The main aim of this thesis is to create a business plan to open the e-shop with secret gifts and evaluate the viability of the plan. Thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The practical part is formed on basis of theoretical information: purpose, users, principles and main points of structure of the business plan. The practical part is formed by own business plan. This part includes description of the product and owner, market, customer analysis, suppliers, competitor analysis, human resources and marketing, risk, and financial analysis. The suitability for implementation of the business plans is evaluated in conclusion of the thesis.

This thesis deals with the use of accounting data for information support of small and medium-sized enterprises users. This thesis covers not only technical and procedural aspects of reporting. The first part of the thesis provides broader insight into SME and their limitation factors, future development of accounting and accounting profession and also insight into data presentation. In the second part there are examples of statements, which could be part of specific accounting systems for SME and could be used by internal users.

The thesis deals with the influence of internal and external factors on the innovative behaviour of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim is to identify key factors influencing the innovative behaviour of SMEs and to assess their relevance and impact. The theoretical part of the thesis is focused on innovations, innovation process and the external and internal conditions for innovations. Corporate innovation strategy and interaction with customers were identified as the key factors. In the practical part of the thesis a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out on a purposively selected sample of innovative SMEs from the Czech Republic. The influence of barriers and external and internal factors on the innovation performance of SMEs was statistically analyzed. Testing of the influence of barriers on the innovation performance of SMEs discovered that the lack of foreign capital and insufficient readiness of employees to innovate are the most frequent factors inhibiting innovation in SMEs. Statistical sensitivity analysis of the survey results suggests that the most significant factors influencing the innovative behaviour were external, namely domestic and foreign competitors, suppliers and customers.

The doctoral thesis deals with innovations in small and medium-sized enterprises and is particularly focused on the open innovation paradigm. In the theoretical part it explains the relationship between innovations and competitive advantage and provides a broad overview of the current research in the field of open innovations. Based on the theory and supported by the secondary research, it defines research questions and hypotheses that are tested within a survey distributed among Czech small and medium-sized enterprises. Results of the survey serve as a foundation for own models allowing broader implementation of open innovation in Czech small and medium-sized enterprises.

The objective of the thesis is to analyse the German export and to analyse German indirect foreign trade promotion. The first part examines export weaknesses and risks and their impacts on German economy. The second part investigates and evaluates the institutional arrangement of the foreign trade promotion system and compares it with selected European economies.

This research aims to explore the borrower-specific financial constraints that prevent black youth entrepreneurs in Tshwane from accessing finance to for their own start-ups. To achieve its goal, the research seeks to explore whether there are significant differences between black youth entrepreneurs in Tshwane in terms of their personal demographics, business information and personal factors towards business. The empirical results and theoretical literature are examined to facilitate a better understanding of the borrower-specific financial constraints preventing access to finance for start-ups by youth entrepreneurs. These learnings contributed to the body of knowledge relating to entrepreneurship development in South Africa. The literature review revealed that although youth entrepreneurial activity is vital to sustained economic growth, access to finance is the challenge that negatively impacts youth entrepreneurial activity globally. More specifically, the literature indicates that borrower-specific factors to a large extent prevent youth entrepreneurs from accessing finance for their start-ups. The borrower-specific financial constraints are described. During this research, data was obtained by way of a judgment sample using a structured questionnaire consisting of 40 questions. A total of 110 useable questionnaires were returned. The findings of the study reveal that there are no significant differences for respondents in relation to factors for personal savings, business acumen and credibility differences. There are significant differences to certain factors for borrower-specific financial constraints, such as the intention to commence business start-up, gender and the educational level of respondents in relation to their attempt to access finance. Finally, significant learnings from the research are that the poor attitude of black youth towards saving are similar to youth reviewed in the literature, and the culture of South African black youth towards entrepreneurship has improved. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The Blueberry situation in Peru is in a stage of development, in which it is necessary to incorporate good management practices as well as productive to raise the competitiveness of the enterprises. The findings were synthesized and analyzed, to propose improvements and to support the growth of the small companies in the long term. The improvement proposal is based on the best practices and supply chain models applied in the industry. Also, the research was based on sources of information from researchers with experience in evaluating and analyzing the supply chain of the perishable sector in different scenarios worldwide. / Revisión por pares

This Master’s thesis deals with the analysis of current situation in a company ARMO Green, its environment and with the analysis of factors with which is company influencing its market surroundings. On the basis of findings, the work includes the proposal of support of future development of this business company.

As firms intend on entering low-income markets as a result of stagnation in developed economies, they face numerous organisational barriers within their firms and external that hinder entry and ensure continued success in these markets. In order to successfully serve these BoP consumers in emerging markets, new innovative business models are required; however there are entities that are currently serving the BoP successfully – these are Small and Medium Enterprises.The purpose of this study was to deepen our understanding of why small and medium sized businesses have been successful in low-income markets through an understanding of their business models and their competitive advantages over MNCs.The objective of this report, hence, was to explore the business models for firms that are currently serving the BoP successfully and what their competitive advantages are as compared to their MNC counterparts within the South African context. Using the grounded theory approach of building theory from data that offers a new perspective on the BoP for MNCs a framework resulted and was theorized from the data from interviews with owners of SMEs in the FMCG manufacturing domain. The BoP Blueprint is a framework that describes elements of business models of SMEs in the context of SME Fundamentals – basic business fundamentals and the Customer Core – focus on the customer. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with owners from 11 different companies to test the research questions that were derived from the literature.As a result of the grounded theory, no unique or innovative business models were discovered that made these SMEs successful contrary to the literature and the essence of the findings is that MNCs need to focus on fundamental business practises with the customer as the centre of their decisions when entering BoP markets. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The need for this research stemmed from the fact that most of what we know about the internationalisation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) emerges from developed countries; little is known about internationalisation of African SMEs or, in particular, South African SMEs. The impact of globalisation, trade liberalisation, and technology advancement on SMEs is that they face increased competition right on their doorstep. To remain in existence and sustain their growth, SMEs are concertedly seeking opportunities in foreign markets. In order for SMEs to succeed and exploit international opportunities, they develop and rely on networks to compensate for their liability of foreignness, as well as their lack of resources in terms of finance, marketing, human capital, reputation, and technology.This research investigated the effect of resource acquisition networks on the internationalisation of small and medium enterprises. The study involved SMEs who had internationalised their operations. Data were collected through unstructured interviews in Phase One and semistructured interviews in Phase Two of this research study, with SME owners and their managers who were responsible for international operations. The key focus was the three research propositions dealing with networks, which focused on three network characteristics: network diversity, network density, and network size.The findings show that the South African SME internationalisation process is highly influenced by resource acquisition networks. SMEs use their networks to exploit international opportunities by accessing resources that they lack internally. A highly diversified and highly connected network is significant to the SMEs’ opportunity identification of and access to resources, while the size of the network is quite important. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted