SMEs performance

The main purpose was to determine the relationship between financial literacy and performance of small and medium enterprises in Uasin Gishu County. The study was informed by the theory of planned behavior. The study comprised of 1053 registered SMEs owners in Uasin Gishu County. Cluster and random sampling techniques were used to select a sample size of 290 SMEs. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Test-retest technique was employed to test the reliability of the data collection instruments. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data, and data was presented in the form of frequencies, tables, percentages, means and standard deviation. Inferential statistics and Pearson correlation were used to analyze data. The findings are indicative of a significant effect of borrowing financial literacy and budgeting financial literacy on SME performance. It is recommended that SME owners enhance the training on the calculation of interest rate and need to have budget expertise since they dictate whether the budget would be implemented as prepared or not. Finally, there is a need for employees to have the necessary reporting and analyzing skills.

En este libro se analizan las dinámicas de las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas (mipymes) de América Latina y la evolución de las políticas de fomento implementadas en la última década por las instituciones que promueven su desarrollo. El esfuerzo realizado por las entidades de fomento ha permitido ampliar el marco normativo y diversificar las medidas de apoyo. No obstante, estos avances no son suficientes para enfrentar los desafíos que caracterizan el actual escenario competitivo. En particular, la profunda transformación de los modelos productivos y de consumo, generada por la revolución tecnológica en curso, plantea la necesidad de un cambio profundo en el enfoque y en las modalidades de trabajo de las entidades de apoyo.
Prólogo .-- I. Mipymes y heterogeneidad estructural en América Latina / Felipe Correa, Valentina Leiva, Giovanni Stumpo .-- II. Políticas e instituciones de apoyo a las mipymes en la Argentina, de 2000 a 2015 / Matías Kulfas .-- III. Las micro, pequeñas y medias empresas brasileñas en el período reciente: pérdida de profundidad productiva y exportadora en un período de dinamismo de política industrial / Eva Yamila da Silva Catela .-- IV. Políticas e instituciones de fomento productivo para las mipymes en Chile / Tania Rodríguez-Auad y Tomás Campero .-- V. Diagnóstico de las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas: políticas e instituciones de fomento en Colombia / Hernando José Gómez Restrepo y Santiago Borda Esquivel .-- VI. Diagnóstico de las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas: políticas e instituciones de fomento en El Salvador / Rigoberto Monge .-- VII. Diagnóstico de micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas, políticas e instituciones de fomento en México / Federico Stezano .-- VIII. Diagnóstico de las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas: políticas e instituciones de fomento en el Uruguay / Micaela Camacho .-- IX. Centroamérica: desafío de desarrollo de las mipymes en un contexto de integración / Pedro Caldentey del Pozo .-- X. Avances y desafíos de las políticas de fomento a las mipymes / Marco Dini y Martín Rueda .-- XI. El rol de las mipymes y las políticas de fomento: algunas conclusiones / Felipe Correa, Marco Dini y Giovanni Stumpo.

Abstract: This study attempts to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial
orientation and learning orientation on SMEs’ performance. A total of 200
SMEs from the electronic and electrical sector, and 250 SMEs from food and
beverage industries were chosen randomly. The results of this study show that
entrepreneurial orientation dimensions (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk
taking) and learning orientation have a significant relationship with SMEs’
performance. In this context, entrepreneurial orientation makes a significant
contribution to SMEs’ performance when learning orientation is considered as
an investment and a key factor for SMEs’ survival.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) support countries’ economies in
financial context and also create employment opportunities. Human resource
management (HRM) practices are very important to equip employees via
training & development, employees’ motivation through effective rewards
policies and effective recruitment and selection process. The global competition
is one of compelling force behind companies to adopt human resource
management (HRM) practices professionally. Human resource plays a vital role
to improve organizational performance and create competitive advantage in this
competitive era. The world has been globalized and companies are facing cut
throat completion in the market. Therefore, human capital is one of major source
to enhance organizational performance. Pakistani SMEs are producing
heterogeneous products related to trade, agriculture business and manufacturing.
A collection of 320 self-administered and well-structured questionnaires were
distributed among the employees of small and medium enterprises of Multan.
Only 240 forms were got back. Statistical tests like correlation and regression
were applied through SPSS V22. The outcomes revealed that HRM practices
(employee recruitment & selection, training & development, rewards policy and performance appraisals) are positively associated with SMEs performance. The
results conclude that when HR experts of SMEs focus on improvement of these
practices organizational performance would be increased.

Inventory management and control plays a significant role in better performance of business entities. This paper analyses whether SMEs in Shomolu-Yaba of Lagos State carry out inventory management and the impact of Inventory Management and Control of cash flow on the liquidity of SME’s in Shomolu-Yaba Metropolis. The study used descriptive and analytical sample survey for the representation and the analysis of the findings. A sample of 150 SMEs was used. However, a total of 149 responses were received. The study relied on both primary data, collected through a questionnaire, and secondary data collected from reports and financial records of SMEs in Shomolu-Yaba. Summary of findings shows that the findings established a positive correlation coefficient (r), = 0.220, (r2) = 0.049 between Stock Ordering Level and Provision for slow moving/obsolete items in inventories, there is no positive effect between the techniques adopted by these SMEs in managing their accounts and the inventory level and measures employed by these SMEs in terms of profit and liquidity established a positive correlation coefficient (r), = 0.202, 0.174, 0.279, (r square) = 0.041, 0.030, 0.078. Finally, these SMEs should create a re-order level policy for their institutions that will create an enabling environment for them to request for the supply of moderate and high quality stocks.

