Search results

This paper aims to draw on the organizational ecology theory to examine variations in branding efforts and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across enterprises sizes and business operating sectors.

A four-stage analysis involving principal component analysis, Pearson correlation, ANOVA and logistic regressions was used on a sample of 430 SMEs within an emerging market.

Principal component analysis identified four brand marketing efforts relevant to the SMEs. These efforts were used in fluctuating extents among small-sized versus medium-sized enterprises, as well as manufacturing versus services SMEs. Additionally, proportionate levels of performance corollaries were found to be accruable across the enterprise sizes and operating sectors.

The paper first identifies four brand-building efforts germane to SMEs within an emerging market and examines their precise contributions to firm performance within enterprise sizes and business operating sectors. It further reinforces the relevance of brand marketing programs to the growth of SMEs by establishing the likelihood and extent to which brand-building efforts impact on SME performance across enterprise sizes, as well as operating sectors. The study also presents issues of potential research and managerial interest from an emerging market, offering insightful implications to researchers and SME managers.

This study aims to investigate the impacts of procurement strategies on the growing proportion of construction small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and whether the size of the construction company moderates the effect.

This study adopted a quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional questionnaire survey in achieving its objectives. The survey requires the respondent to identify both the most successful and most outstanding project that the respondent was involved in between 2010 and 2016.

The study found that only traditional and management-oriented procurement strategies ensure the achievement of all growth plans for construction SMEs in South Africa; and that medium-sized construction enterprises achieve social growth such as community empowerment, managerial skills and advancement on the cidb Register of Contractors.

The findings of the study imply that policymakers should base their decisions regarding macroeconomic issues and growth plans for construction SMEs on the internal and external factors such as differences in the sizes of construction SMEs and differences in the suitability of procurement strategies affecting the growth of construction SMEs.

In past studies, the diversity amongst SMEs is often overlooked and SMEs are erroneously assumed to share similar objectives, possess equal capabilities and face challenges of the same magnitude. The original contribution of this study is shown in the investigation of the moderating effect of SMEs’ diversity (in terms of company size) on their growth proportion as influenced by procurement strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the take up of gender‐based equal opportunities policies and practices in small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and explores the relationship between size and take up within the SME sector.

The paper draws on detailed data generated by a European Social Fund sponsored equality audit tool (breakthrough). This is an interactive, questionnaire‐based programme incorporating 60 questions on human resources policies and practices relevant to gender‐based equal opportunity. The questionnaire was administered within a structured interview, which was recorded and transcribed. In the North West of England, 80 SMEs, across a range of sectors, participated.

The data revealed that, while there was some evidence of take up of good equality practice in SMEs, many small businesses were not active in this area and indeed a sizeable minority were perpetuating discriminatory practices. Medium‐sized organisations were more likely to have, and implement, equality policies than small ones. However, in one area, around flexibility to meet carer responsibilities, the small organisations performed better. Analysis of moderating variables suggests that it is factors related to size, rather than size per se, that explain the differences in take up between small‐ and medium‐sized firms.

The paper highlights the need to find ways to engage SME managers with the equality agenda. It explores the distinctive features of the small firms and their environment which may inhibit this at present and set out an agenda for future research which will deepen understanding in this area and inform policy.

This article aims to present an overview of the historical development and current status of Chinese small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) examine major political initiatives contributing to SMEs' development and draw out some experience from SME development practices in China.

This paper is exploratory in nature, using archives of government documents and related statistics.

The article argues that the fundamental role of the market in allocating resources and the self‐operation status of SMEs should be respected, that it is imperative to encourage SMEs to optimise industrial structure, and that it is important to properly handle the government‐enterprise relations and bring the role of the government in macro control into full play so as to create a fair competitive environment for SMEs.

The Chinese experience of SME development is of great interest to policy‐makers and academics alike.

The article explores entrepreneurship and SME development in China from a policy‐making perspective.

The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, it aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activities and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) government suppliers involved in government green procurement (GGP). Second, it examines the differences in the impact of COVID-19 between small and medium-sized groups.

The study used a questionnaire survey that was distributed to SMEs listed in the MyHIJAU directory that supply green goods and services to the government. Of the total 394 sample respondents, 126 usable questionnaires were received, representing a usable response rate of 31.98%. Descriptive analysis of mean score, standard deviation and mean score ranking was used to analyse the overall results. A t-test analysis was carried out to examine the differences between the small and medium-sized groups of companies.

