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The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a cloud business intelligence model for industrial SMEs. An initial model was developed to accomplish this, followed by validation and finalization of the cloud business intelligence model. Additionally, this research employs a mixed-techniques approach, including both qualitative and quantitative methods. This paper aims to achieve the following objectives: (1) Recognize the Cloud business intelligence concepts. (2) Identify the role of cloud BI in SMEs. (3) Identify the factors that affect the design and presenting a Cloud business intelligence model based on critical factors affecting SMEs during pandemic COVID-19. (4) Discuss the importance of Cloud BI in pandemic COVID-19 for SMEs. (5) Provide managerial implications for using Cloud BI effectively in Iran’s SMEs.

In the current study, an initial model was first proposed, and the cloud business intelligence model was then validated and finalized. Moreover, this study uses a mixed-methods design in which both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. The fuzzy Delphi Method has been applied for parameter validation purposes, and eventually, the Cloud business intelligence model has been presented through exploiting the interpretive structural modeling. The partial least squares method was also applied to validate the model. Data were also analyzed using the MAXQDA and Smart PLS software package.

In this research, from the elimination of synonym and frequently repeated factors and classification of final factors, six main factors, 24 subfactors and 24 identifiers were discovered from the texts of the relevant papers and interviews conducted with 19 experts in the area of BI and Cloud computing. The main factors of our research include drivers, enablers, competencies, critical success factors, SME characteristics and adoption. The subfactors of included competitors pressure, decision-making time, data access, data analysis and calculations, budget, clear view, clear missions, BI tools, data infrastructure, information merging, business key sector, data owner, business process, data resource, data quality, IT skill, organizational preparedness, innovation orientation, SME characteristics, SME activity, SME structure, BI maturity, standardization, agility, balances between BI systems and business strategies. Then, the quantitative part continued with the fuzzy Delphi technique in which two factors, decision-making time and agility, were deleted in the first round, and the second round was conducted for the rest of the factors. In that step, 24 factors were assessed based on the opinions of 19 experts. In the second round, none of the factors were removed, and thus the Delphi analysis was concluded. Next, data analysis was carried out by building the structural self-interaction matrix to present the model. According to the results, adoptability is a first-level or dependent variable. Regarding the results of interpretive structural modeling (ISM), the variable of critical success factors is a second-level variable. Enablers, competencies and SME characteristics are the third-level and most effective variables of the model. Accordingly, the initial model of Cloud BI for SMEs is presented as follows: The results of ISM revealed the impact of SME characteristics on BI critical success factors and adoptability. Since this category was not an underlying category of BI; thus, it played the role of a moderating variable for the impact of critical success factors on adoptability in the final model.

Since this study is limited to about 100 SMEs in the north of Iran, results should be applied cautiously to SMEs in other countries. Generalizing the study's results to other industries and geographic regions should be done with care since management perceptions, and financial condition of a business vary significantly. Additionally, the topic of business intelligence in SMEs constrained the sample from the start since not all SMEs use business intelligence systems, and others are unaware of their advantages. BI tools enable the effective management of companies of all sizes by providing analytic data and critical performance indicators. In general, SMEs used fewer business intelligence technologies than big companies. According to studies, SMEs understand the value of simplifying their information resources to make critical business choices. Additionally, they are aware of the market's abundance of business intelligence products. However, many SMEs lack the technical knowledge necessary to choose the optimal tool combination. In light of the frequently significant investment required to implement BI approaches, a viable alternative for SMEs may be to adopt cloud computing solutions that enable organizations to strengthen their systems and information technologies on a pay-per-use basis while also providing access to cutting-edge BI technologies at a reasonable price.

Before the implementation of Cloud BI in SMEs, condition of driver, competency and critical success factor of SMEs should also be considered. These will help to define the significant resources and skills that form the strategic edge and lead to the success of Cloud BI projects.

Most of the previous studies have been focused on factors such as critical success factors in cloud business intelligence and cloud computing in small and medium-sized enterprises, cloud business intelligence adoption models, the services used in cloud business intelligence, the factors involved in acceptance of cloud business intelligence, the challenges and advantages of cloud business intelligence, and drivers and barriers to cloud business intelligence. None of the studied resources proposed any comprehensive model for designing and implementing cloud business intelligence in small and medium-sized enterprises; they only investigated some of the aspects of this issue.

This paper aims to present a dynamic model based on casual relationships among the most important effective factors on business–IT alignment in Agile businesses by using system dynamics modeling approach.

