Determinants of environmental innovations supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises sustainable development

Enterprises are increasingly required to improve their environmental performances. The adoption of environmental innovations (EIs) is believed a way to achieve this goal. So a flourishing debate about the determinants supporting investment in EIs arose. Researchers have thus far paid attention mainly to established manufacturing firms operating in traditional sectors. Hence, scientific literature recommends deepening the behavior of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because of the role they play in the productive systems in many Western countries. With this in mind, this study investigates a probabilistic sample of 222 innovative SMEs using the partial least squares and importance–performance map analysis in order to identify the factors affecting their propensity to invest in EIs. Findings show that the propensity results are affected by the firms' environmental awareness, company staff, and capabilities, among the internal factors, whereas among the external ones, the propensity is affected by norms and regulations. An important role is also played by the hope to improve their economic and environmental performances. Monetary and fiscal incentives reveal not to be significant. Consequently, policies should firstly propose an appropriate mix of regulations and stimuli following two directions: a compliance direction to more stringent regulations and rules to be followed through the imposition of penalties and a cultural direction aiming at improving environmental awareness of SMEs about the desirability of pursuing EIs for both ethical and economic reasons, given the potential benefits associated with such innovations.     

Employment relations in small- and medium-sized enterprises: insights from Ghana

This study examines employment relations in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. This is done through in-depth case studies of three private firms in the service sector. A review of the extant literature on SMEs revealed a dearth of knowledge on employment relations in SMEs in Africa. Previous research into SMEs in developing countries – and Africa in particular – has focused on economic policy initiatives, problems in raising capital and obstacles to the development of SMEs. In an attempt to fill the gap in the literature, this study uses recruitment, selection and retention, remuneration, discipline and welfare practices to explore the nature of employment relations, the factors that influence and shape them, and the extent of informality involved. The findings cast doubt on the stereotype: small implies/equals informal employment relations in SMEs in Ghana. The study also identifies the factors that influence employment relations and, in addition, reveals that under competitive pressures, SMEs have developed employment relations systems that enable them to have a competitive advantage in their product market/service delivery.     

Implementation of optimal contracts under adverse selection

This paper studies a 2-agent, 2-type principal-multiagent model of adverse selection under the assumption that the agents each have complete information. We construct a mechanism implementing the first-best contracts in Nash equilibrium that: satisfies a condition related to individual rationality, is renegotiation-proof, has a small-sized message space, achieves unique implementation and satisfies undomination of Nash equilibrium strategies. Moreover, we prove that other requirements which relate to individual rationality (different from the one satisfied by our mechanism) are not compatible with implementation of the first-best contracts. Received: 27 July 1998 / Accepted: 26 May 2000     

Organizational commitment in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises: the role of extrinsic,intrinsic and social rewards

In this paper, there is an assessment of the likelihood of the social dimension of the 1992 EC programme amounting to a new model of social development for the community. The conclusion is that the centripetal forces required for the creation of a fully fledged social union are absent from the integration process. Hence, despite the upsurge of Europeanization, considerable centrifugal forces remain inside the Community, preventing the immediate enactment of a big policy model. Above all, no heavy intrusion is likely to occur into existing national systems of welfare and labour market regulation.     

Purchasing practices in small- to medium-sized enterprises: An examination of strategic purchasing adoption,supplier evaluation and supplier capabilities

The benefits that can be derived from effective purchasing have long been recognised in the management literature. Despite a growing body of research on purchasing practices in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a number of key issues remain under-examined. We investigate SME purchasing practices in terms of (1) the degree to which purchasing is regarded as a ‘strategic’ activity by SMEs, (2) the use of supplier evaluation systems by SMEs and (3) the supplier capabilities emphasised by SME buyers. Through a survey of UK SME managers, we find that purchasing practices varied greatly across SMEs. Purchasing formality is generally low with limited evidence of purchasing being employed strategically and with many firms not undertaking formal supplier evaluations. In terms of supplier capabilities, we find that SMEs differ in the capabilities they prioritise, with three distinct groups evident. These groups are labelled ‘holistic’, ‘process’ and ‘logistics’ based on the supplier capabilities they emphasise. These three groups of firms also differed in terms of the emphasis they placed on strategic purchasing, supplier evaluation, technological focus and how they compete in their main markets, but not in terms of firm size or number of suppliers utilised. The implications of these findings are discussed and areas meriting future research are proposed.     

The involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprises in public procurement: Impact of resource perceptions,electronic systems and enterprise size

The importance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as employers and suppliers is high, and there are studies that evaluate the benefits of having SMEs as suppliers. The challenges of SMEs as buyers have been explored, but there is little research on the obstacles that SMEs encounter as suppliers. This article focuses on the implications of perceived resources, electronic systems and enterprise size. It uses survey data to analyze what type of resources and characteristics in particular influence the involvement of SMEs in public procurement. The results of hypothesis testing show that perceived lack of resources especially in legal expertise and administration is associated with low SME involvement. By analyzing suppliers to municipalities and state organizations separately, it is found that lack of electronic systems in order processing and invoicing is related with low involvement of SMEs in state procurement. In short, this article contributes to the current knowledge on SMEs and public procurement by demonstrating the influence of resource perceptions and electronic systems on SME involvement and by pointing out the differences between the two levels of public sector actors (municipalities and state organizations).     

Assessment and selection of management consultants: A comparative cognitive study between small- and large-scale companies

This paper explores alternative ways of evaluating and ultimately hiring a generalist consultancy for short- and medium-term projects, and how this is shaped by the size of the clients’ company. What buying factors do managers of small and large firms have in mind when hiring consultants for their projects?Instead of employing surveys incorporating predefined buying factors based on what the researchers think would be important, a cognitive mapping methodology - the repertory grid technique - is applied to investigate the underlying phenomena. Using the repertory grid technique to draw mental models is a novel research technique within the supply management field. Recent behavioral supply chain management research found the behavior of managers to be critically influenced by mental models: the lenses through which managers perceive, simplify and interpret the world.Results show differences between the buying factors used in small- and large-scale companies: managers of large companies are more ‘reputation and outcome-oriented’ and managers of small businesses are more concerned with ‘how the services are rendered’. However, both constituents stressed the importance of expertise, quality and the relationship between the client and the management consultancy, although the character of such a relationship differed between small- and large-scale firms. Results also point out criteria that managers of small and large companies employ to discriminate between good and poor performing consultancies and to judge service delivery. The practical implications for both companies hiring consultancies and the consultancy companies are discussed. For consultancies, our findings can help tailoring their efforts to a differing clientele when marketing and selling their services. For companies hiring consultancies, fixating too much on particular buying factors may lead to biased decisions.     

The selection of contracts in supply chains: An empirical analysis

This paper seeks to empirically identify the key drivers for firms in selecting a contract in a supply chain by investigating their performance, supply chain orientation, and supply chain integration. A conceptual model is drawn up based on the existing literature in supply chain coordination contracts, performance, supply chain orientation, and supply chain integration and tested on a large sample of European firms. Multiple and multinomial logistic regression models allow for estimating the relationships between these variables. Our results demonstrate that the selection of contracts and the probability of their adoption depend on several combinations of firms' performance, supply chain orientation, and integration. Overall, the research provides an empirical contribution to the literature on coordination with contracts, which turns out to be mainly game theory based.     

湖南省中小企业技术创新模式选择

文章从分析湖南省中小企业技术创新的问题和有利因素出发,探讨了中小企业技术创新模式选择。     

The sales job and preparation for management

“The types of work that lead of the top jobs have ovious variations by industry with a few aberrations. There is, nonetheless, a consistent pattern: less law experience than generally supposed, not much engineering or research and among younger executives a lot of sales.”

1 Editors of Fortune Magazine, The Executive Life, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1956, p. 31.

Is there something about sales that produces better mangers?     