Time Management is an important skill for any organisation to achieve its goals and objectives. Studies have shown that for any organisation to manage time effectively and efficiently, both the employers and employees will need to develop skills that will enhance their productivity or performance. Inefficient time management can affect the organisation to loose resources, opportunities, etc.

For any organisation to thrive, time needs to be managed effectively, efficiently, and optimally.

Employers and employees need to learn how to tackle distractions and unplanned circumstances that may affect attainment of their objectives.

Tasks and activities in the organisation need to be adequately planned and prioritised.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) which is represented by five dimensions and business performance. A simple random sampling technique was adopted in which only hundred technology-based SMEs in Malaysia responded to the survey questionnaire and a total of eighty eight responses deemed to be usable. Descriptive statistical tool was used to analyze the data specifically Pearson product moment correlation and regression analysis.

This article describes how because of the rapid expansion of digital and online 'bizscapes,' and 'bizapps'resultinginsmallandmedium-scaleagribusinessesadoptingandusingonlineentrepreneurial technologyinnovations,informationandcommunicationtechnologyhasgreatpotentialtoenhancethe performanceandefficiencyofagribusinesses.Theurgetounderstandfactorsthataffectinformation technology innovations adoption and use by small and medium agribusinesses prompted this study, which involves the designing of a modified research model based on UTAUT perspective to determine the influence of cognitive, management characteristics and organizational structure factorsontechnologyadoption.Factoranalysisyieldedafitstructuralmodel,whichwasusedto testthehypotheses.Thearticlefoundperformanceexpectancy,SMEsmanagementcreativityand innovativeness and SMEs organizational size significantly influence technology innovations use. Thispaperconcludesthatperformanceexpectancy,managementcharacteristicsandorganizational sizeaffecttechnologyadoptionamongagribusinessescritically.

Objectives. Previous studies on agritourism entrepreneurship have identified a variety of economic and non-economic motivations driving farm operators to start the agritourism activity. Nonetheless, local heritage preservation and enhancement have been completely overlooked. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether " heritage preservation and enhancement " (in its three facets related to: tangible rural heritage; agrifood heritage; rural way of life heritage) is a specific non-economic motivation for agritourism entrepreneurship. Methodology. A survey on a sample of 226 Italian agritourism operators was conducted in March 2015. Data were first analysed through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and then through the importance-performance analysis (IPA). Findings. The results show that there are 5 different groups of motivations to start the agritourism business, namely: i) economic motivations; ii) personal and family-related motivations; iii) tangible rural heritage preservation and enhancement; iv) agrifood heritage preservation and enhancement; v) rural way of life heritage preservation and enhancement. Hence " heritage preservation and enhancement " (in its three facets) has a pivotal role and it is more important than economic motivations. Similarly operators are more satisfied for having contributed to heritage preservation than for having obtained economic benefits from the agritourism activity. Research limits. Caution should be paid before extending these results to countries other than Italy (where, for example, agrifood heritage has a strong and peculiar tradition and connection with the territory). Practical implications. Operators are well aware of their contribution to the preservation and enhancement of local heritage but also perceive that tourists are not always able to appreciate the value of this contribution and have misconceptions about the essence of agritourism. This may be the result also of the use of the label " agritourism " to indicate offerings (such as agri-spas or basic accommodation services) which do not primarily focus on the link with local heritage. Therefore, it is important that " authentic agritourism " operators that focus on heritage (in its three facets) are able to share the efforts to make potential guests aware about the uniqueness of their offering, emphasizing the strong link with the local heritage. Originality of the study. This is the first study in the literature stream about agritourism entrepreneurship to demonstrate that locale heritage preservation and enhancement is a distinct, key motivation for agritourism operators.

MSMEs are defined in different ways in different parts of the world. In some countries, they are defined in terms of assets,
while few countries use employment as a parameter for defining MSMEs. The MSME sector is responsible for about 40 per
cent of the exports and 45 per cent of the total manufacturing output of the country. Today, it accounts for nearly 35% of the
gross value of output in the manufacturing sector and over 40% of the total exports from the country. The MSME sector has
grown rapidly over the years. The growth rates during the various plan periods have been very impressive. MSMEs not only
play crucial role in providing large employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital cost than large industries but
also help in industrialization of rural and backward areas, thereby, reducing regional imbalances, assuring more equitable
distribution of National Income and wealth. Though, the contribution of MSMEs in any economy cannot be overlooked but
MSMEs face several constraints and barriers. The main constraint that MSMEs face today is getting timely access to
finance. The researcher tries to analyze the various constraints that the MSMEs are facing today. The paper has been
prepared on the basis of available literatures. The present research paper reveals that there is a substantial amount of gap in
the overall finance for the MSME sector.
Keywords: MSME, Gap, Financial Constraints, Financial Problems

The purpose of this study was to identify elements of sufficiency economy. The sample of
this study were 337 small industry entrepreneurs derived from stratified random sampling.
Questionnaire was employed to collect the data. Content validity of the questionnaire was
validated by a panel of 5 experts. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .975 indicates reliability of
the measurement. Results of factor analysis showed that 10 factors were extracted; financial immunity, quality improvement, morale, building alliance, risk management, tools and information, local community oriented, employee welfare, customer oriented, and employee oriented. All elements can explain 62.650 percent in the variation of sufficiency economy.

