O que motivou a realização desse trabalho foi a pouca relevância que os estudos econômicos, em geral, atribuem à capacidade das firmas de pequeno e médio porte de inovarem. Essas firmas representam a maior parte das empresas brasileiras e respondem por mais de dois terços das ocupações do setor privado (SEBRAE, 2012). Dessa forma, entender essa questão é de fundamental importância, pois a inovação pode incrementar a competitividade dessas empresas diante da concorrência no mercado nacional e internacional. Abordagens recentes da Economia das Organizações relacionam as inovações às estruturas organizacionais das firmas (BARBIERI; ÁLVARES, 2004; COOMBS; METCALFE, 2005; GRANDORI; FURNARI, 2008, 2010). Assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa é investigar as combinações de estruturas de governança (interna e externa) que permitem maiores possibilidades de desenvolvimento das capacidades de inovação das pequenas firmas. Indo além da abordagem de Grandori e Furnari (2008, 2010), os quais mostram que existe uma relação entre as estruturas de governança interna e a capacidade de inovação das firmas, esta dissertação também incorpora o âmbito externo, na medida em que se admite que o processo de inovação envolva também interações entre as estruturas de governança externa à firma. Essas questões foram abordadas a partir da literatura da Nova Economia Institucional e testadas por meio de uma survey com 110 indústrias brasileiras de torrefação e moagem de café. Dois tipos de inovação foram investigados: i. produto; ii. método/processo. Para encontrar as combinações de elementos foi utilizada a Análise Comparativa Qualitativa (QCA) no software fs/QCA versão 2.0 (RAGIN, 2008). Tem-se como hipótese que a capacidade de inovar está mais presente em firmas que adotam um mix de estruturas de governança (interna e externa) do que as que apresentam estruturas singulares. Como resultado verificou-se que as estruturas de governança interna plurais, que combinam incentivos monetários, burocráticos e comunitários, apresentaram resultados mais consistentes para a inovação das pequenas firmas de torrefação. No que se refere às estruturas de governança externa, a principal estrutura apresentada foi a de mercado tanto do lado dos fornecedores quanto dos clientes. Essa estrutura singular não apresentou resultados significativos para as capacidades de inovação, corroborando com a hipótese apresentada. Observou-se ainda que a combinação entre as estruturas de governança interna e externa não é complementar, visto que para as firmas de torrefação inovadoras as estruturas de governança interna foram as que mais tiveram impacto. Esses resultados, ao permitirem identificar os requisitos organizacionais que produzem maiores possibilidades de inovação, podem ajudar a traçar ações de políticas públicas e privadas para as empresas brasileiras de modo a melhorar a sua taxa de inovação e a competitividade em seus mercados. / The motivation for this work is the lack of relevance generally ascribed by economic studies to the innovative ability of small and mid-sized firms. These firms represent the majority of Brazilian companies, accounting for over two thirds of employment in the private sector (SEBRAE, 2006). Understanding of this issue is important, because innovation can enhance their competitiveness in the global and domestic market. Also, recent approaches from the Economics of Organizations associate innovations with the organizational structures of firms (BARBIERI; ÁLVARES, 2004; COOMBS, METCALFE, 2005; GRANDORI, FURNARI, 2008, 2010). This work therefore aims to find the combinations of governance structures (internal and external) that allow the greatest scope for developing the innovation capacity of small firms. Going beyond Grandori and Furnari\'s approach (2008, 2010), which demonstrates that a relationship exists between internal governance structures and a firm\'s innovation capacity, this paper also incorporates the external framework insofar as it accepts that the innovation process also involves interactions between governance structures external to the firm. We draw on the literature of the New Institutional Economics to address these issues and test them through a survey of 110 Brazilian R&G coffee industries. Two types of innovation are investigated: i. product; ii. method/process. To determine the combinations of elements we used the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) software fs/QCA, version 2.0 (RAGIN, 2008). Our hypothesis is that the ability to innovate is more prevalent in firms that use a mix of governance structures (internal and external) than in those with a singular structure. As a result, it was found that plural internal governance structures, which combine monetary, bureaucratic, and community incentives, have more consistent innovation results for small roasting firms. With regards to external governance structures, the main structure presented--concerning both customers and suppliers--was the market. This unique structure did not show significant results for innovation capacity, supporting the present hypothesis. It was also observed that the combination of internal and external governance structures is not complementary, because for the innovative R&G firms the internal governance structures saw the greatest impact. In allowing the identification of the organizational requirements that create greater opportunities for innovation, these results can help chart the actions of public and private policies which enable Brazilian companies to improve their rate of innovation and competitiveness in their markets.

Submitted by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br) on 2013-04-17T16:22:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO ZHEN ZHANG.pdf: 1129033 bytes, checksum: 709ff2e366ed9724f354a04a3f3835cc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br) on 2013-04-17T16:22:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO ZHEN ZHANG.pdf: 1129033 bytes, checksum: 709ff2e366ed9724f354a04a3f3835cc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-17T16:29:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO ZHEN ZHANG.pdf: 1129033 bytes, checksum: 709ff2e366ed9724f354a04a3f3835cc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-27 / Brasil e a República Popular da China iniciaram a sua relação diplomática em 1974, na época, o comércio entre Brasil e China foi de apenas 17,42 milhões de dólares, 5 anos depois, em 1979, a escala deste comércio bilateral aumentou 12 pastas. Hoje em dia, o comércio bilateral entre a China e o Brasil já contava mais de 57,000 milhões de dólares USD. China tornou-se já o primeiro parceiro comercial do Brasil, e do Brasil em troca torna-se o primeiro parceiro comercial na América Latina. Esta dissertação teve como objetivo compreender os obstáculos para as PME brasileiras e chinesas no comércio entre os dois países e dar recomendações às autoridades públicas e empresas privadas sobre como superá-los. Com uma análise qualitativa, baseada em entrevistas com as empresas chinesas e brasileiras para identificar quais são os obstáculos mais graves para as empresas brasileiras e chinesas para beneficiar mais o comércio bilateral. O estudo feito pela OCDE-APEC em barreiras de internacionalização das PME é usado como um quadro para melhor identificar quais são os obstáculos mais graves no caso das PME brasileiras e chinesas.

Le contexte de cette recherche s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un contrat Cifre, passé entre un laboratoire (le GLYSI, devenu MODYS), une entreprise (petite PME de 70 salariés, proposant des solutions téléphoniques aux très petites entreprises) et l’ANRT. Une telle coopération présentait plusieurs avantages, tant pour la recherche sociologique que pour la PME. La recherche a ainsi pu obtenir de travailler sur un segment d’entreprise encore peu étudié, c'est-à-dire les TPE de 0 à 9 salariés, tant du point de vue de l’organisation que de la communication et de pratiquer une sociologie appliquée par le concours d’une immersion totale dans l’entreprise. La PME, quant à elle, attendait de comprendre les attentes futures de sa clientèle finale grâce à une méthodologie qualitative dont la spécificité est d’apporter des éclairages différents et complémentaire à ceux du pôle marketing et d’apporter des réponses aux problèmes de communication internes et aux cloisonnements géographiques.La recherche menée dans le domaine de la sociologie des organisations stricto sensu porte essentiellement sur la question du lien qu’entretiennent entre elles la communication et l’organisation d’entreprise et pose l’hypothèse que ce sont les prises de décisions qui relient ces deux éléments. Les résultats de l’analyse mettent également en exergue l’importance relative des NTIC dans le fonctionnement des TPE. Quant à la recherche menée pour le compte de l’entreprise, elle est rapidement confrontée à un contexte de marché particulier. Le marché des télécommunications traverse une période tourmentée puisque France Télécom en perd le monopôle. Ce faisant, le groupe France Télécom modifie ses appels d’offres, ce qui, à terme, va entrainer la fermeture de la PME. / The contexte of this research takes place within the framework of a contract Cifre.This contract was signed between a laboratory (the GLYSI, become MODYS), a company (small and medium-sized entreprise (SME) of 70 employees proposing phone solutions in very small entreprises) and the ANRT. Such a cooperation presented several advantages, both for the sociological research and for the SME.The research was so able to obtain to work on a segment of company still little studied, the very smalls companies from 0 to 9 employees, both from the point of view of the organization and of the communication, and to practise a sociology applied thanks to a total dumping in the SME, as for it, waited to understand the future waits of it final clientele thanks to a qualitative methodology and to bring answers to the internal communications problems and to the geographical subdivisions. The research concerns essentially the question of the link that maintain between them the communication and the organization of company and put the hypothesis that it is the decision-making which connect these two elements. The results of the analysis also highlight the relative importance of the new tools of information and communication in the functioning of the very small entreprises. As for the research led for the company, it is quickly confronted with a context of particular market. The market of telecommunications crosses a restless period, because France Télécom loses the monopole. In so doing, the group FT modifies its calls for tender what, later, is going to entrainer the closure of the SME.

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.

