Talented employees are leaving small businesses in the search for more lucrative opportunities where their talent is acknowledged, valued and able to grow. Dealing with voluntary talent turnover decreases profitability and becomes a roadblock for achieving strategic goals. Businesses incur additional costs to find and replace talent to maintain continuity. However, the time and money spent replacing talent does not guarantee turnover will vanish. What were the stimuli that caused disengagement? Were they strategically managed? Did employees leave because the initial stimuli were not addressed? These are all questions that can lead to decisive actions focused on reducing talent departure. The goal of a small business should be to find a balance where employee values are met and human capital levers are strategically managed; consequently adding value to small businesses by reducing unnecessary costs due to turnover. / text

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The strategies to employ when a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) enters the international market are important issues for a business to consider. This research study addresses the question “What strategies will position New Zealand manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises for international markets?” It is intended to compare various strategies for going global, discovering these through a literature review and personal interviews with New Zealand businesses who have successfully globalised. The research studies globalisation within manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in New Zealand. It explores strategies available in order to discover their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests key strategic directions for New Zealand manufacturing SME’s to use when entering into international markets. The research is intended to benefit New Zealand SME’s considering entering the international market place, which in turn will contribute towards benefiting New Zealand as a whole as it endeavours to position itself in the international competitive arena. Specific strategies for New Zealand manufacturing SME’s wishing to establish global markets are explored with implications for theory, research, and business practices. A case study approach was adopted, with multiple research methods used to gather information for the study. An experience survey in the form of personal interviews was used to gather a range of views from people with knowledge and experience in exporting to international markets. Documents were analysed, together with information gained through the interviews to compile case histories of the businesses that participated in this research. Strategies relevant to going global were identified in a literature review and these strategies were compared with actions and directions taken by the businesses interviewed. The analysis of the findings reveals congruence with theoretical strategies for globalisation of SMEs identified in previous studies; however it was found that decisions made when going global were highly dependent on the individual circumstances that a business finds itself in, rather than committing to strategies based on assumptions from academic studies. The businesses involved in this study went global through opportunities more so than strategic purpose. They had not set out to be a global enterprise, however when the opportunities arose their globalisation effort needed total commitment. Their experiences are discussed in this study and have relevance for other firms looking to go global.

The focus of this inquiry is “New Zealand small business employers’ perspectives of the important factors in return-to-work (RTW) of an employee following a musculoskeletal injury or an illness”. Whilst worldwide there is an increasing amount of attention focused on the RTW process in large organisations, there continues to be little understanding of this phenomenon in small businesses. I chose to use a social constructivist theoretical framework drawing on grounded theory methodology to construct some understanding of the employers’ perspectives of the RTW process. Eight small business employers from Auckland and Christchurch participated in this research. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews. Constant comparative analysis, theoretical sampling and thematic analysis were used to construct two themes from the data. The findings showed that small business employers prefer informal organisational approaches, rely on close working relationships with their staff, are generally wary of bureaucracy and often must run their businesses with limited staff and financial resources. Having an employee off work for a prolonged period of time creates a sizable gap in the staff resources that keep the business running. The employer has responsibility to fill this gap while maintaining a productive business. In the absence of formal injury management practices an ad hoc approach was taken to the RTW process. A number of the employers felt undervalued by key stakeholders, such as doctors, treatment providers, Accident Compensation Corporation and in some cases RTW co-ordinators. Health and safety was a risk all employers appeared to take seriously whereas injury management information and support seemed less of a focus. This research suggests there may be little focus on injury management in small businesses by employers and, that employers perceive greater government emphasis on injury prevention. The extent and associated costs of work disability in small businesses is as yet unknown, but it is likely to be significant. How to support and encourage the uptake of injury management in small businesses in the long term warrants further investigation. Understanding that employers may well lack injury management expertise, experience and resources requires stakeholders to make specific effort with the employer, at the workplace, to facilitate the RTW process.