Key words: Sufficiency economy, Small industry, Factor analysis

The paper aims to extend the research on the financial reporting quality (FRQ) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring its determinants through an empirical analysis of financial data from a large sample of Italian SMEs. Although
recent studies have shown the importance of FRQ in reducing SMEs’ cost of debt, and although a recent report by the Financial Reporting Council has found that the quality of SMEs’ reporting can affect investment, rating and lending decisions, little is known
about the determinants of FRQ in this peculiar context. This study found that the presence of a Board of Statutory Auditors, as well as a high level of leverage, can improve the FRQ of SMEs. In the results, the paper provides evidence of the factors determining the FRQ of SMEs and advances the knowledge on the role of financial information on SMEs by significantly contributing to the limited research in this field.
The paper concludes with managerial and economic implications for the improvement of the financial reporting quality of SMEs.

This study assessed the factors affecting performance of SMEs in Tanzania, with reference to Kinondoni District. The study have general objective such as assessment on factors affecting performance of SMEs in the country, and have different specific objectives such as to explore the affect of available policies and interventions on performance of SMEs in Kinondoni District, to explore the effect of infrastructure on performance of SME in Kinondoni District, to analyze the effect of Business Development Services (BDS) support on SMEs performance in Kinondoni District, to investigate the effect of legal and regulatory framework on performance of SMEs in Kinondoni District. The study used both secondary and primary data. Secondary data were collected from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Industries and Trade, and online publications. Primary data were collected through questionnaires which were administered to 150 respondents from SMEs operating in Kinondoni District and also through interview where researcher was asking different questions basing in the objectives. All data has been analyzed by using excel in drawing table and figures. 
The main findings indicated that, SMEs in Tanzania are facing a number of challenges: including unfavourable transport networks, unfavorable port services, unreliable and inefficient cost of electricity services, non-access to finance, and unavailability and non-access of land for investment. The study concludes that, in order to have a robust SME sector for the country’s economic development, joint efforts are needed from the government, private sector, academic institutions, development partners and any other interested parties to ensure that they join hands to address the main challenges affecting the performance of SMEs in the country.

Among the recommendations, include the need to review the policies governing SEMs in the country in order to reflect the current trends;  increase budgetary allocation to institutions that are supporting SMEs for effective and efficient delivery of services; coordinate the SME supporting institutions; allocation of land for investments; improve business development services to SMEs; and improve the technological development and incubations centres across the country to ensure that majority of SMEs are supported.

La pubblicazione presenta i risultati dell’Indagine Individuazione di modelli di governance territoriale per il supporto alla generazione di conoscenze ed innovazione, promossa dall’Isfol e realizzata con Confindustria Veneto SIAV. L’indagine ha previsto la realizzazione di focus group e l’analisi di 51 casi di aziende innovative nei territori regionali del Piemonte, del Veneto e della Puglia. I risultati hanno consentito di trarre indicazioni rilevanti per: le imprese, fornendo una prima tassonomia dei modelli di business e indicazioni utili alla definizione di circuiti di apprendimento utili all’“assorbimento” dell’innovazione; le università e i centri di ricerca, delineando i modelli di relazione con il mondo produttivo e le necessità di integrazione attraverso figure di intermediazione emergenti; i soggetti deputati a promuovere policy e strumenti di finanziamento a supporto dei processi di creazione di nuova conoscenza per l’innovazione (Regioni, Fondi paritetici ecc.); le agenzie formative, attraverso la lettura delle nuove necessità di setting e modalità di apprendimento coerenti con i processi di assorbimento dell’innovazione.

The rapid advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) has brought huge entrepreneur benefits and challenges. A key challenge that has been less researched is the demand for skilled manpower in relation to the issue of the role employees' age and gender play in driving SMEs' ICT-related innovations adoption. This paper attempted to determine the moderating role of three important workers' demographic characteristics (age, gender and experience) on the use of innovations related to ICT by SMEs. Adopting the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) perspective, a questionnaire was designed and administered to 400 employees selected from 43 SMEs in the Malaysian state of Selangor. The results of multiple regression analysis indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions all have significant impacts on ICT-related technology innovations adoption (ICTRIA) while the moderator analysis confirmed that the two gender categories, different age groups and different experience levels have specific moderating influence on the relationship paths between the four predictors and technology innovations use. Novel findings show that performance expectancy and social influence are more salient for older female and younger female workers to run jobs related to ICT innovations use in the firm respectively.