The overall economic development during the nineteenth and twentieth century has left us with an interconnected global society. However, the pollution does not adhere to the boundaries of nation-states. Therefore, the sustainability issue calls for holistic solutions on all levels of society, from individuals to states, large NGOs, and in particular the companies that produce the goods we consume. Corporate initiatives on this matter are usually referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR. Many large corporations have been under scrutiny from different stakeholders ever since the early 1990’s and it is no longer possible for them to neglect their responsibility for i.e. pollution or human rights. However, smaller actors do not receive as much attention as their larger competitors, due to lower stakeholder awareness. With this background, this master thesis aims at investigating how small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the apparel industry in Sweden perceive their opportunities and challenges when working with CSR in their global supply chain. Thus, the thesis hopes to help bridge a scientific gap, and also connects to Supply Chain Management, SCM. This was accomplished through a literature review that identified and categorized different aspects of the problem. Following this, a multiple-case study with eight different brands was carried out, interviewing representatives from the organizations. The results show, among other things, that for SMEs, top management and/or owner values and commitment are of significant importance. This is in line with the literature. On the other hand, aspects like difficulties with language and cultural barriers were not an issue, contrary to the current academic research on SMEs. This was said to be due to the organizations extensive implementation or use of social capital through long-lasting business relations, which is another characteristic of the SME sector identified by the literature. Existing industry initiatives and cooperation between brands can work, but external help to manage these projects is essential for their success. Available Environmental Management Systems (EMS) on the other hand are often considered too expensive, time-consuming or unknown to end-consumers to be implemented. On the contrary, harsher government regulation and enforcement, both in Sweden as well as in the production countries are advocated. This is particularly noticeable, since generally, private sector representatives tend to be against government regulations. / Mistra Future Fashion

Abstract This study examines the phenomenon of corporate brand co-creation in the context of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in business-to-business (B2B) markets. The aim of this study is to better understand how external stakeholders co-create a corporate brand—brand image and identity—and what characterises these brand co-creative stakeholder relationships. Branding is regarded as a social and interactive process in which the company and its stakeholders are both considered active participants. In addition to the corporate branding literature, this study builds on industrial network theory, service-dominant logic and organisational identity theory. The empirical contribution of the study is conducted using qualitative interview and case study methods to analyse the phenomenon longitudinally and from a multi-stakeholder perspective. The primary empirical data are generated through interviews of B2B SME experts and the case company’s management, employees and key partners during the period 2010–2013. Narrative approach is employed in the data generation and analysis. The study shows that corporate branding is a holistic process that is influenced by various stakeholders. In particular, the key partners can be actively involved in co-creating a company’s corporate brand. External stakeholders are involved in corporate branding through interactions with the company and other stakeholders. The study identifies a number of co-creative actions performed by external stakeholders that influence the corporate brand image, either directly or indirectly. The study also shows that stakeholder cooperation, interaction and dialogue are central in corporate brand identity development, as they help companies to understand and adapt to the competitive environment and to define the corporate brand’s unique and central features in relation to it. At the relationship level, corporate brand co-creative stakeholder relationships are characterised by dependency and mutuality. The significance of various stakeholder relationships in branding, however, varies across situations, at different stages of the company’s lifecycle and at the relationship portfolio level; they can be understood as context-dependent, evolving and dynamic. Managers can use the findings of this study to identify the key stakeholders that are central in co-creating corporate brands and to employ their resources and integrate their activities to strengthen the corporate brand. / Tiivistelmä Tämä väitöskirja tutkii yritysbrändin yhteisluomista yritystenvälisillä markkinoilla (B2B) toimivien pk-yritysten kontekstissa. Tutkimus pyrkii ymmärtämään miten yrityksen ulkoiset sidosryhmät osallistuvat yritysbrändin – brändi-imagon ja -identiteetin – luomiseen ja mikä on luonteenomaista yritysbrändiä yhteisluoville sidosryhmäsuhteille. Brändäystä tarkastellaan sosiaalisena ja vuorovaikutteisena prosessina jossa yritys ja sen eri sidosryhmät nähdään aktiivisina toimijoina. Tutkimus nojaa brändikirjallisuuden lisäksi verkostoteoriaan, palvelulähtöiseen ajatteluun sekä organisaatioidentiteetti-teoriaan. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osuus toteutettiin laadullisena haastattelu- ja tapaustutkimuksena jossa ilmiötä tarkasteltiin eri sidosryhmien näkökulmasta sekä pitkittäisesti. Tutkimuksen ensisijainen empiirinen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla B2B pk-yritystoiminnan asiantuntijoita sekä tapausyrityksen johtoa, henkilöstöä ja avainyhteistyökumppaneita vuosina 2010–2013. Aineiston keruussa ja analyysissa on käytetty narratiivista lähestymistapaa. Tutkimus osoittaa että yritysbrändäys on kokonaisvaltainen prosessi johon vaikuttaa yrityksen lisäksi myös sen eri sidosryhmät. Erityisesti avainyhteistyökumppanit voivat olla aktiivisesti mukana luomassa yrityksen brändiä. Yrityksen ulkoiset sidosryhmät osallistuvat yritysbrändin luomiseen vuorovaikutuksessa yrityksen sekä muiden sidosryhmien kanssa. Tutkimuksessa tunnistetaan useita ulkoisten sidosryhmien brändiä yhteisluovia toimintoja, jotka vaikuttavat yritysbrändi-imagoon joko suoraan tai epäsuorasti. Tutkimus osoittaa lisäksi, että yhteistyö, vuorovaikutus ja dialogi sidosryhmien kanssa ovat keskeisessä roolissa yritysbrändi-identiteetin kehittymisessä, sillä ne auttavat yritystä ymmärtämään sen kilpailuympäristöä, sopeutumaan sen vaatimuksiin sekä määrittelemään brändin keskeiset erottuvuustekijät suhteessa siihen. Tutkimuksen perusteella yritysbrändiä yhteisluoville sidosryhmäsuhteille on suhdetasolla ominaista riippuvuus ja vastavuoroisuus. Eri sidosryhmäsuhteiden merkitys yritysbrändin kannalta vaihtelee eri tilanteissa sekä yrityksen eri elämänvaiheissa. Suhdeportfoliotasolla brändiä yhteisluovia sidosryhmäsuhteita voidaankin luonnehtia kontekstisidonnaisiksi, muuttuviksi ja dynaamisiksi. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää yritysbrändäyksen kannalta keskeisten sidosryhmien tunnistamisessa sekä niiden resurssien hyödyntämisessä ja toimintojen integroimisessa brändäyksessä.

