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The purpose of this paper is to better understand the constraints related to developing small-scale public-private partnerships (PPPs) and how to reduce them.

The paper provides a general review of the characteristics of small-scale PPPs and identifies overarching concerns.

The paper finds for small-scale PPPs constraints with respect to the definition, government processes and procedures, transaction costs, public capacity and institutional structure; important issues of transaction costs, minimum size requirement and increasing popularity and recommendations for further development.

Since most small PPPs are conducted by cities and regional governments, many local bodies would benefit from a better understanding of small-scale projects, helping to develop standard documentation, which is especially relevant for small-scale projects given their relatively large transaction and bid costs, supporting the long-term growth of small PPPs.

Small-scale PPPs have different characteristics compared with large projects and these characteristics should be studied separately. Although the benefits of small-scale projects are undeniable, relatively few have been undertaken relative to the substantial requirement. A more thorough understanding of the constraints related to developing small-scale PPPs and how to reduce them would help the subset of small projects to reach its full potential. This paper serves as a first step, clearing the ground for further research in specific areas.

The study examined the penetration of financial inclusion in the agricultural sector, using small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria, as evidence.

The study utilized survey data generated from 425 questionnaires administered to small-scale farmers in both rural and urban locations in Enugu State. The study applied the adequacy gap, timeliness gap and penetration gap indices to measure the penetration of financial inclusion among the small-scale farmers in Enugu State.

It was found that different lending agencies, except for some cooperative societies, were unable to meet the credit needs of small-scale farmers in Enugu State as shown by the adequacy gap index. The timeliness gap index revealed the existence of time gap in the credit receipt of small-scale farmers given that agriculture is rain-fed in Enugu. The penetration gap index indicated that there is gap in the penetration of agricultural credit grants to small-scale farmers in Enugu State, showing a shallow penetration of financial inclusion in agricultural sector.

The research is limited in scope as a result of data and the desire to study small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The study recommended among others that government should encourage cooperatives more to meet credit needs of farmers in order to raise the level of financial inclusion penetration.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the only study that examines the penetration of financial inclusion among small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. This study contributes to the growing literature on financial inclusion in the agricultural sector as there is dearth of literature in this study area.

This paper aims to study the different factors that determine the performance or success of small-scale, non-farm enterprises in Lesotho. Evidence shows that small-scale enterprises in developing countries are confronted with different challenges and problems that make them less viable. As a result, the capacity of small-scale, non-farm enterprises in employment creation, income generation and providing the means of livelihood to the poor people is not significant. In Lesotho, many people who are retrenched from the South African mines are absorbed in small-scale, non-farm enterprises to make a living. However, small-scale enterprises are faced with different challenges. The research findings suggest that factors leading to success/performance of rural non-farm enterprises in Lesotho include gender of the entrepreneur, age of the entrepreneur, ability of the entrepreneur to establish wider social networks, large population/market, availability of communication networks and infrastructure, participation of enterprises in the international market and costs of doing business and competition. In this regard, the paper makes policy recommendations that can be used to improve performance/success of small-scale, non-farm enterprises.

This research uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyse data.

The main finding of the research is that foreign competition hinders the success of non-farm enterprises in Lesotho. The research findings further reveal that enterprises owned by women make the highest turnover compared to those owned by men.

This study brings in different factors that can ensure or hinder success/performance of small-scale, rural non-enterprises.

The research paper is of value in that it is the first study in Lesotho that considers different factors that determine business success in relation to employment creation, turnover and profitability.

The purpose of this paper is to address the gaps in research on strategic planning for the social impacts of small-scale events in rural areas and small cities. This is achieved by investigating the social utility inferred by small-scale art festivals with a creative tourism element in terms of increasing social capital and positive social change, from an event stakeholder perspective.

The identified gap in knowledge is addressed by using interviews and fieldnotes from participant observation to co-create meaning with the organizers of four small-scale art festivals in small cities and rural areas in Portugal. Theoretical frameworks relating to creative tourism development and social capital creation are used to analyze the social utility of small-scale art festivals.

Creative tourism activities are integrated within small-scale art festivals in small cities and rural areas in various ways, mainly through art-related workshops. Significant empirical data give insight into how small-scale art festivals create social value by increasing the host community’s pride and reinforcing the social fabric of the festival’s local and “portable” community, in part through these creative tourism activities.

