Investigating a neglected part of Schumpeter’s creative army: what drives new-to-the-market innovation in micro-enterprises?

This paper tests a theoretical model to evaluate e-business capability and value in the fast growth small-to-medium enterprise (SME) context. We propose that e-business value depends on how fast growth SMEs deploy IT resources, strategic planning, culture, and business partnerships to develop e-business capability and business process competence which help these companies to achieve outstanding business performance. Structural equation modelling is employed to test our theoretical conceptualization on a cohort of 310 Australian fast growth SMEs across different industrial sectors. The results show that IT resources, strategic IT alignment, market orientation, and business partnerships do contribute significantly and indirectly to SME performance through the development of e-business capability and business process competence. Our study provides an initial empirical evidence to understand the relationship between IT and entrepreneurial SME performance. These findings have important implications for research and business practices.     

Globalisation,E-Business and SMEs: Evidence from the Italian District of Prato

The paper explores how SMEs located in industrial districts explore e-business as a means to face the challenges posed by globalisation. By resorting to case studies conducted in the textile district of Prato, the research evidences the positive attitude of the interviewed entrepreneurs towards e-business. However, the characteristics of the considered products (textiles) and the district structure strongly affect the path followed to explore the scenarios opened by e-business. The collected evidence suggests that only few firms in the district are actively pursuing the full range of opportunities provided by e-business, and that isolated actions are not enough to foster collective learning and growth processes involving the whole district.     

The benefits of e-business adoption: an empirical study of Swedish SMEs

The global nature of business today and the advances in information and communications technologies have compelled corporations to employ emerging technologies in order to remain competitive. In recent years electronic business has been adopted by many corporations to improve operational efficiency, profitability, and to strengthen their competitive position. This study examines the impact of web-based e-business on the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden. The analyses of data collected for this study provide valuable information to the executives of manufacturing and service SMEs. The findings show that the SMEs in the sample have benefited from e-business implementation in both operational and performance areas of their organization.     

Internationalization of Smaller Firms: Opportunity Development through Networks

This article aims to contribute toward a better understanding of the opportunity development process that rapidly internationalizing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) undergo. Little is known about how SMEs overcome challenges in the process of recognizing and exploiting market opportunities during their rapid expansion abroad. This article presents a longitudinal case study that illustrates how a firm's relationships with business, social, and political actors enhance its opportunity development during the internationalization process. The findings highlight that conducting matching activities at different levels helps the firm overcome challenges and succeed in developing new opportunities for continued expansion abroad. This study contributes to research on rapidly internationalizing firms by broadening the empirical and theoretical understanding of the opportunity development process for smaller firms. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

利用需求分析三阶段实施中小型企业电子商务项目运作管理

目前,中小型企业对电子商务的需求越来越迫切,但由于种种原因,电子商务在实际中却未充分利用,究其原因主要是对电子商务项目管理的需求分析不足,从中小企业生命周期入手,以不同生命周期阶段对电子商务项目需求不同,提供一些可操作性的理论基础———掌握电子商务项目需求分析三阶段方法,正确实施中小企业电子商务项目管理。     

The mitigating effects of uncertainty on ‘e’ innovation propensity: some service sector evidence

This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to explore a range of technical, financial and social issues that the literature suggests influences e-innovation propensity. The research was conducted on a sample of knowledge-intensive business service SMEs in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and New Zealand within a business-to-consumer context. Qualitative methodologies (in-depth interviews and projective techniques) were employed to investigate the research problem. The findings highlight a number of specific issues that call into question the value of an e-business strategy, such as uncertainties surrounding knowledge acquisition, disintermediation effects and sustainability of an e-business. These issues continue to negate e-innovation propensity. The paper proposes practical suggestions to alleviate the mitigating effects of uncertainty that are impacting on e-innovation propensity. The conclusions derived from this research, along with the modelling of the uncertainty factors extend existing knowledge and also set the precedent for further empirical research in other country and industry settings.     