违约赔偿与赔偿上限

《合同法》规定的违约赔偿责任方式有两种,一是一般的损害赔偿,即补偿性的损害赔偿;二是惩罚性损害赔偿。但在多数的合同赔偿责任中,适用的是补偿性的损害赔偿。惩罚性赔偿通常只有在商品欺诈和服务欺诈中才可以适用,合同法第113条规定“经营者对消费者提供商品或者服务有欺诈行为的,依照《中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法》的规定承担损害赔偿责任。”在实践中,虽然立法承认对一般违约也可约定惩罚性赔偿金,但不可以任意扩大其适用范围。     

An actuarial and financial analysis for ECU insurance contracts

The aim of this paper is to analyse the Italian ECU linked policy Europea. We will show that the adjustment of premium and capital as well as the investment policy have to take into account targets of purchasing power and stability. In our approach a recursive improvement is allowed according to the market conditions. A game model is described and qualitative aspects are introduced through fuzzy elements, showing that the Company's behavior has to be more flexible towards a truly dynamic contract, which is also adjusted through the implementation clauses for premium and capital.The research has been partially supported by the Italian Ministery of Education and the National Research Council.     

Networking strategy of boards: implications for small and medium-sized enterprises

Development of linkages with the external environment, e.g. interlocks, is a mechanism to access scarce resources. Creating and maintaining these linkages may be an organizational capability that creates a competitive advantage for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A partial model of networking strategy is proposed, which includes measures of board composition, interlocks, entrepreneurial orientation and environmental hostility. Analysis of 70 community bank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) responses (58% response rate) lends support to the proposition that firms with a networking strategy performed better (higher return on assets (ROA) and higher return on expenditure (ROE)) than those firms that did not actively pursue the development of networks.     

市场营销软件模型设计与实现

由于市场营销模式的变化与社会信息化相结合,市场营销必将步入信息化的进程,而且是构成ERP管理体系的重要环节。文章结合药品生产经营企业的产品销售与信息化的过程,描述了销售的业务流程到信息流程的转变,数据流图到软件模型的转变,E-R关联图到数据结构的转变,直至营销管理系统的实现。     

Progress billing method of accounting for long-term construction contracts

This article questions the reliability of the amount of revenue recognized in the percentage of completion （POC） method of revenue recognition in construction industry and recommends a new method based on the progress billing which is more reliable. The most commonly used method of revenue recognition in the construction industry is the percentage of completion method （POC）, where the revenue is recognized on the basis of the percentage of work completed. The calculation of percentage of work completed is made on the basis of the cost incurred for the contract work during the financial period and the cost required for completion of the work as estimated by the contractor. Here, the acceptance of the product by the buyer （contractee） is not involved in recognizing the revenue. The reliability of the amount of revenue and its collectability can be assured only when the buyer accepts the product. The approval of the progress bill by the contractee is needed to assure the reliability and collectability and it must be the event that triggers the recognition of revenue.     

中小企业产业集群:中小型民营企业财务困境的出路

中小型民营企业面临严峻的考验。中小企业产业集群的形成能降低企业的生产成本,形成区域品牌优势,从而提升企业的竞争能力,以达到解决中小型民营企业的财务困境之目的。     

Uniform and nonuniform staggering of wage contracts

This paper provides a model that can account for the almost uniform staggering of wage contracts in some countries as well as for the markedly nonuniform staggering in others. In the model, short and long contracts as well as long contracts concluded in different periods are strategic substitutes, which provide a powerful rationale for staggering. We show that for realistic parameter values, there is a continuum of possible equilibria with various degrees of staggering of long contracts. If the contracting cost is not too large, then the lowest possible degree of staggering decreases with the contracting cost and increases with monetary uncertainty.     

Extension of labor contracts and optimal backpay

This paper explains why a union and a firm might settle on a contract duration that may later be extended and characterizes the optimal backpay for the holdout period. It is shown that the choice between concluding a shorter contract that may be extended and immediately concluding a longer contract depends on the prevalence of the different types of uncertainty in the economy. It is also shown that the optimal backpay reduces the negative impact of nominal uncertainty on a worker's real income, but increases the worker's exposure to idiosyncratic uncertainty.     

An empirical comparison of cross-impact models for forecasting sales

This paper compares a set of four cross-impact models: (1) additive, (2) likelihood multiplier, (3) R-space, and (4) a model constructed by the author. This is done by examining a forecasting problem encountered by an industrial firm. The forecasting problem was to study the market trend in order to decide whether to expand the production capacity of a ceramics plant. In spite of their different theoretical premises, the models yielded similar results. However, only the R-space model produced results that differed from the others. The paper also suggests a method that should avoid some internal contradictions of the cross-impact models.