Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

African countries have recently experienced an extraordinary and largely unanticipated boom in the uptake of mobile phones, and increasing rates of access to the internet. This thesis investigates how and why these information and communication technologies (ICT) are being adopted for use in Tanzanian micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and explores the changes they are bringing about to the existing business culture of marginalised economies. The study covers three sub-sectors of the Tanzanian economy: perishable foodstuffs trading, the informal construction industry and the export of African blackwood carvings. The analysis is based on fieldwork undertaken over a total of 15 months in 2002 and 2003, during which time business networks were revealed by physically following entrepreneurs and their contacts operating in different locations throughout the country. Entrepreneurs were asked to draw their own comparisons between the traditional pre-ICT situation and the improved ICT access of today. The discussion is informed by the findings of semi-structured interviews with these individuals, excerpts of which are presented in the text to give voice to the entrepreneurs. Various ingenious and at times unconventional methods of access to, and appropriation of, ICT is uncovered. Together these suggest that official indicators underestimate the thirst for digital consumption, especially for mobile phones, and help explain the flourishing informal economy of handset acquisition. Internet penetration and uptake for use in business, on the other hand, is revealed to be far slower. Nevertheless, the research does reveal that a sizeable amount of poorer entrepreneurs are using a triumvirate of hired or shared ICT – mobile phones, the Internet and the ‘old’ ICT of fax – to create what can appear to be a more formal enterprise than it may actually be. The ‘mobile office’ effectively allows poorer entrepreneurs to operate without premises, thereby saving costs on rent and allowing the enterprise to remain informal. This heralds a considerable change in the working practices of a significant branch of informal sector operators who have gone unnoticed, and calls for a reconstruction and redefinition of this crucial source of entrepreneurship in developing economies. Despite the huge uptake of mobile phones in particular, the work also cautions that some traditional pre-ICT aspects of the African business culture look set to remain for some time. It becomes clear that where entrepreneurs do decide to use ICT, reputation and recommendation are still very significant. This information is usually passed on when an entrepreneur meets in person with contacts from his very fluid informal networks of knowledge. Trust, and the need for direct, personal interaction through face-to-face contact – one of the most pervasive features of African MSE economies – emerge as a common theme across the case study industries and are likely to remain a crucial aspect of the way most MSE business is conducted. Mobile phones are seen to play a crucial role in improving the exchange of supply-anddemand information domestically, while a combination of applications (particularly e-mail) appear to act as tools with which to refresh relationships with sources of market information outside the country. It is suggested that ICT may be able to help entrepreneurs in moving from the personal to the impersonal exchange – a challenge that many other African businesses will also have to come to terms with as the Internet becomes an ever more important global trading tool.

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The role played by Micro and Small Enterprises in many economies globally is huge and important. It is even more significant for economies in Africa such as South Africa where there are high levels of poverty and unemployment. In South Africa, Micro and Small Enterprises can contribute towards addressing the challenge of poverty and unemployment, given their proven history of job creation. However, their contribution is constrained by the lack of access to credit for growth, which is a result of a deficit of credit information among other contributing factors. This inhibits their growth. In South Africa, developmental credit was introduced through the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 to improve access to credit for low-income earners, including Micro and Small Enterprises. This type of credit is different from other types of credit because it bypasses the challenge of credit information, allowing the credit application of Micro and Small Enterprises to be assessed without the use of credit information (credit history). However, since the introduction of the Act, there has been little uptake and granting of developmental credit. This dissertation aimed to determine the reasons for this. This dissertation uses a qualitative research approach. Interviews were conducted with Micro and Small Enterprises and questionnaires administered with developmental Credit Providers, and the National Credit Regulator. Therefore, qualitative information from the above credit market stakeholders was analysed to get to the findings. The findings of this research are three-fold. In respect of credit providers, findings show that, despite the legislative provisions, there is still the use of credit information by large financial institutions, which adversely affects access to developmental credit. Findings for Micro and Small Enterprises reveal that there is a lack of knowledge of this type of credit. This is affected by the fact that Micro and Small Enterprises perceive credit as being difficult to access because of the use of credit information, which they lack, and therefore do not explore various types of credit available and suitable for their businesses. Furthermore, there are only a few credit providers, which provide developmental credit in the country; this affects their footprint in the country and different provinces. Lastly, the findings on legislation are that the requirements to register as a developmental credit provider limit the number of credit providers, which can register to provide developmental credit.