The objective of the paper is to review the previous studies on factors affecting small business growth or performance for the period of 2006-2014. The review of the literature of factors affecting small business growth or performance based on the papers available in online and published in referred journals is focused. 34 papers are considered as the primary research topic. Each of the articles has been used as the unit of analysis. The four broad areas of factors has been focused namely owner-manager characteristics, characteristics of firm, financial factors and external environment. The paper provides some ideas and approaches used in the previous literature to describe small business growth and factors affecting the growth. The literatures suggest that there is no unified theory or model to describe small business growth. Although there are many studies on the issue, still the theory of small business growth is very fragmented and inconsistent. The new theoretical perspectives are highly required for the growth process in small businesses sectors. Considering the approaches used in the previous literature, new research approaches may be adapted for more understanding of small business growth and the growth factors.

This report captures the main findings of an 18-month study on the growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. The central question that this inquiry sought to answer was: what are the factors that drive SME growth? The study involved a large scale survey of SMEs and a set of in-depth interviews with the leaders of ‘High Impact SMEs’. High Impact SMEs are organizations that are achieving high growth (in revenue, profits and employment) and are disruptive, investing in a broader range of innovative activities, and being more diversified in the markets they serve. They exemplify organizations that many of us aspire to create. This report presents a new model – The Leaders Growth Mindset – to explain how leaders of High Impact SMEs operate. This model identifies a common set of practices leaders apply and that we can each develop in our everyday work.

Even though the use of ERP systems is growing and becoming more popular, these systems are still somewhat unfamiliar in the SMEs. Many small and medium sized organization know how beneficial ERP systems are, but they still hesitate to adopt these systems due to their high cost and risk. Without a doubt, a successful ERP implementation is an essential for the benefits from such systems, so this issue is always considered top priority in the ERP related research area. It is obvious that several important factors must be considered for successful implementation, but most small and medium sized businesses have no idea what factors should be considered most heavily. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to help these firms better understand the critical factors that need to be considered to ensure the success of ERP systems. The survey instrument was designed based on the user satisfaction, and was tested before conducting the main survey. Since there have been few studies attempting to validate empirically the factors affecting both ERP implementation and user adoption, this research focused on identifying the factors for the ERP success from both implementation project and user adoption perspectives. Then, identified factors were examined to verify their relationships with success indicators associated with the redefined ERP success. Furthermore, the research suggested recommendations for the ERP success showing how to approach ERP implementation to avoid failure and what we should do considering the significance of each factor to a given dependent variable based on the findings of the study. These recommendations can provide helpful information to small and medium sized business when they consider implementing or upgrading their ERP systems. This information should help companies reduce tremendous ERP implementation risks so that companies can have more chances to improve their business value with the success of EPR systems.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute substantially to the economic development, income generation, poverty reduction, and particularly job creation for both developed and developing economies. However, compared with large firms, SMEs face several challenges related to their performance and competitiveness. The role of human capital (HC) and human resource practices (HR Practices) in enhancing SMEs competitiveness and performance is vital but understudied areas. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of HC development between the relationship of high-performance work systems (HPWS) and export-oriented SMEs performance. Quantitative strategy and cross-sectional survey method was used to collect data from 205 managerial staff through a self-administered structured questionnaire. HPWS had a significant positive impact on export-oriented SMEs performance. The findings of the study provide evidence that HC development plays a mediating role between HPWS and enterprises performance.

This thesis provides an explanatory account of HRM and performance in growth-oriented SMEs. HRM researchers hold a relatively emaciated understanding of the generative mechanisms and processes at work between HRM and performance in SMEs. A rationalisation of the employment relationship allied with the predominance of a scientific approach has led to a focus on what at the expense of understanding how and why HRM influences small firm performance. It is argued within this thesis that a metatheoretical reorientation is required to address the weaknesses of existing HRM and performance research.
This study adopts a realist and pragmatic approach to social research inquiry. A new conceptual framework is designed that builds on prior contextual studies (e.g. Edwards et al., 2006, Harney and Dundon, 2006, Gilman and Edwards, 2008) to include the dynamics of growth in SMEs. This allows for the exploration of how internal and external dynamics interact with performance and labour management practices in SMEs. The analysis begins by exploring the patterns of HRM practices across SMEs through the lens of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS), findings that inform a contextual analysis of five growing SMEs.
This thesis draws some interesting conclusions. First, SMEs do not score highly on measures of HPWS take-up, particularly when one inquires into actual practice as opposed to initial survey reports. No evidence is found of SMEs taking a high performance approach to performance. Second, one cannot conclude that SMEs are deficient or that one should condemn them as failing in some way. Traditional HRM metrics cannot be easily applied to small firms; they are simply not scaled down versions of larger firms. Third, therefore, we find that aspects of HRM are addressed in ways relevant to the small firm context. Fourth, the notion that the application of HPWS results in increased levels of performance is too simplistic; researchers must consider their relationship as mutually reinforcing.
The case studies demonstrate the relevant processes, notably the effects of shocks in relation to business performance that led to responses which in turn implied changes to HR practices. An HPWS model would have meant little to these firms. Though the second point is correct, it does not follow that all is well at all times. The case studies demonstrate differing degrees of effectiveness in dealing with external shocks, and point to the importance of leadership. Ensuring the long term growth and sustainability of firms relies on more than entrepreneurial flair alone; it requires leaders to become effective champions of change.