To study the most important factors on agility and alignment, the data were collected by questionnaires filled by 201 experts and were analyzed by SPSS and PLS. Casual relationships among studied factors and efficiency coefficients of each factor were identified by fuzzy DEMATEL technique and analyzed by MATLAB and EXCELL. Finally, the dynamic model was plotted by VENSIM.

According to the results, only “learning IT capabilities” are the most important casual factor that has the highest influence on the other factors. “Business responding capabilities” take the highest effect from the system, and “business sensing capabilities” are in the next rank.

This study underpins effective IT deployment toward developing efficient IT capabilities to gain greater agility.

The dynamic capabilities view (DCV) has emerged as an influential theoretical and management framework in modern IS and agility researches. In this regard, we propose a conceptualization of dynamic capabilities in the form of an alignment model. Based on the dynamic capabilities, and on the alignment perspectives found in Henderson and Venkatraman’s seminal model, IT alignment is modeled as a process of reconfiguration of the firm’s IT and organizational resources, competencies and capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between factors that influence conducting business and the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Sub‐Saharan African (SSA) and Asian countries.

The factors of business climate defined by the World Bank in 2006 as ease of doing business were correlated with FDI flows to SSA and Asian countries.

Two factors, “registering property” and “trading across borders”, were found to be related to FDI over all six years of the study (2000‐2005) for the combined sample. Also, several factors were found to be related to FDI received by SSA and Asian countries during various years.

A limitation of the study is that the sample included only SSA and Asian countries.

The findings may help SSA and other countries to improve the business climate in terms of the factors of ease of doing business, in order to attract more FDI.

The paper provides empirical support to the hypothesis that FDI is related to some of the factors of the business climate. It advances understanding of the determinants of the inflow of FDI to African and Asian countries and may be particularly useful to international organizations seeking to do business in SSA and Asian countries.

The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, the authors have conducted a systematic investigation considering the historical pandemic periods (1991–2021) over 30 years to identify critical factors and business failure phenomenon during pandemics to explore “what”, “why” and “how” factors contributing to business failure during the COVID-19 pandemic and secondly identified interlinks of these factors to explain the phenomenon of business failure strategically through various quantitative models.

Firstly, the critical factors were identified through previous literature and systematically reported in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. To remove any bias in critical factor selection, Delphi method was employed. In the second phase, m-TISM approach was adopted to understand the interrelationships of the factors to develop the hierarchy levels. Lastly, MICMAC analysis was also done to evaluate the driving and dependence powers of the critical factors. For implementation of the stated methodology, expert opinion was collected to assess the critical factors based on their knowledge and experience. A total of seven experts were involved in this study.

Two major takeaways from the results of phase one were that “external environmental changes” was at the highest level and had the highest driving power as well as the lowest dependence power, while “inappropriate marketing techniques” was at the lowest level and had the highest dependence and lowest driving powers.

The ever-developing digital technologies act as a synonym to innovation and are shaping up to be the key to future-proofing any industry. However, before one can move towards developing effective strategies to mitigate any business disruptions, there is a need to assess the causes of business failures in the first place which is a major managerial implication identified through this study.

This paper can be considered as the first few studies to conduct a systematic investigation considering the historical pandemic periods (1991–2021) over 30 years to identify critical factors and business failure phenomenon during pandemics to explore “what”, “why” and “how” factors contributing to business failure during the COVID-19 pandemic and secondly identified interlinks of these factors to explain the phenomenon of business failure strategically through various quantitative models.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

This study aims to investigate and analyze the factors affecting the probable failure of rural entrepreneurs so that the most important factors responsible for failure in the business of small and local entrepreneurs are identified.

The present survey was conducted through the descriptive-analytical method by using a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population of the study included 1,641 greenhouse owner entrepreneurs in five rural communities. To clarify the key criteria affecting probable failure of greenhouse businesses, LISREL 8.8 computer software was used and the effects of selected indices on the process of probable failure of entrepreneurs were assessed using stepwise regression in the SPSS computer application environment.

According to the results, individual and managerial skills factors, deterrent financial and legal issues, social barriers and infrastructural issues investigated in this study were of the first to the fourth priorities in clarifying factors affecting probable failure of greenhouse businesses. Considering the intragroup relations in these factors, it could be said that individual and managerial skills factors and infrastructural issues had the highest correlation coefficient which could be attributed to individual and management weaknesses of entrepreneurs in understanding infrastructural issues as the most important parameters to be considered in starting businesses.