Background: Small enterprises are critical to the Swedish and European economies accounting for a significant portion of job creation and overall employment. However, the understanding of how innovation and development are carried out within small enterprise contexts remains limited. By examining the furniture-manufacturing industry this study aims to shed light on the practices and strategies employed by SMEs to foster innovation and development   Purpose: This master's thesis investigates and explores how small enterprises in the furniture-manufacturing industry in Sweden manage their innovation and development. The study addresses the research gap by answering the following research question:                                   How do small enterprises within the furniture-manufacturing industry in Sweden manage their innovation and development?   Method: This study employed a qualitative research design, using semi-structured interviews with owners/managers of small enterprises in the furniture-manufacturing industry in Sweden. A purposive sampling technique was used to select participants. The collected data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach to identify patterns and themes related to innovation and development management in small enterprises.   Conclusion: This study examined how small enterprises within the furniture industry in Sweden manage innovation and development practices across three stages: ideation, testing and refinement, and production. The study's results show that the designer and CEO are always involved. Furthermore, management practices were found to vary depending on the stage of the product development process. The study highlighted the importance of environmental and sustainable considerations in the ideation stage. In the testing and refinement stage, the management practices were more informal but efficient and involved

No / In recent years, management training development has secured an increasingly important place in the life of the business managers. After the peace agreement, to find a solution for the apparent lack of managerial strength, many management-training programmes (MTPs), of an off-the-job nature, have been established in the Palestinian Territories. The main objective of this paper is to explore the obstacles and weaknesses facing MTPs for business managers' development. The paper achieves this objective by dividing the identified weaknesses into four broad categories, namely, MTPs weaknesses, obstacles specific to the Palestine situation, and trainers' and managers' weaknesses. The primary data has been generated through a survey of the SME managers who have participated in MTPs in Palestine. To demonstrate the effects of MTPs on small businesses, different but relevant sets of variables were employed and subjected to statistical analysis. It is concluded that although there are major obstacles and weaknesses facing the development of SME managers, the findings, however, can be used to enhance the effectiveness of the future MTPs and indeed the performance of SMEs as a result. They also firmly point to the need for further management development in Palestine.

Enterprises utilize information and communication technology, including websites, to market themselves and expand their businesses. However, employing this technology is not always a guarantee of success, especially for small enterprises. This is often due to limited resources and to the extent of having web skills present within the enterprise. Deciding who will design the website for a small enterprise is therefore of importance since a well designed website is a requirement to attract interest in visitors. The design of a website is also a main factor for the first impression to a visitor, a website that is visually appealing tends to give a greater confidence at first glance. This thesis is based on the interest of small enterprises considerations about what website design development characteristics and objective characteristics is generating more positive first impressions. To find this out, interviews together with subjective and objective measures of visual aesthetics were conducted to immerse in the aesthetics of small enterprise websites. The methods implemented gave variables to test in a correlation analysis. This correlation analysis showed that two web development characteristics had strong correlations with users' perception of visual aesthetics. None of the objective aesthetic attributes based on previous theories gave any strong correlations. These characteristics were therefore supplemented with other objective characteristics, which gave two strong correlations. / Företag använder sig informations- och kommunikationsteknik, inklusive hemsidor, för att marknadsföra sig själva och för att växa som företag. Användandet av denna teknik är dock inte alltid en garanti för framgång, särskilt inte för småföretag. Detta beror ofta på begränsade resurser och i den utsträckning att det finns kompetens inom webbprogrammering i företaget. Beslutet att bestämma vem som ska design hemsidan för ett litet företag är därför av stor betydelse, eftersom en väl designad hemsida är ett krav för att locka intresse för besökare på hemsidan. En hemsidas design är också en viktig faktor för det första intrycket hos en besökare av en hemsida. Hemsidor som är visuellt tilltalande tenderar att ge större förtroende vid första anblicken. Denna masteruppsats bygger på intresset hos småföretags överväganden om vilka webutvecklingsegenskaper och objektiva estetiska egenskaper i en webbdesign som genererar mer positiva första intryck. För att ta reda på detta, genomfördes intervjuer samt subjektiva och objektiva mätningar av visuell estetik för att fördjupa sig i estetiken hos småföretags hemsidor. De genomförda metoderna gav variabler att testa i en korrelationsanalys. Denna korrelationsanalys visade att två utvecklingsegenskaper hade starka korrelationer med användares perception av visuell estetik. Ingen av de objektiva estetiska egenskaperna baserade på tidigare teorier gav starka korrelationer. Därför kompletterades dessa med andra objektiva egenskaper där två av dem gav starka korrelationer.