Kain tenun sebagai kain budaya menjadi sangat penting dalam kehidupan masyarakat Indonesia.  Beragam  jenis  kain  tenun  telah  dikembangkan  dan  menjadi  ciri  budaya  lokal  dibeberapa wilayah di Indonesia. Misalnya tenun Sumba yang dikembangkan di daerah Nusa Tenggara, tenun ikat Kalimantan, tenun ikat Jawa atau tenun polos Jawa yang sering disebut kain lurik, tenun Sumatera dan seterusnya. Tenun, apapun jenisnya, memiliki daya tarik yang kuat. Selain kualitas serat kainnya lebih unggul dari kain buatan pabrik, tenun memiliki nilai sosial dan budaya yang tinggi karena tenun biasanya dikerjakan secara bersama-sama dengan kreasi motif yang mencerminkan budaya yang dikembangkan masyarakat setempat. Secara ekonomi pun selembar kain tenun memiliki nilai jual yang menguntungkan untuk menambah pendapatan dan meningkatkan kesejahteraan.
Kain tradisional tenun Samarinda, atau yang dikenal dengan Sarung Samarinda, termasuk salah satu tenun yang menjadi ciri khas daerah dan warisan budaya yang masih dipelihara hingga  saat  ini.  Sarung  Samarinda  mempunyai  keterikatan  erat  dengan  sejarah  cikal  bakal berdirinya Kota Samarinda sehingga terdapat muatan lokal yang sangat kental pada produk tersebut. Selain itu, tenun ini juga mempunyai potensi ekonomi tinggi yang dapat dikembangkan dan diproyeksikan akan menjadi pendukung lokomotif pertumbuhan ekonomi baru di wilayah Samarinda.
Pada  tahun  2012  Pemerintah  Kota  Samarinda  telah  mencanangkan  Kampung  Tenun Samarinda yang berlokasi di Samarinda Seberang sebagai daerah tujuan wisata nasional. Konsep daerah tujuan wisata budaya tidak hanya fokus kepada para pengrajin tenun semata sebagai pelaku usaha utama, tetapi juga melibatkan pelaku usaha sektor-sektor pendukung lainnya seperti  sektor  perdagangan,  transportasi, penginapan,  kuliner,  dan  lainnya  yang  mayoritas merupakan pelaku UMKM.
Menyadari penting dan strategisnya peran UMKM untuk pengembangan Kampung Tenun menjadi suatu daerah tujuan wisata, berbagai program peningkatan kapasitas dan kemandirian UMKM khususnya pengrajin tenun di Kampung Tenun terus dilakukan oleh pemerintah dan pihak  terkait,  termasuk  Bank  Indonesia.  Namun  demikian,  upaya  pemberdayaan  ini  masih memiliki kendala terkait kualitas sumber daya manusia, akses pasar, manajemen usaha dan
pembiayaan.
Sehubungan dengan hal tersebut, dalam rangka menyediakan rujukan bagi stakeholders untuk pengembangan Kampung Tenun sebagai daerah tujuan wisata, maka menjadi kebutuhan
untuk penyediaan informasi mengenai Kampung Tenun secara komprehensif meliputi potensi, tantangan serta rekomendasi dalam bentuk kajian atau penelitian. Kami  mengucapkan  terima  kasih  kepada  pihak-pihak  yang  bersedia  membantu  dan bekerja  sama  serta  memberikan  informasi  dan  masukan  selama  pelaksanaan  kajian.  Besar harapan  kami,  bahwa  buku  ini  dapat  melengkapi  informasi  dan  menjadi  rujukan  untuk mewujudkan Kampung Tenun sebagai daerah tujuan wisata di Samarinda.

Problem Statement: Today’s ever-changing educational environment has created a need for new leadership styles
that encourage positive change and improvement. In Turkish universities, the most commonly used leadership models are the classic and/or traditional ones, which lead to stagnation in innovation and entrepreneurship. Only a limited number of universities are actively engaged in innovative research activities and achieve success in terms of entrepreneurship and cooperative work with industry. Abroad effort is needed to improve cooperation and encourage leadership development.
Purpose of Study: This paper attempts to show and critically analyze the role of leadership models of university management in creating a learning environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 different faculty members and 12 graduate students over a period of three months at three different universities in
Istanbul. Interviews were centered on 6 core research questions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the interview outcomes. The data were analyzed using the Atlas.ti 7 software kit.
Findings and Results: A large percent age of the participants,
78%, mentioned that participatory democracy is an important new leadership model that can empower innovation and entrepreneurship. Most respondents, 80%, also identified the important role of intensive collaboration with industry managers. In the transformation of the university, a significant percentage of the participants, 69%, agreed that
experts should be frequently consulted and their views taken into consideration. Slightly more than half of the participants, 54%, said that their university could do more to encourage innovation and innovative ideas from students and faculty members; out of the respondents who expressed this idea, the majority, 86 %, said that new leadership and
management styles would be critical in promoting this change.
Conclusions and Recommendations: As the current study shows, universities that apply new leadership styles create an
environment more conducive to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. Consistent with previous research, the leadership model of university management plays a vital role
in universities’ readiness to accept innovative and entrepreneurial changes. Universities should adopt new leadership styles instead of using conservative and traditional leadership models that discourage innovation
and entrepreneurship. Generally speaking, democratic leadership models are more effective at fostering open innovation. In the new management framework, leaders can create new environments and spaces, such as technology transfer offices, to collaborate with industry.