One of the limitations of this study is that it focuses on the perspectives and insights of the festival organizers. An analysis of the festival participants’ views, local community stakeholder analysis and community impact analyses would offer further insights into how the creative tourism experiences and other moments of shared meaning generation within small-scale art festivals influence the creation of social utility.

This paper offers insights into how creative tourism activities are being integrated into small-scale art festivals in small cities and rural contexts, and how these activities foster social connections among festival participants and with the local community. This addresses significant gaps in the literature on strategic planning for the social impacts of events, particularly in the context of small-scale events in rural areas/small cities, and the strategic value of including creative tourism activities within small-scale festivals.

We conducted a systematic review to explore the potential for the application of blockchain technologies for supply chain resilience in a small-scale agri-food business context.

As part of the research methodology, scientific databases such as Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus were used to find relevant articles for this review.

The systematic review of articles (n = 57) found that the use of blockchain technology in the small-scale agri-food business sector can reduce the risk of food fraud by assuring the provenance of food products.

Only a few papers were directly from a small-scale agribusiness context. Key challenges that limit the implementation of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies include concerns over the disclosure of proprietary information and trade secrets, incomplete or inaccurate information, economic and technical difficulties, low levels of trust in the technology, risk of human error and poor governance of process-related issues.

The application of blockchain technology ensures that the risks and costs associated with non-compliance, product recalls and product loss are reduced. Improved communication and information sharing can increase resilience and better support provenance claims and traceability. Better customer relationships can be built, increasing supply chain efficiency and resilience.

Simulations exist for the prediction of the behaviour of building structural systems under fire, including two-way coupled fire-structure interaction. However, these simulations do not include detailed models of the connections, whereas these connections may impact the overall behaviour of the structure. Therefore, this paper proposes a two-scale method to include screw connections.

The two-scale method consists of (a) a global-scale model that models the overall structural system and (b) a small-scale model to describe a screw connection. Components in the global-scale model are connected by a spring element instead of a modelled screw, and the stiffness of this spring element is predicted by the small-scale model, updated at each load step. For computational efficiency, the small-scale model uses a proprietary technique to model the behaviour of the threads, verified by simulations that model the complete thread geometry, and validated by existing pull-out experiments. For four screw failure modes, load-deformation behaviour and failure predictions of the two-scale method are verified by a detailed system model. Additionally, the two-scale method is validated for a combined load case by existing experiments, and demonstrated for different temperatures. Finally, the two-scale method is illustrated as part of a two-way coupled fire-structure simulation.

It was shown that proprietary ”threaded connection interaction” can predict thread relevant failure modes, i.e. thread failure, shank tension failure, and pull-out. For bearing, shear, tension, and pull-out failure, load-deformation behaviour and failure predictions of the two-scale method correspond with the detailed system model and Eurocode predictions. Related to combined load cases, for a variety of experiments a good correlation has been found between experimental and simulation results, however, pull-out simulations were shown to be inconsistent.

More research is needed before the two-scale method can be used under all conditions. This relates to the failure criteria for pull-out, combined load cases, and temperature loads.

The two-scale method bridges the existing very detailed small-scale screw models with present global-scale structural models, that in the best case only use springs. It shows to be insightful, for it contains a functional separation of scales, revealing their relationships, and it is computationally efficient as it allows for distributed computing. Furthermore, local small-scale non-convergence (e.g. a screw failing) can be handled without convergence problems in the global-scale structural model.

Small-scale forestry-based enterprising communities are particularly associated with their territory and, therefore, are very conditioned by the local culture. This paper aims to explore the relationship between culture and competitiveness in small-scale Latin-American forestry-based enterprising communities.

This study used 212 surveys in companies linked to the production, industrialisation and commercialisation sector of the forestry industry in the province of Misiones (Argentina), using partial least squares to analyse the relationships thereof.

Culture and competitive advantages improve the growth of small-scale timber businesses and growth, in turn, increases financial performance. However, culture does not have an impact on competitive advantage and no interaction effect of culture on competitive advantage was detected. The results can indicate that there might be a need to incorporate other concepts and operationalisation that are better suited to the geographical and industrial contexts in developing countries.