Sammanfattning Examensarbete, Civilekonomprogrammet, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet. Författare: Fredrik Olofsson och Johannes Jacobson Handledare: Karin Jonnergård Medbedömare: Ulf Larsson Olaison Titel: Förväntningsgapet - En jämförelse mellan småföretagare och investerare Bakgrund: Fenomenet förväntningsgapet gör sig påmint vid finansiella kriser och företagsskandaler vilket placerar revisorsyrket i hetluften. Studiet av gapet är omfattande men jämförelser av gapet mellan olika grupper av allmänheten visar på ett visst tomrum. Detta tillsammans med ett resonemang att kunskap och utbildning ligger bakom skillnader i gapet utgör bakgrund för studien. Syfte: Arbetet har som syfte att undersöka om det finns skillnader i olika aktörers förväntningsgap samt jämföra dessa med varandra för att skapa förståelse ifall olika intressenter har olika förväntningsgap och vad detta beror på. Metod: Studien använder en deduktiv ansats och en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi tillsammans med en enkätstudie för att fånga småföretagarnas svar. Data för investerarna härrör från Nilssons (2016) avhandling. De bägge gruppernas svar har ställts mot varandra för att jämföra förväntningsgapet. Slutsatser: Studien finner att ett förväntningsgapet föreligger hos både småföretagare och investerare. En jämförelse av de två grupperna visar att en skillnad i gapet föreligger där småföretagare har ett statistiskt signifikant gap som är större än investerarnas. Detta resultat är i linje med flera andra studier om småföretagare och stärker antagandet om kunskap som bidragande orsak till gapets existens. Nyckelord: Förväntningsgapet, småföretagare, investerare, jämförelse / Abstract Master thesis in Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University. Authors: Fredrik Olofsson and Johannes Jacobson Supervisor: Karin Jonnergård Examiner: Ulf Larsson Olaison Title: The audit expectation gap - a comparison between small business owners and investors Background: The audit expectation gap makes itself known in times of financial crisis and corporate scandals which places auditors in the spotlight of critique. The study of the gap is extensive however comparisons of different groups of society reveals a gap in the literature. This together with an assumption that knowledge and education cause differences in the gap comprises the background for the study. Purpose: The study aims to examine differences in the audit expectation gap among small business owners and investors. Moreover, the study aims to compare the expectation gap of the two groups. Method: The study applies a deductive stance with a quantitative research strategy together with a questionnaire survey in order to collect data for the small businesses. Data for the investor group are drawn from Nilssons (2016) dissertation. The responses of the two groups have been put side by side to compare the gap. Conclusions: Results of the study find that an expectation gap exists among both small business owners and investors. A comparison of the two groups reveal differences in the gap where small business owners have a statistically significant gap that is greater than that of the investors. This result is in line with several other studies on small businesses and strengthens the assumption that knowledge is a contributing factor to the existence of an audit expectation gap. Keywords: Audit expectation gap, small businesses, investors, comparison

Esta dissertação objetiva identificar os obstáculos ao uso da tecnologia da informação na gestão estratégica da informação e propor soluções compatíveis à situação peculiar da pequena empresa. Apresenta uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o processo de gestão da informação, tecnologias da informação e as especificidades da pequena empresa. O trabalho de campo dividiu-se em duas fases: a primeira consistiu em um amplo levantamento exploratório-descritivo, que pôde ser classificado, devido sua natureza científica, como um estudo survey, a fim de se conhecer melhor as pequenas empresas pertencentes aos minidistritos; e a segunda fase correspondeu à aplicação do método de análise comparativa de casos, sendo que foram estudadas quatro indústrias de pequeno porte instaladas nos minidistritos industriais de São José do Rio Preto – SP, tendo-se como finalidade comparar os seus resultados entre si. A pesquisa permitiu identificar os tipos e fontes considerados relevantes, bem como a maneira como essas empresas realizam a gestão de suas informações. Percebeu-se que esse processo, em geral, é informal e assistemático. Quanto à utilização de tecnologias da informação foi observado que seu uso é modesto, principalmente no que tange àquelas que auxiliam as etapas do processo de gestão da informação. Os principais obstáculos identificados que dificultam a implantação e a utilização de tecnologias da informação são: o alto custo das tecnologias; a falta de tempo por parte dos dirigentes; a resistência humana em aceitar novas tecnologias da informação; o insignificante retorno sobre a produtividade e a dificuldade em lidar com a tecnologia da informação / This dissertation presents identify the obstacles for the use of the information technology in the strategic management of the information and propose compatible solutions with the specific situation of the small businesses. It presents a bibliographical revision of the process of information management, information technology and the specific characteristics of small businesses. The fieldwork was divided in two phases: the first carried out an broad survey exploratory and descriptive, that could be classified, in reason of it scientific nature, like a survey study, to aim to know better the small businesses belonged to minidistricts; and the second phase corresponded to the application of the method of the comparative studu of cases, was be studied four industrial of the small-sized installed in industrials minidistricts of the São José do Rio Preto – SP, having the objective compair its results one another. The research alowed identify the relevant types and sources, as well the way this enterprises do the management of your informations. It was realize that this process, in general, is informal and not systematic. How to utilization of the information technologies was realize that it use is modest, mainly in relation thats aims the stages of the process of information management. The mainly obstacles identified that make difficult the implantation and the use of the information technologies are: the high cost of the tecnologies, the scary time of the managers; the human resistence in accept news information technologies; the insignificant return about the productivity and the difficulty to deal with the information technology