Becoming a small multinational enterprise: Four multinationalization strategies for SMEs

SME multinationalization is an emerging yet underexplored topic in internationalization research. Previous studies have focused on identifying the key features of one ‘ideal’ multinationalization approach but shed less light on the potential alternative approaches that firms can use in different situations. Based on an empirical multiple case study of eight SMEs, this study identifies four alternative multinationalization strategies that SMEs can use (resource seeking, hub reaching, serendipitous resource leveraging, and controlled expansion) and illuminates their specific characteristics. The findings of this study demonstrate that instead of one ‘ideal’ approach, there are multiple strategies that SMEs can adopt for multinationalization and suggest that each strategy is characterized by different FDI goals, timing, organizational structure and value chain activities. Overall, this study contributes to contemporary international business research by advancing theorization on SME multinationalization.     

E-Business Education in Transition

ABSTRACT

The present study built on previous research to explore the development of e-business education in North America. Data was collected from college and university web sites on master's and bachelor's e-business programs. Findings suggest that the number of both types of e-business programs is increasing. The proportion of technical e-business courses in such programs also appears to be growing. This may reflect a move toward balanced treatment of technical and nontechnical e-business course content.     

Business Intelligence versus Entrepreneurial Competitive Intelligence and International Competitiveness of North African SMEs

This paper aims to analyze the effects of different devices of business intelligence and entrepreneurial competitive intelligence on the international competitiveness of 300 North African SMEs. Furthermore, we will try through this paper to examine the mechanical role of the internal audit of entrepreneurial competitive intelligence in the packaging of such effects. The originality of this research lies in the attempt to better understand theoretically and empirically the particularities of each of the concepts related to entrepreneurial competitive intelligence and its internal audit on one side and its effects on the international competitiveness based on export intensity on the other side. Our results show that the competitive position of North African SMEs is strongly dependent on the entrepreneurial competitive intelligence approach because it includes essential additional actions which refer not only to a defensive attitude but also and potentially to entrepreneurial orientation.     

Corporate social responsibility and aging workforces: an explorative study of corporate social responsibility implementation in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Although critical differences exist between large companies and small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), limited empirical research has been done on human resource (HR)‐related corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this paper we study aging workforce management (AWM) as a component of CSR. Our study was conducted in the Netherlands through a randomly distributed online questionnaire. Managers and team leaders of 201 SMEs responded. The data were analyzed using multiple hierarchical regression analysis. Our results are twofold: first, findings suggest that CSR policies in micro organizations with fewer than five employees seem to be strongly associated with AWM; and second, that companies with a focus on integration of older workers in daily activities do not perceive their actions as HR‐related. Using AWM as part of CSR helps to give insight into the role of the owner, company size and the nature of implicit CSR practices. Our study demonstrates that the use of AWM in CSR research can lead to valuable insights and therefore, our overarching research question is answered that AWM can be used when studying CSR.     

Accounting information quality and trust as determinants of credit granting to SMEs: the role of external audit

This study analyses whether loan officers’ perception of the accounting information quality (AIQ) and the trustworthiness of SMEs are associated with a better willingness to grant them credit. Empirical evidence is obtained from a survey of 471 bank loan officers in Spain, who are asked to answer in relation to audited and not-audited firms. Using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, the results obtained confirm that the loan officers’ willingness to facilitate SMEs’ access to credit is positively influenced by their general perception about the AIQ, but only if it is audited. In the case of not-audited firms, AIQ does not play a direct role in credit granting decision, but is relevant in trust formation. Besides, in the case of audited firms, only the “competence” dimension of trust is relevant, whereas in not-audited firms, both “competence” and “honesty” have an impact on credit granting. “Benevolence” does not have an influence in any case. The study has implications for SMEs, banks, policy makers and auditors.     

