiestructura con 22 preguntas basada en el modelo de Alves, Lok y Luo (2020), teniendo como unidad de análisis a 12 responsables de mypes. Los resultados indicaron que la Prevención de Crisis es una de las etapas fundamentales para la percepción de la crisis debido a que se encuentran grandes dilemas como las pérdidas económicas, la evaluación de utilizar antiguas estrategias y sobre todo la preparación adecuada de sus representantes; asimismo, la Gestión de Crisis durante la coyuntura es un momento crítico para la supervivencia de sus empresas debido a que deben tomar decisiones orientadas a formar equipos de trabajo con una comunicación constante y distribuir su capital para la adaptación a los nuevos cambios o incluso puedan reinventarse; y por último, los Resultados Postcrisis están orientados hacia el aprendizaje, la adquisición de conocimientos y de reflexión para instruirse en cómo lidiar con su personal, cómo negociar con clientes y proveedores y evaluar alguna modificación para su empresa, de tal modo se logre reducir su tiempo de recuperación, sin dejar de lado la ayuda gubernamental que podrían recibir. / The purpose of this research is to analyze the management of those responsible for Chiclayan mypes during the crisis development as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study was based on a qualitative approach, phenomenological design, basic type and descriptive level. For which, a semi-structured interview was developed with 22 questions based on the model of Alves, Lok and Luo (2020), having 12 managers of mypes as the unit of analysis. The results indicated that Crisis Prevention is one of the fundamental stages for the perception of the crisis because there are great dilemmas such as economic losses, the evaluation of using old strategies and, above all, the adequate preparation of its representatives; Likewise, Crisis Management during the current situation is a critical moment for the survival of their companies because they must make decisions aimed at forming work teams with constant communication and distributing their capital to adapt to new changes or even reinvent themselves. ; and finally, the Post-Crisis Results are oriented towards learning, the acquisition of knowledge and reflection to learn how to deal with your staff, how to negotiate with clients and suppliers and evaluate any modification for your company, in such a way that you can reduce your recovery time, without neglecting the government help they could receive.

The use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems by small enterprises is proliferating. Traditionally used by large enterprises, ERP systems are now considered important enterprise management aids, which may contribute to the sustainability and growth of small enterprises. Although varying acceptance factors may impact on the acceptance of ERP systems, there is no consolidated list of ERP system acceptance factors specific to small enterprises. In this study, the strategic, business, technical and human factors that influence the acceptance of ERP systems in small manufacturing enterprises in South Africa is presented. These influencing factors may guide future initiatives aiming to ensure the acceptance of ERP systems by small manufacturing enterprise. A combined quantitative and qualitative data analysis approach was used as an analytical lens to interpret responses gathered from small manufacturing enterprises. Recommendations are made for future research on ERP system acceptance and adoption within the broader spectrum of small enterprises. / Information Systems / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Alternative Geschäftsmodelle wie Software as a Service (SaaS) und Open-Source-Software (OSS) steigern die Attraktivität von Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systemen für Kleine und Mittelständische Unternehmen (KMU). Jedoch stellen die Beratungsleistungen, die für die Konfiguration eines ERP-Systems zur Anpassung an die spezifischen Bedürfnisse eines Unternehmens notwendig sind, eine hohe Einführungshürde dar. Eine Konfigurationsoption, die bei vielen ERP-Systemen eine Rolle spielt, ist die Kategorienkonfiguration. Mit Hilfe einer automatisierten Konfigurationsunterstützung können Geschäftsführer von kleinen Unternehmen die Kategorienkonfiguration selbst durchführen und einen Teil der Einführungskosten einsparen. Im Rahmen der kumulativen Dissertation werden Automatisierungsansätze zur Konfigurationsunterstützung für die ERP-Kategorienkonfiguration generiert und auf das Open-Source ERP-System ERP5 angewandt. Die Automatisierungsansätze basieren auf Ähnlichkeitsberechnungen zu Falldatensätzen von 235 Unternehmen, Kategorien-Konsolidierung durch Umleitungsinformationen in Wikipedia-Artikeln, Templates und Meta-Templates. Die empirische Evaluation in einem Laborexperiment mit 100 Teilnehmern und eine Umfrage bestätigen die Gültigkeit, Nützlichkeit und Effektivität der generierten Ansätze. Die Konfigurationsunterstützung kann durch einen standardisierten Beratungsprozess und die Vermittlung des für eine konkrete ERP-Einführung notwendigen Wissens mittels Massenindividualisierung ergänzt werden. Dieser Ansatz wurde mit und für ERP5 umgesetzt und lässt sich auch auf andere Open-Source-Projekte übertragen.

身為台灣中小企業一員的汽車零配件貿易公司，在面對(汽車)產業大環境的劇烈轉變與中國大陸供應商的強勢競爭下，為了不被市場淘汰，透過建置其策略地圖、商品分類與顧客分析，重新檢視企業本身的資訊管理策略，計劃相關專案，並配合該公司所重視的營運指標與其資訊執行能力程度，做為判斷各專案的優先順序的依據，進而分配各相關專案預算；確保從規劃企業資訊策略到執行專案的所有步驟，皆以符合策略地圖上所描述”創造企業競爭優勢和策略價值”為目的。 / Being one of Taiwanese small and medium enterprises, an Auto Parts and Accessories trading company, suffers from the rapid change of the market and the fierce competitions from Chinese suppliers. In order to survive in the business environment, the company sets up the Strategy Map, makes the Product Categorization and Customer Portfolios Analyses, to get the best IT planning and initiate several IT projects to support its internal management processes. Also, according to its Business Criticality and Technology Maturity indicators, the company makes the priority for its IT projects and allocates the budgets. These actions are taken as the accomplishments of differentiating from market competitions and creating the strategic values just like the goals of its Strategy Map described.