Muito se tem estudado a respeito dos aspectos econômicos e mercadológicos dos Shopping Centers, focando-se essencialmente na relação destes empreendimentos com os consumidores finais. Este trabalho pretendeu abordar esta questão sob a ótica do lojista que se instala em um shopping center. E não exatamente um lojista qualquer, mas o pequeno lojista, ou o lojista satélite, como são chamados estes comerciantes nos empreendimentos. Através da hipótese de que por menor que seja o empreendimento comercial, sempre existirão critérios objetivos de escolha de ponto, procurou-se aqui sistematizar esses critérios, através de uma abordagem teórica que pudesse dar sustentação conceitual ao processo de escolha. Dentre as conclusões do trabalho, verificou-se que apesar de nem sempre aparente, o lojista tem uma clara percepção das características do ponto, embora às vezes tenha que optar por aquele ponto onde sua restrição de orçamento assim o permita. / Many researchers have studied economic and merchandising issues regarding shopping centers, focusing essentially on the relationship between the entrepreneurs and the consumers. This work is intended to provide a different approach, focusing on the relationship from the shopper-owner viewpoint, with an emphasis on small businesses. Based upon the hypothesis that even in the smallest commercial business, everyone should develop some technical criteria to assist in choosing their sites, the author tried to organize these methods, using a theoretical approach in order to support the site study process. Among the conclusions, it was verified that even when the owner cannot use the concepts to choose a site in a shopping center (e.g., because of a restricted budget), he/she has a clear idea about the quality and characteristics of the site locations.

Systemutvecklingsmetoder har funnits för att utveckla system och programvaror sedan vattenfallsmodellen gjorde sin introduktion på den tiden då IT kallades för data processning. Sedan dess har det funnits ett antal metoder, vissa av dem används än idag. Gemensamt för de flesta metoderna är att de är anpassade till mycket komplexa system som används inom stora organisationer. Inom det Svenska samhället så fanns det år 2005 över 890 000 småföretag (0-49 anställda) enligt statistiska centralbyrån. Det är lätt att förstå att småföretagen är viktiga för Sverige. För att Sveriges småföretag skall kunna överleva i en allt tuffare konkurrenssituation så är det viktigt att de hela tiden effektiviserar sina verksamhetsprocesser med exempelvis innovativa IT lösningar. Denna rapport kommer att undersöka tänkbara systemutvecklingsmetoder till småföretag och där efter specialanpassa en metod. / System development methods have existed to develop systems and programs since the waterfall model was introduced when IT was called data processing. There have been a number of methods since that day, some of them are still used. A common denominator for the most software development methods are that they where all developed to support software engineering to complex system in large organizations. Within the Swedish society there were over 890 000 small businesses (0-49 employed) in year 2005 according to statistiska centralbyrån. It’s no secret that the small businesses are very important to Sweden. To assure survival when the competition gets harder the small businesses must the entire time look over there business processes. Sometimes this means that they need new custom made IT systems. This thesis will examine possible system development methods for small Swedish businesses and adopt one method to fit small business software development.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur småföretag inom mediebranschen använder sig av sociala medier för att stärka sina relationer, sitt eget varumärke på företagsmarknaden och hur en bakomliggande strategi för detta är utformad. Uppsatsen är utformad efter en kvalitativ branschstudie. Ansatsen grundar sig i en deduktion med inslag av induktion. Studiens empiriska data utgörs av åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer inom mediebranschen. Studiens resultat visar att sociala medier öppnar upp för enkelhet, transparens och humor genom att visa upp personerna bakom varumärket. Detta bidrar till ett mer trovärdigt och personligt varumärke på företagsmarknaden. Sociala medier spelar en stor roll i den totala marknadskommunikation, däremot kan det inte ersätta den fysiska interaktionen. Resultatet visar att småföretag inom mediebranschen använder sig av sociala medier inom ramen för en icke uttalad strategi men som vi anser är att definiera som en strategi då ett likartat mönster visat sig. Ett mönster som påvisar att varumärkesbyggande sker genom referensmarknadsföring som möjliggörs lättare genom sociala medier. Därför bör sociala medier och referensmarknadsföring användas som en medveten strategi för att stärka varumärken och relationer på företagsmarknaden.