The study discovers that the SME government suppliers involved in GGP were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The top ranked impacts are that “the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened health and safety practices among the employees”, “the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced company’s turnover”, “the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the company to implement a cost reduction strategy”, “the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the company’s ability to deliver work, supplies or services to the government” and “the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the company to incur higher production costs for green products or services provided”. However, there is no significant difference between the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the small and medium-sized group of enterprises.

The present study is among the fewer studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular focus on SME government suppliers involved in GGP.

We document the relationship between size, the presence of a full-time accountant, strategy, and the adoption of management control systems (MCSs) in small- and medium-sized Canadian manufacturing enterprises (SMEs).

Using survey results from 247 Canadian SMEs, we use partial least squares to holistically test our model and also present data for each MCS.

We find that the presence of a professional accountant is strongly associated with the adoption of MCSs and is a significant explanatory variable more often than either size or strategy.

While the impact of organization and strategy has been extensively studied within large organizations, we investigate these relationships within SMEs. Additionally, we investigate the impact of having a full-time accountant, a constraint unique to SMEs due to their limited resources.

Limitations include the fact that we likely have a significant survivor bias as the average age of our sample firms was 30 years. Our analysis of nonresponse bias does not allow us to conclude that such a bias did not exist. Also, it is possible that some respondents believed they had a certain MCS when others might think they did not.

This study will be of interest to owners/managers of manufacturing SMEs, their advisors, and economic development agencies. Our study also has implications for accounting education as most students will work for SMEs.

Few studies have documented the MCSs adopted by North American SMEs, and none have considered the impact of the presence of a full-time accountant.

While marketing analytics can be used to improve organizational decision-making and performance significantly, little research exists to examine how the configurations of multiple conditions affect marketing analytics use. This study draws on configuration theory to investigate marketing analytics use in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This research employs a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis using data collected from a survey of 187 managers in UK SMEs.

The key findings show that (1) configurations of multiple conditions provide alternative pathways to marketing analytics use, and (2) the configurations for small firms are different from those for medium-sized firms.

The research results are based on several key configurational factors and a single key-informant method to collect subjective data from UK SME managers.

The study helps SMEs to understand that marketing analytics use is influenced by the interaction of multiple conditions, that there are alternative pathways to marketing analytics use, and that SMEs should choose the configuration that fits best with their organizational contexts.

The study contributes to the literature by addressing an important yet underresearched area, i.e. marketing analytics use in SMEs, applying a configurational approach to the research phenomenon. It highlights different pathways to marketing analytics use in SMEs. The findings provide empirical evidence on the possibility and implication of marketing analytics use being asymmetrical and different between small and medium-sized firms.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy, in terms of employment and their contribution to national wealth. A significant proportion of that contribution comes from innovation. SMEs are also the engine for future growth in the economy. Project management has a role to play in managing that innovation and growth. The purpose of this paper is to find the extent to which SMEs use projects, project management and the tools of project management, and to determine what differences there are by size of company and industry.

A questionnaire was developed to examine the extent to which small firms carry out projects, the resources they employ, the way they measure project success and the tools and techniques that they use. The questionnaire was answered by 280 companies from a range of industries and sizes.

It is found that companies of all sizes spend roughly the same proportion of turnover on projects, but the smaller the company, the smaller their projects, the less they use project management and its tools. Surprisingly, hi‐tech companies spend less on projects than lo‐tech or service companies, but have larger projects and use project management to a greater extent. They also use the gadgets of project management to a greater extent.

It is concluded that SMEs do require less‐bureaucratic versions of project management, perhaps with different tool sets than the more traditional versions designed for medium‐sized or large projects, and with different versions for medium, small and micro projects. For all firms, the important success factors are client consultation; planning, monitoring and control; and resource allocation are also identified.

The findings suggest the need for further research into the nature of those “lite” versions of project management designed for SMEs.

Globalization and internationalization tendencies imply new challenges for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), which are either facing the pressure to achieve short‐term profits, or have to attract new market segments by means of long‐term strategies. This trend raises the question of growth perspectives of SMEs and their future development. The paper gives an insight into selected growth theories, entrepreneurship and SMEs, firm competencies, core competencies and the wellbeing of entrepreneurs as a growth indicator. The majority of SMEs are run by the family and characterized by low growth rates or even stagnation, and relatively low market entry and qualification barriers. An exploratory study was carried out among 3‐ and 4‐star hotels in South Tyrol (Italy) in 2004 for a better understanding of the driving forces, growth barriers, entrepreneur's satisfaction, and prerequisites and incentives of growth.