<p>The use of external providers for the provision of information and communication technology (ICT) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is expected to increase. At the end of the 1990s the concept of Application Service Provision (ASP) and Application Service Providers (ASPs) was introduced. This is described as one way for SMEs to provide themselves with software applications. However, it</p><p>can be stated that the concept has not taken off. This study examines what reasons influence the decision-making when deciding to use or not use ASP. The research question is: How do SMEs decide on using an Application Service Provider for the provision and maintenance of ICT? In order to answer the question decision-making processes in SMEs have been investigated in an interpretive case study. This study</p><p>consisted of mainly semi-structured interviews that were done with three different ASPs and customers related to them. It also consisted of a questionnaire to the customers of one of the service providers. The analysis was then made as a withincase analysis, consisting of detailed write-ups for each site. The interviews and a literature survey of the ASP concept and theories that have been used to explain the ASP decision-making process generated seven constructs. From the presented and discussed theories, models and proposed constructs seven propositions were formulated. These propositions were used for the analysis and presentation of the findings in the study. The main conclusion of the study is the disparate view of what affects the adoption or non-adoption of the ASP concept. The service providers express the decision as a wish from the prospective customer to decrease costs and increase the predictability of costs. The customers on the other hand express it as a wish to increase accessibility; the cost perspective is found to be secondary.</p>

Vorliegender Leitfaden ist eines der Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojekts „Open Innovation in Life Sciences“ (OIL), das von Mai 2008 bis April 2011 an der Universität Potsdam durchgeführt wurde. Er nimmt für sich in Anspruch, gerade Innovationsmanager in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) der Pharmaindustrie bei der Einführung des Open Innovation Managements zu unterstützen. Zielsetzung des Forschungsprojekts war es, (1) die Chancen und Risiken von Open Innovation unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Anforderungen von Pharma-KMU zu analysieren und (2) daraus abgeleitet ein Konzept zur Implementierung von Open Innovation bei Pharma-KMU zu entwickeln. Der Ausgangspunkt des Projektes war die Erkenntnis, dass die Life Sciences-Branche im Allgemeinen und die Pharmaindustrie im Besonderen durch eine steigende Komplexität der Innovationsprozesse und eine zunehmende Tendenz zu Kooperationen gekennzeichnet ist. Vor diesem Hintergrund eröffnet gerade der Open Innovation-Ansatz für die Pharmabranche neue Gestaltungs- und damit Wachstumsmöglichkeiten. Open Innovation – definiert als die planvolle Öffnung der Innovationsprozesse und die strategische Einbindung des Unternehmensumfelds – wird dabei als zentraler Erfolgsfaktor für die Innovationsfähigkeit beschrieben. / The job title of innovation manager is a comparatively new phenomenon in innovation management. The field of responsibility spans the entire innovation process, from fundamental research, development and production, until the market launch. The competencies include technology, product, service and market orientation, and an innovation manager should have skills in both the strategic as well as the operational sphere. They direct the innovation process, cultivate both internal and external contacts and organise the communication of all persons involved. It is self-evident that these tasks – particularly in the pharmaceutical industry with its complex and long-term processes – present a considerable challenge for every innovation manager. With this in view, the following guidelines are directed primarily at innovation managers in medium sized pharmaceutical companies. The guidelines convey the knowledge and tools that enable the development of market and customer oriented products and services in the pharmaceutical industry from the very start. By means of images and descriptions it demonstrates which steps should be followed from idea generation, to project realization, until the market launch. The centerpiece is formed by the division of the innovation process into manageable, clearly defined phases, specifically tailored for the pharmaceutical industry. The guidelines particularly focus on the question of how customers, suppliers, competitors, etc. can be integrated into this process. This approach – termed open innovation in innovation management – when applied as a deliberate strategy, has the potential to reduce the costs of development and to raise the speed of passage of projects.