Purpose: This study seeks to relate the practice of organisational learning (OL) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the organisational life cycle (OLC), contextualising the differential aspects of an integrated relationship between them.
Design/methodology/approach: It is a mixed method study with two consecutive phases. In Phase I, 30 Hong Kong SMEs identified through theoretical sampling were classified into three life-cycle stages – inception, high-growth, and maturity. In Phase II, their employees’ learning practices (grouped by learning levels) were statistically compared using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and then followed up for confirmation with qualitative semi-structured interviews.
Findings: This study uniquely suggests the nature of a relationship between SME organisational learning and the OLC. Empirical results show that three out of the four learning levels (individual, group, organisational, and inter-organisational) practised in SMEs are varied in importance between life-cycle stages.
Research limitations/implications: Comparative studies are encouraged in other parts of the world to strengthen the findings – with either SMEs or large organisations.
Practical implications: The study informs SME owner/managers about what is important for employee learning at different business stages so that appropriate learning strategies or human resource development (HRD) policies can be formulated in a timely fashion to promote competitiveness.
Originality/value: It is among the first studies to connect SME learning with organisational growth. The relationships found serve as a sound foundation for further empirical investigations.

The purpose of this study is to empirically test the integrated
intellectual capital model (IICM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)  operating in electrical and electronics manufacturing sector in Malaysia. A  valid research instrument was utilised to conduct a survey of 237 individuals
from 77 SMEs operating in electrical and electronics manufacturing sector in  Malaysia. Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory
factor analysis were used to examine the reliability and validity of research  instrument. Finally multiple regression analysis was run to test the research  hypotheses. Subsequently, two out of six research hypotheses were rejected.
The findings of this study provide valuable insights on the generalisability of intellectual capital. Intellectual capital is a prime strategic asset for the success  of organisations. The findings of this study will highlight the concept and
applications of intellectual capital in SMEs operating in Malaysia. This research is among a few to investigate the influence of intellectual capital in Malaysia by using IICM and the first to study in electrical and electronics SMEs in manufacture sector.

Abstract:
Fraud is a debilitating factor that affects business growth and a major problem for many organizations especially SMEs since they have smaller resources to both prevent and recover from a fraud. SMEs have fewer anti- fraud controls hence they are more vulnerable to fraud. In a bid to reduce fraud and manage the risks proactively, SMEs needs to identify factors leading to fraudulent behavior. The paper seeks to evaluate fraud management among SMEs. Data was collected from two hundred (200) SME owners using questionnaire, however only 197 questionnaires were viable. The questionnaire was formulated using a five-point Likert scale. It was observed that the major causes of fraud are the weakling of societal values and financial pressure while changes in lifestyles indicate that fraud is being perpetuated.
The study concluded that for effective fraud management, SMEs should implement fraud prevention measures such as strengthening societal values (integrity) building strong internal control measures to block the loopholes within the system, training programmes for SMEs operators and stringent disciplinary actions against erring officers.

Keywords: SMEs, fraud, Fraud Theories, internal controls

Sesungguhnya perekonomian Indonesia akan memiliki fundamental yang kuat jika ekonomi kerakyatan telah menjadi pelaku utama yang produktif dan berdaya saing tinggi. Salah satu faktor pembangunan ekonomi kerakyatan yang memegang peranan penting dan strategis adalah pengembangan Industri Kecil dan Menengah, karena ia memberikan dampak ganda terhadap perekonomian lokal serta nasional karena menghasilkan devisa. Namun demikian, industri kecil dan menengah tidak terlepas dari berbagai masalah baik internal maupun eksternal seperti dalam masalah permodalan, teknologi, sumber daya manusia, pemasaran hingga masalah manajemen.

Guna menjawab tantangan tersebut, maka dalam rangka mempercepat
pertumbuhan Industri Kecil dan Menengah, Unit Pendidikan Kementerian Perindustrian, merancang dan melaksanakan Program Beasiswa Tenaga Penyuluh Lapangan IKM Industri Kecil dan Menengah (TPL-IKM) yang bertujuan untuk dapat membantu menyelesaikan permasalahan yang dihadapai para pelaku IKM. Posisi TPL IKM adalah sebagai ujung tombak pelaksanaan kebijakan Direktorat Jendral Industri Kecil Menengah ditingkat pusat ataupun pelaksanaan program kerja Pemerintah Daerah Provinsi dan Kabupaten setempat.

Considering the complexity of today"s service environment, Small-to-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) cannot afford to accept the status quo of service operations and therefore must have some clear business analytics objective to reach. Without clear metric objectives, organisations are almost destined for disaster since the allocation of resources may not have responded to the demand exerted from outside of the organisation. This is particularly true within a complex and rapidly changing cloud computing environment. The cloud dynamic ecosystem is moving towards a collection of services which interoperate across the Internet. This chapter offers a discussion on an approach to assessing cloud capabilities through Cloud Service Capability Assessment Framework (CSCAF). Service metrics plays a critical role in CSCAF and presents managers with a practical framework to carry out cloud capability assessments. The process may be simply described as publishing, retrieving, and managing cloud service descriptions, service publications which are matched with descriptions of consumer"s requirements and service matching.