This study explores the effectiveness of the South African National Strategy for the development and promotion of small businesses in South Africa, where it first evaluates the effectiveness of the instructional framework created under the government’s National Strategy i.e. Centre for Small Business Promotion, Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency and Khula Enterprise Finance Limited for the attainment of the government’s National Strategy’s objectives of job creation, income generation and economic growth from an economic point of view. It also investigates the government’s National Strategy’s effectiveness with regard to services provision by both the financial service providers and non-financial service providers including the recipients of such services i.e. the SMMEs themselves from a business management perspective with regard to the success factors of functional areas of management. The study also evaluates some government departments which are not incorporated in the government’s National Strategy’s institutional framework and other business organizations all of which are engaged in small business development initiatives. The study further evaluates some parastatal organizations and provincial SMME desks in relation to the government’s National Strategy. Lastly the study evaluates the impact the government’s National Strategy has had on the small black economic empowerment mining companies as a sector, specifically if the government’s National Strategy has created an enabling environment for them to succeed in their small-scale mining operations. Job creation and growth of the small business sector will remain one of South Africa’s most urgent needs. Most severe social and economic ills result directly from inadequate progress in both these domains. Since the first democratic elections of 1994, an intensive process had been undertaken to address the urgent need for job creation and income generation, particularly among the majority black population. From these processes, policies were formulated, institutions created and funds allocated in the quest for these goals. While opinions may differ widely on the most effective measure to achieve steady progress, one factor has not been placed in doubt, namely that the richest source of job creation may come, not from the country’s big business sector, but from the small and medium enterprise sector. This reality is hardly unique to South Africa alone, but a proven fact in virtually every country developed and less developed alike. According to the study there seems to be a consensus that job creation ranks among the country’s most urgent priorities, along with AIDS, crime and education. High unemployment remains the obstacle to the country’s long-term social, economic and political stability. The government’s National Strategy was meant to address all these issues as it is a web that links many economic and social sectors of the country. Job creation in the all-important small business sector is not just an “industry” issue; it cuts across many different policy areas, from individual livelihoods, economic development, political empowerment, human resource development, market development and physical infrastructure. The government’s National Strategy, according to the study, is not perceived as a “strategy” as such, which would imply an integrated national plan linking all programmes at the national and regional level to achieve defined goals. It is however, seen as an array of independent, largely uncoordinated programmes, aimed at a common set of social and economic goals. A critical flaw in the government’s National Strategy, the study had also shown, is its failure to “segment its market”, namely to realistically differentiate its support among its two principal target groups - micro/survivalist enterprises and small/medium businesses - each with distinctly different needs. The government’s National Strategy also appears to have suffered from several internal contradictions especially with regard to the institutions created under its institutional framework. With regard to the implementation of the government’s National Strategy, the study has noted that the National Strategy seems to be leaderless and not effectively coordinated. The National Strategy also seems to have spawned an explosion of programmes and service providers, frequently duplicating other national and regional programmes. The Centre for Small Business Promotion within the DTI seems not to be playing the role it was intended to play while Ntsika’s centralised/standardised mode of operation makes adaptation of training to diverse local groups and needs very difficult and Khula’s programmes seem to have fallen short of their objectives, despite an effective and professional internal organization. Contrary to its design, provinces and municipalities do not play a major policy or operational role in the government’s National Strategy yet these are typically most informed and connected to local businesses and often have better understanding of the needs and success factors. With regard to the small black economic empowerment mining sector, the study has revealed that the government’s National Strategy has not been utilized effectively by this sector and because of this the government’s National Strategy has not played a pivotal role in creating an enabling environment for small-scale miners to fully succeed in their small-scale mining operations. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Marketing Management / PhD / Unrestricted