<p>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.</p>

La tesi analizza le strategie di internazionalizzazione delle imprese agroalimentari di piccole e medie dimensioni, con particolare riferimento al caso italiano. In particolare, vengono prese in esame diverse forme di alleanze strategiche interorganizzative che tali imprese possono adottare per incrementare l'espansione internazionale e l'ingresso in nuovi mercati. A questo proposito, la tesi è essenzialmente articolata in due studi, uno riguardante il lato "a monte" della catena del valore (ossia il mercato di fornitura), e l'altro il versante "a valle", ossia il mercato del cliente finale. / The thesis analyzes agrifood SMEs internationalization strategies, with specific reference to the Italian case. In particular, the study focuses on the different forms of interorganizational strategic networks to foster geographic expansion and foreign market entry. Regarding this matter, moreover, the thesis is basically articulated in two studies, one concerning the upstream side of the value creation system (i.e. the supply market), while the other the downstream side (i.e. customer market).

Laut dem Weltklimarat ist es zweifelsfrei, dass sich das Klima global ändert. Ein sich veränderndes Klima wirkt sich jedoch nicht nur auf die Umwelt, sondern auch auf Unternehmen aus. Diese Auswirkungen können sowohl positiver als auch negativer Art sein. Um auf diese Auswirkungen adäquat zu reagieren, ist es zunächst von Bedeutung, die positiven als auch negativen Effekte zu identifizieren und diese entsprechend zu interpretieren. Ziel der Befragung ist es daher, zu erfassen, wie sich Unternehmen vom Klimawandel betroffen fühlen und wie diese darauf reagieren. Des Weiteren wird untersucht, welche Faktoren einen Einfluss auf den Anpassungsprozess haben. Für die Befragung wurden im Juni 2012 über 2.000 Handwerksbetriebe angeschrieben, wovon insgesamt 207 Unternehmen antworteten. Zwei Drittel dieser Unternehmen nimmt den Klimawandel wahr. Allerdings fühlte sich in der Vergangenheit die Mehrheit der Unternehmen von Extremwetterereignissen nicht betroffen. Die größten negativen Einflüsse werden gegenwärtig als auch in der Zukunft bei den Kältewellen gesehen. Innerhalb des Unternehmens sind insbesondere die Logistik und der Einkauf in Zukunft negativ betroffen; positive Wirkungen werden sich hingegen beim Absatz erhofft. Insgesamt erwarten die Unternehmen eher negative als positive Effekte aus dem Klimawandel, wobei insbesondere das Nahrungsmittelgewerbe und das KFZ-Gewerbe mit negativen Auswirkungen auf ihren Betrieb rechnen. Da sich nur wenige Unternehmen von Extremwetterereignissen bzw. dem Klimawandel betroffen fühlen, verwundert es nicht, dass fast drei Viertel der Unternehmen keine Anpassungsmaßnahmen planen und der Teil, der Anpassungsmaßnahmen umsetzt(e) bzw. beabsichtigt umzusetzen, eher einen geringen Anteil ausmacht. Dies könnte darauf zurückgeführt werden, dass in etwa jedes zweite Unternehmen die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels gegenwärtig nicht finanziell spürt. Darüber hinaus fehlen finanzielle Eigenmittel, private Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten und öffentliche Fördermöglichkeiten. Des Weiteren besteht eine hohe Unsicherheit, ob Extremwettereignisse überhaupt auftreten, und welche Anpassungsmaßnahmen möglich wären. Basierend auf den Befragungsergebnissen ist zu empfehlen, Unternehmen mit Informationen zur Thematik Klimawandelfolgen und Anpassungsoptionen zu versorgen, Unternehmen zu Risikoanalysen zu motivieren und mögliche finanzielle Unterstützung im Rahmen der Anpassung an die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels anzubieten.