This paper empirically sought to determine the critical factors that influence the usage of information and communication technology (ICT) for business development among agro-based small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. A composite research framework was designed, adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) perspective. Since this paper focused on the personnel of entrepreneurial organisations, two external variables from firm-manager-characteristics and organisational size concepts were incorporated to the model, which increased the number of predictors to six. A pre-tested and validated survey questionnaire was administered purposively to 400 personnel of 43 agro-based SMEs that were randomly selected across Selangor. The data collected was analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and the analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) software. This paper found managerial creativity and innovativeness (C&I) and performance expectancy (PE) could collectively account for 72.761% of the variations in ICT usage. Therefore, the paper concludes that SME organisational leadership quality and ICT usage benefit expectances are the key factors that influence ICT usage for entrepreneurial development among Malaysian agro-based SMEs.

The paper aims to elucidate the inevitability of production monitoring systems in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) manufacturing apparel in India. Presently, there is lack of proper monitoring system to control production and analyze the daily reports which is widely attributed to inadequate financial resources to acquire expensive Production Monitoring Systems. SMEs rely invariably on registers, challans and manual data sheet-based monitoring which are detrimental in the production process including unscheduled production stoppages as well as difficulty in ascertaining actuals with planned numbers. This research provides an insight to cost-effective solution to this problem through app-based platform.
TrackMyProduction (TMP) framework proposed for SMEs, facilitates production monitoring and solve issues pertaining to production output addressing various impediments involved in the process. TMP app explains the method of monitoring real time production and features analysis of resource availability in each department with facility to monitor status of sewing, cutting and finishing at any point of time. The paper reveals the impact of TPM in apparel production planning through reports and their graphical analysis of the data collected to analyze the daily production based on various parameters involved in apparel production.

as a heterogeneous group of businesses, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) has been the most essential component for developing and developed economies. Even their important contribution, SMEs still do not have a unanimous definition either in the national level or in the international one. Therefore, it is important to always search in the current literature for the updates about the definition of the SMEs. Small firms are independent firms, which employ less than a given number of employees and have a specific turnover or a balance sheet. Hence, most of variables defining SMEs varies across countries and are not official. In the following work, we are going to highlight the SME definition's issues in most countries, and especially in Morocco. Then, we will propose some new perspectives to define small businesses and make the existence of this sector more specific and clear basing on literature review and statistics.

Circular Economy (CE) is today a major concept within the sustainability debate (Geissdoerfer, Savageta, Bocken & Hultinkb, 2017). Its theoretical arguments are widely accepted – especially at a crosscountry institutional level – but businesses still seem reluctant to acknowledge it as a revenue-making paradigm. This ongoing study aims to reveal where, along the value chain, firms are more unaware of CE best practice and/or reluctant to invest. After a comprehensive review of sustainable business models, the authors suggest a framework for circularity in business strategy as a beginning foothold on their research agenda. Next, the authors rely on expert informants to identify the most suitable areas in the value chain for the implementation of CE actions. Finally, an online free-access survey-like tool is launched to invite firms self-assessing (1) how relevant those identified areas are for their respective industries and (2) how CE-mature they feel regarding those areas. The initial results attest low consciousness of the CE potential across industries and even lower levels of maturity, especially by SMEs. Despite the growing evidence of Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA) achieved by pioneering companies moving away from linear forms of production, through the development of new core competencies (Prahalad & Hamel 1990), most firms still perceive CE as something not applicable to them or too costly and risky to implement.

This study attempted to identify factors that are affecting business success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand. The intention of this study is to provide the understanding on how people should start their business by looking at all the factors affecting business success hence help to reduce the risk of failure and increase chances of success. The study examined eight factors that influence the SMEs business success. These factors are: SMEs characteristic, management and know-how, products and services, Customer and Market, the way of doing business and cooperation, resources and finance, Strategy, and external environment. The theoretical framework has been drawn out and questionnaire was designed based on the factors chosen. Eight hypotheses were developed to find out factors that are affecting Business Success of SMEs in Thailand. The entire hypotheses were successfully tested with SPSS and five hypotheses were accepted. The regression analysis result shown that the most significant factors affecting business success of SMEs in Thailand were SMEs characteristics, customer and market, the way of doing business, resources and finance, and external environment.

Over the past five years, university students have been involved in different leadership and innovation projects and activities. Such projects and activities are particularly about the incubation of start-up firms in which the students try to commercialize their knowledge bytaking entrepreneurship courses to develop partnerships and the delivery of their innovative products and services at the technology parks ofthe universities. This study aims to explore the effects of the entrepreneurship courses on developing startups at the technology parks in Turkey.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the status of manufacturing flexibility adoption, its barriers and adoption practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large firms in India. Design/methodology/approach – Using mixed methods sequential explanatory design, this study employs survey responses from 121 firms, followed by 16 semi-structured interviews to investigate and explain the status of manufacturing flexibility adoption, barriers to adoption and practices adopted to achieve flexibility in SMEs and large firms in India. Findings – The study suggests that awareness of manufacturing flexibility concept in SMEs is considerably low and application of manufacturing flexibility is still at embryonic stage. It was found that both SMEs and large firms employ manufacturing flexibility, but they differ with respect to their emphasis on adoption practices used to achieve flexibility. SMEs emphasize entrepreneurial orientation and flexible human resource practices to achieve flexibility, whereas large firms emphasize practices such as technological capability, sourcing practices and integration practices to achieve flexibility. The study also illustrates barriers that hinder manufacturing flexibility adoption at plant level in India. Research limitations/implications – The study is cross-sectional in nature and is limited to specific regions of India. The use of subjective measures in survey questionnaire is another limitation of the study. Practical implications – Practitioners should consider combinations of adoption practices to achieve the desired level of manufacturing flexibility. It is also important to give due consideration to barriers before considering manufacturing flexibility adoption. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the manufacturing flexibility and SMEs research by providing insights into manufacturing flexibility adoption from the developing economy perspective and by widening the scope of existing research into SMEs. Keywords Manufacturing performance, Implementation, Strategy, Small and medium-sized enterprises, Manufacturing flexibility Paper type Research paper