Rejoindre la Liste du Patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO nourrit des espérances économiques, sociales et culturelles de la part des gestionnaires locaux, qui sont le plus souvent à l’initiative de la candidature. En effet, la valorisation du patrimoine porte des enjeux territoriaux tels que la mise en tourisme de la ville ou l’amélioration du cadre de vie pour ses habitants. Pourtant la littérature scientifique pointe aussi les effets pervers d’une patrimonialisation urbaine, notamment quand sont décrits les processus de gentrification des centres villes ou leur muséification. À l’interstice de ces aspects, notre questionnement porte sur les conséquences socio-spatiales de l’action patrimoniale sur ses ressortissants, c’est-à-dire ceux qui en sont les principaux destinataires. Notre parti pris méthodologique a été, à partir du cas de la Cité épiscopale d’Albi (Tarn) inscrite sur la Liste du Patrimoine mondial en 2010, de mobiliser une approche quantitative et qualitative auprès des principaux destinataires (résidents, commerçants, visiteurs). Le résultat de notre thèse est de confirmer que les conséquences socio-spatiales de l’action publique patrimoniale ne sont pas univoques selon les acteurs et les échelles d’analyse considérés. Elle produit des effets ambivalents par rapport aux objectifs annoncés dans le domaine de l’attractivité, dans celui de l’implication des habitants à la vie de la cité et dans le sentiment d’appartenance à la ville. De même, les pouvoirs publics n’arrivent pas à totalement empêcher la patrimonialisation de produire des effets non désirés dans le domaine de l’altération du cadre de vie des habitants. / Joining the UNESCO World Heritage Sites brings economic, social and cultural hope to the local administrators, who are, the most often, at the initiative of the application. As a matter of fact, the enhancement of the heritage carries territorial stakes such as the touristic development of the city or the quality of life improvement for the inhabitants. However, the scientific literature also points out the negative sides of an urban heritage designation, for instance, when in city centres gentrification or “museumification” processes are described. At the crossroads of these aspects, we question the socio-spatial consequences of the heritage activities on the inhabitants, i.e. those who are the main recipients. Our methodological bias was to mobilise a quantitative and qualitative approach to the main recipients (inhabitants, shopkeepers, visitors) in the case of the Episcopal City of Albi (Tarn) registered on the UNESCO’s list of world heritage in 2010. The result of our thesis is to confirm that the socio-spatial consequences of the public heritage action are not unequivocal depending on the stakeholders and the scale of analysis considered. It produces ambivalent effects compared to the goals announced regarding the attractiveness, the inhabitants' implication in the city life and sense of belonging to the city. Likewise, public authorities are not fully able to avoid the heritage activities producing undesired effects on the living conditions of the inhabitants.