中小企业资源空间、软权力与机会实现的关系研究

在当前互联网时代,中小企业可用资源已超出极为有限的自有资源范畴而拓展至外部环境,形成由认同边界、能力边界、效率边界共同界定的资源空间,影响着机会的实现。由于硬权力小、行动灵活高等原因,中小企业尤为倚重与擅长基于软权力开展合作、利用资源以及识别或开发机会。分维度、分类别分析,并以科技型中小企业为样本证实:资源认同、能力边界的拓展有助于中小企业成功识别机会,资源效率边界则有助于机会开发;社会层面软权力增强资源认同、能力边界对机会识别的作用,组织层面软权力则正向调节资源能力边界对机会开发的影响;两类软权力均会减弱对方的作用。研究结果从机会识别与开发的角度,为有针对性地拓展多维度资源边界、合理获取与应用不同类别的软权力等提供细致的行动参考。     

International entrepreneurial SMEs in the muslim world: The role of religion in the GCC countries

Recent studies examining the internationalisation of SMEs in emerging economies have observed that religion affects international market entry, which suggests that specific cultural aspects, such as religion, have not hitherto received enough attention. Hence, this study examines a theme that has seemingly escaped the research agenda: how does religion affect SMEs’ internationalisation? The study draws empirical evidence from 10 manufacturing SMEs located in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Through an embedded approach to case study research, the study queries the role of religion in the development of intra-Muslim internationalisation and contributes to the scant literature that examines the impact of Islamic values on international business activities. The findings show three dimensions of Islamic entrepreneurship, viz. regional rather than international networking orientation, risk aversion and proactiveness.     

The belt and road initiative,cultural friction and ethnicity: Their effects on the export performance of SMEs in China

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has provided Chinese firms with significant incentives to speed up the pace of internationalization. Yet very little international business (IB) research has been found to empirically examine such policy effects. This study explores this important issue using Chinese firms of different ethnicities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. We propose that the BRI has a positive formal institutional effect on the export performance of XUAR firms that target the “Belt” countries. Both cultural friction and ethnicity serve as the unique cultural contingencies that moderate the relationship between the BRI and export performance. More specifically, the cultural friction that results from the process of internationalization will negatively affect the export performance prompted by the BRI. The Uygur-owned firms will benefit more from the BRI due to their cultural similarity. Overall, the study takes the lead in investigating both internal conditions and external environments that promote and inhibit the internationalization process of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the XUAR that are geographically close to the “Belt” countries. The findings help enrich the understanding of the dual “push” and “drag” effects on the outcomes of SMEs’ international activities due to the government-led initiatives and the understanding of micro-foundation toward internationalization from an ethnicity perspective.     

Exploring SME cybersecurity practices in developing countries

The continued use of information technology systems by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries has the potential to bring significant benefits but, at the same time, expose them to online cybersecurity threats. Addressing these threats is, therefore, of paramount importance for developing countries, not only because SMEs are seen as the vehicle for employment and job creation, but because research on SMEs and cybersecurity in this context is limited. This study is a contribution toward addressing this gap.

The purpose of this study is, therefore, to explore SME cybersecurity practices and the challenges they face in developing countries. The goal is to sensitize practitioners and government institutions about the challenges and practices faced by SMEs, so that the various parties can work collaboratively in providing context-specific solutions to address these challenges and improve current cybersecurity practices. The study follows a qualitative enquiry approach to solicit information from three South African SMEs that had implemented cybersecurity practices. The findings show that an SME’s perception of cybersecurity is constrained by internal factors of budget, management support, and attitudes. Further findings show that SMEs’ cybersecurity practices are affected by the landscape of cybersecurity, as well as institutional pressures.     

The Driver of Green Innovation and Green Image – Green Core Competence

This study proposed a novel construct – green core competence – to explore its positive effects on green innovation and green images of firms. The results showed that green core competences of firms were positively correlated to their green innovation performance and green images. In addition, this research also verified two types of green innovation performance had partial mediation effects between green core competences and green images of firms. Therefore, investment in the development of green core competence was helpful to businesses for the enhancement of their green innovation and green images. Furthermore, this study found that green core competence, two types of green innovation performance, and green images of medium & small enterprises (SMEs) were all significantly less than those of large enterprises in the information and electronics industry in Taiwan. Therefore, there was the advantage of firm size for the green core competence in this industry, and it was imperative for SMEs to develop and create their green core competences to strengthen their green innovation performance, and green images.     