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been identified as a mean that has great potential to spur innovative development in small and medium-scale enterprises (SME). Accordingly, information systems (IS) studies have been designing research models and providing empirical evidence that invariably supports this notion. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is one such model that has been extensively employed in ICT adoption studies.  This study was conducted in order to achieve four specific objectives. Objective 1 of the study was to identify the ICTs that are predominantly used by the agro-based SMEs in their businesses. Objective 2 was to determine the factors that affect ICT usage among agro-based SMEs in Selangor. Objective 3 was to determine the relationship between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, SME organisational size and SME creativity and innovativeness and ICT usage. Objective 4 was to determine the moderating effect of gender, age and experience on the relationship between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, SME organisational size and SME creativity and innovativeness and ICT usage.  This study adopted the UTAUT Model and modified it by integrating two externally derived constructs, SME managerial creativity and SME organisational size as predictors. This study investigated the factors that affect ICT usage by agro-based SMEs in Selangor. A four-section survey instrument consisting of 132 items was designed and administered to 400 personnel in 43 agro-based SMEs that were randomly selected in Selangor. Three hundred and ninety-five (395) completed questionnaires were retrieved successfully.  The study found that SME managerial creativity, SME organisational size and performance expectancy significantly predicted ICT usage. In addition, age, gender and experience moderated the relationship with various levels of significance. Importantly however, performance expectancy was moderated by experience, which implies that agro-based SMEs that are run by employees and managers with prior ICT usage experience stand better chances of deriving much benefits from using ICT in their businesses. In addition, the measurement model of this study that was generated by factor analysis predicted 31% (R2 .31) of the variance in ICT usage. Therefore, the study concludes that characteristics of enterprise managers, enterprise organisational size and the anticipation of ICT usage benefits, influenced by the demographic characteristics and personnel’s ICT usage prior experience are the critical factors that affected the ICT usage behaviour of the agro-based SMEs in Selangor.

This research investigated the effect of business climate on operations of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. Specifically, the aims were to identify the various business climates affecting SMEs, examine how business climates affects sales turnover of SMEs, and evaluate the effect of business climate on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of SMEs in Nigeria. The research utilized secondary data collected from 2.783 registered businesses in all sectors. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. It reveals that majority of SMEs experience one constraints or another as a major obstacle which includes inadequate electricity supply (53,22%) and access to finance (15,74%). Inferential statistics such as Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) indicated that labour (0,9943; P < 0,05) and infrastructure (0,7133; P < 0,05) are the only significant variables to sales turnover. Meanwhile, the regression analysis shows that raw material, labor, infrastructure and fixed cost are the variables that have a strong predicted variance in TFP at P < 0,05 with p-value of 0,000. Water is also observed to be significant at P < 0,1 with p-value of 0,087.

1. Abstract The purpose of the study is to propose a research framework that examine the relationship between marketing capabilities, resources acquisition capabilities, risk management capabilities and opportunity recognition capabilities for achieving better SM Es performance. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a framework for SM Es performance and moderating role of ORC. Similarly, the paper offers theoretical contributions by providing more understanding of the effect of M C, RAC, RM C and moderating effect of ORC on SM Es performance. Furthermore, the framework fills in the missing links, as the previous studies failed to sufficiently study M C, RAC, RM C and moderating effect of ORC in one study. It is expected that the study would provide deep, better understanding and improve strategic management practices in SM Es that is capable of generating sufficient competitive advantage and overall performance. Thereby, allowing owners, managers, government agencies NGOs and other stakeholders in the sector to enhance SM Es performance that can make tremendous contributions to the growth of employment, GDP, the balance of trade and export.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine national skills development initiatives in India as the country embarks on building skilled manpower to meet the demand of SME sectors in the coming decade. This paper identifies two national level programmes namely, National Skill Development Mission (NSDM) and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) which are implemented by an array of organisations in PPP (public-private partnership) mode. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a major actor for NSDM, has identified 21 high-growth sectors and formulated action plan for skills development in those sectors. NRLM’s Aajeevika Skill Development Programme and its sub-schemes ensure skills building of rural youth and help them in coming out of poverty. This paper identifies how skills building of rural youth will lead to job-diversification and lift them out of poverty through placement-linked skills-based jobs. This research paper analyses key national skills development initiatives and how the federal government is making efforts to build skills of marginalised communities as well as helping SME sectors and high growth sectors in bridging projected skills gaps.