Magister Legum - LLM / This mini-thesis aims to contribute to the debate around the legislative process by summarizing and analysing it comprehensively. It will, without being exhaustive, seek to identify the most important legal requirements that the future Statute needs to meet in order to facilitate cross-border business of small and medium-sized businesses. It seeks to systematise and comment on the most important legal Key Issues and therefore clarify and enrich the debate. / South Africa

Bakgrund: Att flytta hem tidigare outsourcad produktion har blivit allt mer förekommande bland svenska företag. Insourcing har även anammats av små och medelstora företag vilket ter sig särskilt förvånande då de bland annat besitter begränsade resurser, både finansiella och kunskapsmässiga. Varför denna form av strategiska förändring har skett i denna typ av företag är fortfarande relativt outforskat. I denna studie kommer därför de motiv som finns till insourcingbeslut men även vilka beslutsunderlag som ligger till grund för beslutet i SMEs att identifieras. Genom detta skapas en ökad förståelse för vilka grunder ett insourcingbeslut tas i SMEs. Syfte: Studien syftar till att identifiera vilka motiv som ligger till grund för insourcingbeslut i SMEs samt att förklara varför motiven har uppkommit. Vidare syftar studien till att beskriva vilka beslutsunderlag som används vid ett insourcingbeslut i SMEs samt huruvida de identifierade motiven påverkar beslutsunderlagens innehåll. Metod: Metodvalet för studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie på fem svenska företag inom SME-definitionen som verkar i olika branscher. Slutsats: I studien har ett antal olika motiv till insourcingbeslut i SMEs identifierats där även en förklaring kring motivens uppkomst har gjorts. Två nya insourcingmotiv har identifierats: bredda sin kompetens och reducera lagerkostnader. Det som även var utmärkande gällande insourcingmotiv i SMEs är att de mest förekommande motiven går att relatera till att företagen vill genomföra någon form av strategisk förändring i verksamheten. Vi har även konstaterat att resursanalyser i form av totalkostnad samt kompetens- och investeringsbehov som det viktigaste underlaget som SMEs använder sig av vid ett insourcingbeslut. Det kan även konstateras att SMEs prioriterar beslutsunderlag som kan kopplas till de motiv som beslutet har tagits på, varför vi genom denna studie har kunnat identifiera ett nytt underlag: beslutsunderlag relaterade till specifika motiv. Motivbilden väger även tyngre än de ekonomiska analyserna vid ett beslut i SMEs. / Background: It has become more frequent among Swedish companies to transfer back previously outsourced production. Insourcing has also been accommodated in small and medium sized enterprises. This can seem surprising since they possess limited resources, both financially and logically. Why this strategic transformation has occurred in this kind of company is still relatively unexplored. This thesis will identify not only the incentives for insourcing, but also what kind of decision making constitutes the basis for insourcing in SMEs. By doing this, an increased level of knowledge for insourcing decisions in SMEs will be achieved. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to identify the incentives for insourcing in SMEs and to explain why they occurred. Further, the purpose of the thesis is to describe the decision making that creates the basis for insourcing in SMEs, and whether the incentives of insourcing effects the basis for decision making. Method: The method of the thesis is a qualitative interview study of five Swedish companies in different lines of business. Conclusion: Several different incentives for insourcing in SMEs have been identified and a description regarding the origin of the incentives is presented. We have identified two new incentives for insourcing: broaden their knowledge and reduce warehousing cost. Regarding insourcing incentives, it was found that the most frequent incentives are related to the fact that the companies want to implement some kind of strategic change within their organization. We have also identified resource analysis in terms of total cost and requirement of skills, to be the most important basis of decision making used by SMEs. It can also be noted that SMEs prioritize the basis of decision making that can be connected to the incentives. When making the insourcing decision in SMEs, the incentives for insourcing are of higher importance than the financial analysis. Method: The method of the thesis is a qualitative interview study of five Swedish companies in different lines of business.

The thesis deals with the quality of business environment of the Czech Republic, nevertheless, the main goal of the thesis is to evaluate the current system of the export support. Firstly, the opening chapter attempts to define the term business environment theoretically, after that it puts forward the possibilities of quantifying the quality of this indicator and then summarizes its evolution specifically in the Czech Republic. The second chapter is particularly devoted to the system of economic diplomacy in the Czech Republic and concentrates primarily on the support of export as a part of national business support programs. In this context, the thesis analyses in full detail the Export Strategy of the Czech Republic for the period 2012-2020, its updated version of 2016 and also how defined goals are met on an ongoing basis. The final part provides the export survey carried out within small and medium-sized enterprises. This survey evaluates whether the system of the state export support is generally known and used within this segment.