Fatores como a carência tecnológica, contratação de mão de obra pouco qualificada, estrutura produtiva precária, necessidade crescente de adaptação à mudanças constantes de mercado e às novas regras estabelecidas pela economia global. Ressaltam a necessidade de utilização de técnicas que forneçam informações para serem utilizadas como base para o gerenciamento das pequenas e médias empresas. Essas informações servem como fundamento para o processo de tomada de decisão. E os indicadores de desempenho surgem como uma oportunidade de melhoria que impulsiona a organização para o desenvolvimento tecnológico e para o auto gerenciamento dentro dos níveis operacional (chão de fábrica na produção), tático (supervisores) e estratégico (diretores, gerentes). O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver indicadores de desempenho para a atividade de beneficiamento de madeira em uma empresa de pequeno porte. Para tanto, o desenvolvimetno foi realizado inicialmente com a elaboração de fluxogramas dos processos (macro) executados pela empresa e do processo produtivo, que é o principal foco desse trabalho. A partir dos fluxogramas, os pontos críticos do processo produtivo foram identificados utilizando a técnica "Brainstorming não estruturado". A seguir foi aplicada a técnica FMEA (failure mode and effect analysis) em cada ponto crítico, visando avaliar o impacto desses pontos no processo produtivo e para cada um elaborou-se um estudo de causa utilizando Diagrama de Ishikawa. A partir do estudo da causa foram desenvolvidos indicadores de desempenho para atuar em pontos críticos. Os indicadores auxiliam a empresa durante o processo de tomada de decisões com base em fatos e dados, auxiliam o gerenciamento da rotina, sinalizam alterações no processo, apontam necessidades de treinamentos para a equipe, permitem a redução de erros e o desenvolvimento de oportunidades de melhoria. / Factors like the lack of technology, the hiring of a not very well quantified labor, a poor productive structure, an increasing necessity of adjustment to constant changes in the market and to new rules established by global economy, encourage the need for the use of techniques that supply information to be used as the base for the management of small and medium enterprises. These information are fundamental in the process of making decision. This way the performance indicators come up as an opportunity of improvement that drives the organization to words a technological development to the self - management in operational levels (the basic ground in production), tactical (supervisors) and strategical (directors, managers). This study aimed to develop performance indicators for sowed wood improvement in a small enterprise. Therefore, the development of performance indicators was firstly realized planning of with the fluxograms planning of the process that are executed by the enterprise (macro processes) and of the productive process, which is of this study the main points of this study. From the fluxograms, critical points of the productive process were identified by using the "not structured brainstorming" technique the FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) technique, was applied in each critical point in order to valuate their impact in the productive process. A case study was planned for each point by using the Ishikawa Diagram. The performance indicators were developed based on the case study and it works on the critical points of productive process. These indicators help the enterprise during the process of taking decisions based on facts and data in the routine management, show the changes in the process, point out the needs on which the crew must be trained, allow the reduction of number of failures and develop opportunities.

O presente trabalho tem como propósito levantar as principais barreiras enfrentadas pelas micro e pequenas empresas (MPEs) na Cidade da Matola. Para tanto, fez-se uma fundamentação teórica sobre as barreiras enfrentadas pelas MPEs e sobre políticas e instrumentos governamentais de apoio às empresas deste porte. A fundamentação teórica apoiou o desenvolvimento de uma triangulação da pesquisa empírica baseada em duas fases. A primeira fase consistiu na coleta de dados junto a 21 empresas de micro e pequeno porte, por meio de entrevistas onde posteriormente fez-se a identificação das principais barreiras enfrentadas pelos entrevistados e daí conduziu a segunda fase do trabalho de campo que foi as entrevistas junto as entidades governamentais de modo a saber o que estes tem feito para minimizar ou mitigar as barreiras identificadas pelos empresários. Os resultados mostram que as barreiras de financiamento e de concorrência são as principais barreiras enfrentadas pelas MPEs na Matola e que estas variam de acordo com o ramo de atuação das empresas. A dissertação vai servir para enriquecer o estado da arte sobre a temática das micro e pequenas empresas e sobretudo vai ajudar a suprir o déficit de pesquisas acadêmicas em Moçambique. / This paper aims to identify the main barriers faced by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the city of Matola. As such, there is a theoretical framework about the barriers faced by MSEs and on government policies and instruments to support enterprises of this size. The theoretical foundation supported the development of a triangulation of empirical research based on two phases. The first phase consisted of collecting data from 21 micro and small businesses, through interviews where later became the identification of the main barriers faced by the interviewees and then led the second phase of fieldwork was that the interviews with government entities in order to know what they have done to minimize or mitigate the barriers identified by entrepreneurs. The results show that the barriers to financing and competition are the main barriers faced by MSEs in Matola and that barriers vary according to branch of activity of enterprises. The paper will serve to enrich the state of the art on the theme of micro and small enterprises and especially will help meet the shortage of academic research in Mozambique.