So far, few studies analyzed the failure of rural entrepreneurs and evaluated the probable factors affecting it. Thus, the present study is among the earliest instances in the field and its results could be of great benefit to domestic entrepreneurs and similar cases in other countries.

This paper focuses upon the role of factoring in small business finance and the profile of firms using it. The analysis refers to a comprehensive survey of UK providers of factoring services. This identifies the relatively focused provision of factoring in terms of size, age, sector and stage of growth of the client base (ie businesses) using this financial service. For those using factoring, the service may provide a valuable improvement to cash flow and working capital position and can possibly contribute to small business growth and development. In its present format, however, factoring is not the potential financial solution for all firms across all industries.

This article aims to evaluate total quality management (TQM)-enabling factors' impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and business performance through evidence from Vietnamese coffee firms.

Based on collecting data via in-depth face-to-face interviews with employees, who are working in the Vietnamese coffee companies. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach has been employed to investigate the relationship among the TQM-enabling factors, corporate social performance (CSP) and business performance.

A total of 13 TQM-enabling factors have been identified and divided into two categories, namely human and functional. The statistical results revealed a positive signal to remarkably enhance CSP and business performance by adopting those TQM-enabling factors into Vietnamese coffee firms.

The framework model of this research should be evaluated in different contexts worldwide or in another sector that can further identify the TQM-enabling factor and the correlation among these constructs.

This article provides top managers of Vietnamese coffee firms with knowledge of TQM-enabling factors that may enable them to meet superior performance, including CSP, finance and reputation.

This is a unique study to employ the approach into the Vietnamese coffee industry context up-to-date, which is one of the essential sectors affecting Vietnam's sustainable development.

This article aims to investigate motivations, success factors, problems, and business‐related stress of entrepreneurs in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises and relates them to the success of the Chinese entrepreneurs.

A total of 196 entrepreneurs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were randomly selected for a survey, which was analyzed to determine motivations, success factors, problems, and business‐related stress by gender. Ordered logit models were applied to motivation and success factors.

Results showed that 68 percent were male and 32 percent female. The average age of the entrepreneurs was about 32 years old and time devoted to their business was almost 45 hours per week. Of the total respondents, 56 percent were married and 44 percent single. When asked to indicate their motives for business ownership, these entrepreneurs suggested that increasing income, becoming their own boss, and to prove that they can succeed were the most important reasons. Reputation for honesty, providing good customer services, and having good management skills were reported to be necessary conditions for business success. Friendliness to customers and hard work were also critical for high‐performance enterprises. Among the problems encountered by entrepreneurs, unreliable/undependable employees were the most critical. Intense competition and lack of management training also proved to be great challenges for Chinese entrepreneurs.

Policy makers can strengthen its small business entrepreneurs by promoting the factors that lead to entrepreneurs' success, such as the ability to manage personnel and management skills through business outreach services provided by universities, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. In addition, the government has the ability to simplify the tax system, and reduce payroll taxes. Technical assistance in areas such as market research, human resources management, and technological support should be provided to small business owners.

This study applied to Chinese entrepreneurs in addition to an extensive analysis of the factors that affect motivations, success, problems, and business stress.

This paper aims to identify important factors affecting the success of Muslim women entrepreneurs (WOE) in the Medan city, North Sumatera province in Indonesia. There are 19 factors that are derived from trait-based, social psychological-based and behavioral-based approaches.

A descriptive, exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses are used in this study. There are 110 respondents of members of Indonesian Woman Entrepreneur Association and Indonesian Muslim Women Entrepreneur Association in North Sumatera, Indonesia.

The profile of Muslim WOE is elaborated, and 19 important factors are rated, while the top three factors of each approach are analyzed and discussed. This paper prioritizes the important factors and develops a framework that acts as a reference for success factors of Muslim WOE.

For the government, the rules and regulations must be created to support and facilitate the Muslim WOE and to conduct programs to enhance the development of their business. While for the researchers, they could see an increasing interest of Muslim WOE in business. With a combination of frameworks, the list of important success factors can be compared with the research studies by male counterparts and can be used for further studies.

The success in business is achievable regardless of gender difference. The Muslim WOE make everyone recognize the challenges that they were exposed to and the struggles that they have overcome in managing a business as what men may have already been through.