Much research has been conducted within Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and it is currently a highly debated topic. Today, CSR is not only pursued in response to public pressure, but is also seen as a source of competitive advantage and differentiation. The problem that this thesis deals with is that many SMEs do not use CSR as a proactive competitive tool in a strategic manner. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to develop an evaluation framework for SME‟s CSR projects, and to use this framework to analyze Casall‟s CSR projects in order to provide recommendations for Casall regarding strategic CSR. CSR as a concept is first discussed with the use of previous literature. This leads to the development of an evaluation framework for SME‟s CSR projects. The methodology is carefully considered, and a qualitative case study is chosen to be conducted at Casall. The results and analysis are presented in accordance with the theoretical framework and method. An in-depth analysis is conducted with the help of the evaluation framework. This leads to recommendations on Casall‟s existing and future engagement in CSR projects. The five recommendations are to simplify the guidelines for producers, adapt the guidelines for producers, get engaged in the local community, implement an internal code of conduct, and raise customer awareness of their engagement in CSR. This thesis contributes to the academic society by combining theories into a practical framework for evaluating SMEs‟ CSR projects. More specifically, the framework is used to guide Casall in their future CSR involvement. The framework can also be useful for other SMEs to evaluate and integrate suitable CSR projects into corporate strategy.

During the past decade, advances in information technology have facilitated the rapid international expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Cloud computing has enabled a new wave of firms to offer services on the web regardless of geographic distances. The aim of this study is to explore how cloud computing affect the external variables network and culture in the internationalization process of an SME. In order to explore the impact on these external variables, a qualitative case study is carried out on a business-to-business SME offering cloud services within small and open economies. The findings explain why closeness was important and why the cloud service firm was limited to a gradual internationalization process although the technology has the potential to break this pattern or accelerate it. The results from this study are valuable for scholars since the internationalization process of cloud service firms is an under-researched area. It is also useful for cloud service SMEs when making strategic decisions in the internationalization process.

The world market has during recent decades become an increasingly globalized arena, in which lowered trade barriers, enhanced technology, worldwide communication and containerization have made internationalization an easily obtainable option for companies. The once dominating multinational enterprises are present day challenged by small- and medium sized enterprises as global actors, and competitiveness is an ever-increasing factor, making the pursuit and exploitation of opportunities essential.   The International Entrepreneurship Theory has during the last two decades emerged as a theory explaining the phenomena of small- and medium sized enterprises internationalizing their operations at an early age; a theory comprehending entrepreneurial behavior, the ability to explore and take advantage of opportunities overlooked by others in order to create value in the organization.   The purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding of the emergence, definition and theoretical framework of the International Entrepreneurship Theory. By implementing a deductive research approach and a quantitative research method, empirical data is collected in order to confront the theoretical framework in the analysis. The analysis will further be the basis for conclusions and recommendations that will conclude our thesis.

The most dominating type of company in Sweden is the small-sized business and it usually lacks its own marketing department. The purpose of this paper was to analyze several small Swedish businesses which are specialized in different sectors of the Mechanic/Technology industry but they are similar in terms of having niched products and they are leading companies in the world. The objective was to do research about how small businesses work with marketing despite its lack of resources and capital. This survey has shown that customer contacts, customer relationships and especially for those investigated companies, it was very important to focus on globalization and product development in order to build a Point of Difference.

The increasing impact of mass production and consumption behaviours have made sustainable product design an important issue in design literature in the last two decades. Studies in the early period focussed on research projects carried out in collaboration with multinational large-sized enterprises, owing to pressures from non-governmental organizations. However, recent studies about sustainable development have pointed out that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rather than multinationals have a greater share of manufacturing and employment in both industrialized and industrializing countries. Unfortunately, in spite of the important role of SMEs, there is inadequate data and literature relating sustainable design practices to these firms. A lack of information and collaboration, caused partially by communication problems, has resulted in an absence of proper sustainable product design tools for these companies. Furniture enterprises in Ankara are the focus of this study because of the impact of product design in market possibilities and the spread of employment of product designers in the sector. Attitudes of staff and consultants of furniture SMEs regarding barriers and opportunities of sustainable product design are explored, and contrasted with overlapping points of existing product development methods and strategies in the literature. This work is intended to contribute to improved understanding and application of sustainable product design among furniture sector SMEs. To this end, interviews were conducted with 16 furniture manufacturing enterprises from the furniture industry, based in Ankara region and 5 freelance furniture designers cooperating with these enterprises. According to the results of the study, furniture sector SMEs are interested more in economic opportunities of sustainable product design rather than environmental and social aspects. Furthermore, a lack of information about environmental issues is observed in micro and small-sized enterprises / to overcome this situation, it is recommended that training sessions are organized to bring together researchers and practitioners.