"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de LLM en droit" / Le présent mémoire analyse le phénomène des prises de contrôle inversée (PCI). Cette technique permet à une société privée de se faire acquérir par une société publique coté en Bourse. Elle obtient de cette dernière, en contrepartie, un nombre si important de ses actions qu'à la suite de la transaction, la société privée contrôle la société publique qui vient légalement de l'acheter. D'où la prise de contrôle dite inversée. Le but de l'opération consiste pour la société privée à devenir publique rapidement, et ce, à coûts moindres, comparativement à un appel public traditionnel. La société privée profite ainsi de son nouveau statut pour se financer par un appel public à l'épargne publique par le biais de la Bourse. La piètre réputation associée à ce genre de transactions est due à la cupidité de quelques entrepreneurs peu scrupuleux qui ont comme objectif d'empocher un profit rapide au détriment du public investisseur. Avec comme résultat que ce type de transaction suscite, à juste titre, la méfiance des autorités réglementaires. Le dilemme peut donc être posé en ces termes: compte tenu de l'importance économique des PME en termes de création de richesse au pays, doit-on restreindre l'usage de la PCI au nom du principe de la protection des épargnants? En somme, la liberté commerciale doit-elle céder le pas à des craintes de nature réglementaire? Nous concluons que malgré ces craintes très réelles, la PCI, majoritairement utilisée par la PME, doit être maintenue et qu'en termes de politique réglementaire, les autorités devraient favoriser l'emploi par ces jeunes sociétés du programme de financement « Société de Capital de Démarrage» (SCD) mis en place par la Bourse de Croissance rsx. Malgré ses défauts évidents, ce programme doit être amélioré afin de promouvoir une PCI plus efficace, et ce, à l'intérieur du programme Sco. À cet égard, la SCD pourrait bénéficier de la crédibilité ainsi que de l'expertise indéniable de la Bourse de Croissance en matière de financement de jeunes entreprises. Idéalement, la SCD serait améliorée au point où elle rendrait la PCI, hors ce programme, inutile. En ce sens, la liberté commerciale de faire des PCI serait préservée, tout en assurant la protection du public investisseur. / This thesis endeavours to analyse the phenomenon of the reverse takeover (RTO). This technique allows a private company to be acquired by a public entity whose stock is listed on an exchange. The former obtains from the latter such an important part of its stock that following the completion of the transaction, the private company controls the public company which has just acquired it. The takeover is therefore deemed reversed. The purpose of the transaction from the private entity perspective is to gain the status and privilege associated with being a publicly listed company faster and at a fraction of the cost that would otherwise be the case with a traditional public offering. Thereafter the private company uses its newly acquired public status to tap the capital markets via the stock exchange. The poor reputation generally associated with this kind of transaction is in a large measure due to the greed of a few scam artists whose main motive is a quick profit at the expense of the investing public. The result of this situation is that the RTO is viewed with considerable scepticism by the regulatory authorities. The dilemma may therefore be set in the following terms: taking into consideration the economic importance of the small and medium business (SME) as a creator of wealth in the economy, should the competent authorities limit the use of the RTO in the name of investor protection. In other words, should the commercial freedom to use the RTO in order to finance SME take a back seat to regulatory concerns. We conclude that although the serious concerns levelled by the regulators are very real, the RTO which is used primarily by SME should be maintained. It is further argued that regulatory authorities should promote as a matter of policy the RTO sponsored by the Capital Pool Company (CPC) program provided for by TSX Venture. We find that this program should be upgraded to allow for a more efficient RTO under the rules of the CPC. In this regard, the program would gain from the credibility and the undeniable expertise of the TSX Venture in the realm of financing young and emerging companies. Therefore, ideally, this program would be improved to the point where it would render the RTO pursued out of the program useless. If this were the case, we conclude that commercial freedom would be preserved, while concurrently maintaining protection for investors and upholding the integrity of capital markets.

In the theoretical part, this master thesis deals with ICT, Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovations with a focus on the programme of support ICT in Enterprises. Furthermore, with the definition of SMEs and specific features of medium sized enterprise. In the practical part, an ICT project in a chosen company is described and analyzed. The project is evaluated and further opportunities of development of ICT in the company are suggested. The last chapter provides implications from the ICT area for similar businesses.

Diploma thesis interests in European Union support for small and medium enterprises. In the first part the diploma thesis defines the group of small and medium enterprises, it describes strong and weak points of small and medium enterprises and it probes the position of the European Union to small and medium enterprises. The second part describes in detail the four fields of the European Union support to small and medium enterprises: European Union funds, topical support, financial instruments to support small and medium enterprises and support of international performance of small and medium enterprises. The third practical part studies this system of support on three real companies which belongs to the category of small and medium enterprises. This part includes the concrete proposal to one of this companies how to get the grant.