The Process of Trust Formation in E-Business: Insights from Case Studies of Two Small Firms

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate and theoretically explain the process of trust formation in high risk e-business.

Methodology/approach: The interpretive case-based approach has been used in this study. Inductive analysis of interview data helped to develop the process model of trust formation in the context of business-to-business e-market transactions by two small firms.

Research implications: This research explains how and why trial outcomes influence trust formation. The findings also indicate the importance of the trialing process as a legitimate means of determining trustworthiness of the other party and the e-business platform. These findings add to the existing body of knowledge on trust in e-business and have important implications for further research.

Practical implications: The practical implication is that if sponsors of business-to-business e-markets can support initial trials, it would foster trust and lead to more active usage of e-business methods.

Originality/value/contribution: This research shows that trust formation in high risk e-business is a dynamic process, influenced by changes in risk perceptions from repeated trial outcomes in initial stages, a departure from prior variance studies with assumptions of static perceptions of risk and trust.     

Measuring Electronic Commerce Technology–Enabled Business Value: An Empirical Investigation

This research investigates whether firms using e-commerce technologies are successful in generating business value and, if so, which e-commerce drivers determine this success and how firms should use these drivers. There is no systematic empirical evidence in the IT productivity and business value literature regarding the payoffs a business receives from its e-business initiatives. The current research contributes to the literature in the e-commerce area by identifying a set of e-business value constructs, incorporating these constructs in a model in a manner not done before, and empirically validating the model using an Analysis of MOment Structures (AMOS)/?Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The present research also contributes to the e-business value literature by providing insights into causal relationships among Rogers' innovation and diffusion theory (IDT) factors. This is the first time a research study has empirically established comprehensive causal relationships among these factors. The SEM analysis of the model indicates that the proposed model is able to explain e-commerce success utilizing the constructs identified and grounded using IT business value literature and Rogers' IDT. We conclude by summarizing its contributions to the IT literature, in general, and the e-business literature, in particular, and by providing insights for practice and suggestions for future research.     

Corporate Social Responsibility That “Pays”: A Strategic Approach to CSR for SMEs

This study adopts a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR), puts forward a model of CSR activities that enhance small and medium enterprises (SMEs) growth, and argues that by aligning CSR activities with the competitive strategy of the firm, SMEs enhance firm growth. We test this model using multinomial logistic analysis and data from a survey with 211 U.K.‐based SMEs. We find that CSR activities related to the community enhance firm growth for all SMEs, but especially for firms adopting a cost leadership strategy, and that CSR activities related to the workforce are crucial to avoid sales decline, especially for SMEs adopting a differentiation or a quality‐driven strategy. We also find that environment‐related CSR activities are not beneficial for SMEs' growth and that human rights–related CSR activities slow growth for firms adopting a differentiation or a quality‐driven strategy. Finally, we put forward managerial and policy recommendations.     

Operationalizing peace through commerce: Toward an empirical approach

Most scholars would agree that the goal of business is to create value. Yet, can there be anything more valuable than peace? This article tackles the following research question: How can, or do, businesses advance peace? It explains why peace through commerce is a topic worthy of study and sets out an empirical approach to operationalize it. The implementation of that approach remains in the future, but in this article, I seek to examine the contours of a possible approach. The proposed study will demonstrate how some businesses have already begun to move toward advancing peace and will give direction for how businesses could follow suit in the future. With both a content analysis and a panel data analysis, there would be data to help determine an index for peace through commerce, which would contribute a great deal to the existing body of literature. The proposed study will help scholars and practitioners alike understand the relationship between business and peace better.