The literature and measures used to operationalise variables in the survey did not necessarily succeed in capturing the culture in the studied small- and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the design of the sample and subjective measures may partially condition the results.

For business managers and consultants, this study indicates that they must take into account the local culture to improve performance. Entrepreneurs must reorient the company strategy towards the long term, integrating local culture into their strategy to generate competitive advantages.

Political authorities and social agents should also take into consideration the cultural aspects of the territory when implementing regulations and specific actions to improve the industry and strengthen the sense of community. The results highlight the vitality of animators and development agencies and of any factor that fosters social cohesion.

The paper shows a new approach to the relationship between culture and competitiveness in small-scale forestry-based enterprising communities, combining performance in a formal sector with the bazaar model.

The aim of this study is to understand how artisanal food entrepreneurs acting as businesses, which are grounded in the logic of profit and growth, navigate the anti-growth constraints of artisanal logic. The study answers the research question of, how and when do the artisanal entrepreneurs respond to tensions between the small-scale craftsmanship logic and the business growth logic?

This study consists of two cases of artisanal food entrepreneurs situated in rural regions of Sweden. The empirical material is collected through interviews, observations and secondary sources. The analysis consists of two steps: a narrative analysis and a categorization of institutional logics using Pache and Santos (2013) framework.

Our findings show that the artisanal food entrepreneurs used several types of response to the tensions between the two institutional logics. As businesses grew, business growth logic increasingly penetrated the companies' operations. They responded by combining and blending the two logics and avoided growing too large themselves by collaborating with suppliers and local farmers. In addition, other activities needed to be compartmentalized and hidden since these activities could threaten their business images and their own criteria for small-scale food artisans.

Much work on how different institutional logics affect businesses have been on a structural level. This study answers the call on that more research is needed on an individual level by studying how individuals interpret logics and use them in their business activities.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the quality of selected small‐scale produced yoghurt brands on the market in Kampala city, Uganda.

Four samples of each of four brands of small‐scale produced yoghurt were purchased from different shops in Kampala on four different occasions within a period of one month. Physico‐chemical, microbiological and rheological analyses were carried out on each of the samples. An untrained sensory panel was also used to assess their acceptability and purchase index. A premium brand (Fresh dairy yoghurt) was used as a control.

Lactobacilli counts ranged from 7.12‐9.25 log cfu ml⁻¹ while lactococci ranged from 6.29‐6.8 log cfu ml⁻¹ in the small‐scale yoghurt brands. All the small‐scale yoghurt brands were contaminated with fungi and coliforms at levels beyond the acceptable minimum, indicating insufficient process hygiene and also raising concerns of consumer safety. The protein, ash, carbohydrate and titratable acidity were not significantly different from the control. Fat, total solids, pH, viscosity and syneresis varied significantly between brands. The small‐scale produced brands were less viscous and exhibited more syneresis. All the small‐scale yoghurt brands were less acceptable compared with the control and two of them were disliked. The variation in their purchase index was related to their acceptability.

Regulatory and standards agencies should strengthen the surveillance of such products and the premises where they are produced. They should also work with other stakeholders in training small‐scale processors to ensure that their products meet both quality and safety requirements.

The paper assesses the quality of one of the many small‐scale produced products on the market in Kampala city.

Table grape is one of the most important horticultural crops in China. However, quality and safety have become major constraints for the further development of the Chinese table grape industry, which is dominated by small‐scale vinegrowers. Strategic partnership has been regarded as an effective mechanism to manage the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a supply chain model based on different strategic partnerships on the effect of safety and quality control and small‐scale vinegrowers' performance.

The field survey was performed in seven representative districts in China, including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Tianjin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. A semi‐structured interview was adopted as the data collection method. Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated and analyzed in this research. All quantitative analyses were conducted using EXCEL 2003 version and a comparative analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.

The results show that modern supply chains are more efficient than the traditional one in improving the effect of safety and quality control and small‐scale vinegrowers' performance.

This paper first identified different models of table grape supply chain based on different strategic partnerships, and then analyzed the impact of supply chain model on the effect of quality and safety control and small‐scale vinegrowers' performance. It concludes with some policy suggestions relative to further development of the table grape industry in China.