How Organizational Culture Influences Innovativeness,Proactiveness, and Risk‐Taking: Fostering Entrepreneurial Orientation in SMEs

The beneficial outcome of a firm's entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been widely researched, but literature and empirical studies about factors and conditions that foster EO remain scarce. The Competing Values Model is used to investigate the relationships between key dimensions of organizational culture (group, hierarchical, developmental, and rational) and three dimensions of EO in small and medium enterprises. A study of 298 enterprises showed that developmental, group, and rational culture has a strong positive impact on EO, whereas the impact of hierarchical culture is negative. Thus, our results highlight the importance of an external orientation of organizations to foster EO.     

Exploring Proactiveness as a Moderator in the Process of Perceiving Industrial Munificence: A Field Study of SMEs in Four Countries

Utilizing information processing theory, we investigated the role that proactiveness plays in the organizational process of perceiving objective industrial munificence. Specifically, we examined the moderating effect of proactiveness in the munificence perception process, as well as the mediating impact of perceived munificence on the relationship between objective munificence and firm performance. Data collected from 227 companies in four countries and seven manufacturing industries support both hypotheses. The implications of these findings for managerial practice and future research are discussed.     

SMEs and regional economic growth in Brazil

This paper examines the relationship between the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector and economic growth for an annual panel of Brazilian states for the period 1985–2004. We investigate the importance of the relative size of the SME sector measured by the share of SME employment in total formal employment and the level of human capital in SMEs measured by the average years of schooling of SME employees. The empirical results indicate that the relative importance of SMEs is negatively correlated with economic growth, a result that is consistent with previous studies examining developing countries. In addition, our results show that the human capital embodied in SMEs may be more important for economic growth than the relative size of the SME sector.     

Cash holdings in SMEs: speed of adjustment,growth and financing

This paper studies the effect of growth opportunities, financial constraints and financial distress on the speed of adjustment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to their target cash holdings. We use a sample of Spanish SMEs from the period of 1998 to 2012. The results support the existence of a target cash holding level to which small firms attempt to converge. Additionally, consistent with the precautionary motive for cash holdings, the results show that SMEs with greater growth opportunities adjust more quickly to their target cash holding level to preserve their financial flexibility and to be able to take advantage of profitable investment opportunities when they arise. Moreover, for SMEs in financial difficulties, the adjustment speed of cash is higher to avoid financial distress costs. Finally, we observe a faster speed of adjustment for cash holding in the crisis period for all firms, as a possible response to the credit restrictions faced by SMEs.     

Ownership structure,insider behavior,and IPO performance of SMEs in China

This paper examines the drivers of IPO performance of 783 SMEs in China between 2009 and 2012 that were listed on the SME and Growth Enterprise Boards. The study finds that firms that had prior venture capital (VC) investment did not perform better than those that did not. Among VC-invested firms, ventures (1) with strong VC control rights relative to those of the largest block shareholder, (2) with former ownership affiliation between the VC and the underwriter, and (3) that paid higher IPO fees had a negative long-term performance. The negative relationship between VC-underwriter ownership affiliation and long-term performance decreases as the reputation of the underwriter increases.     

我国中小企业融资现状及对策分析

目前,我国中小企业的融资存在融资成本高、信用体系不健全、融资渠道不规范、在资本市场受到融资歧视等问题。为促进中小企业的良性经营与稳定发展,我国通过增强中小企业内源融资能力、规范民间借贷、完善银企征信体系、利率市场化等方式解决这些问题。此外,政府还应该对目前市场进行补充和修正,如向金融机构提供贷款风险补偿资金,成立服务于中小企业的政策性银行等措施,以达到全面解决中小企业融资困难的目的。     

Constraints,internationalization and growth: A cross-country analysis of European SMEs

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are known to face barriers which limit their ability to grow. We build on resource dependency theory and the resource-based view to investigate how SMEs are able to achieve venture growth in the face of these constraints by adopting internationalization and inter-firm collaboration strategies. Based on a large sample of European SMEs, our research demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between specific dimensions of internationalization and inter-firm collaborations, in particular between exporting and importing, and between formal and informal collaborations – as well as context-specificity of these strategies with respect to the types of constraints SMEs face.     

我国中小企业财务管理现状分析与对策研究

中小企业是国民经济重要组成部分其财务有其自身独特性.本文在分析中小企业财务管理问题的现状的基础上,提出加强其管理的相关对策.     

The Dynamics of Listed SMEs in China

We examine the dynamics of Chinese listed SMEs with respect to their post-market viability and growth after going public. The Kaplan–Meier estimation shows that SMEs are more likely to transition to a non-viable state than large firms. Further examination using the Cox model and the random effects model shows that SME dynamics are shaped by heterogeneous firm and industry characteristics, as well as the underlying financial and institutional environments. SME viability is distinguished by its ability to grow through learning along with age, aided by lower business risk, more focused business, easier access to equity finance, and less exposure to competition in remote regions. SME growth is constrained by a dispersed ownership structure, insufficient infrastructure to protect firms which are active in R&D, and the limited financing role of equity markets. The study also reveals that government initiatives in support of strategic development in the service industries and in the coastal regions are of importance in spurring SME growth.     

Workplace Flexibility Practices in SMEs: Relationship with Performance via Redundancies,Absenteeism, and Financial Turnover

This workplace flexibility study uses primary data on private sector small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lancashire, United Kingdom, collected in 2009 during the recent “credit crunch” recession. Key features include: (1) objective measures of SME performance; (2) a focus on the previously relatively neglected relationship between workplace flexibility practices (WFPs) and three SME performance indicators, namely, redundancies, absenteeism, and financial turnover; and (3) a timely contribution to research on SMEs. Numerical, functional, and cost WFPs analyses, via zero‐inflated Poisson and linear regressions, control for SME and market characteristics. Despite SMEs having limited resources, the results show a significant section of SMEs to be innovative and entrepreneurial organizations, embracing advancements in employment relations regarding employee discretion, training, participative working arrangements, and/or job security. Moreover, results indicate that WFPs have the potential to assist SMEs in responding to periods of constrained demand. Flexitime and job sharing are associated with low permanent‐employee redundancies. Training, job security, and family‐friendly practices relate to low absenteeism with reductions of up to six annual days per worker. Job security and profit‐related pay are associated with high financial turnover. Staff pay‐freeze links with high financial turnover, but to the detriment of redundancies and absenteeism, whereas management pay‐cuts or management pay‐freeze relate to low financial turnover. On a cautionary note, spending cuts, often enforced by policymakers, may be of limited benefit to SMEs, and thus other approaches would appear more fruitful.     

The effect of geographic scope on growth and growth variability of SMEs

The impact of international expansion on the success of small and medium enterprises (SME) has been extensively studied, particularly with respect to the performance implications of expansion into foreign markets. Yet, the literature is still unclear on the consequences of the SME's geographic scope (i.e., the number of countries a firm operates in). Drawing on the contemporary internalization theory, we build a theoretical framework suggesting that SMEs’ geographic scope positively impacts firm growth rate, yet makes it less reliable, i.e., a positive effect on both the mean and the variability of growth. We also suggest that this relationship is highly context-dependent. The positive benefits of the increasing scope materialize only when the firms can manage the rising complexity of operational governance through leveraging the managerial international competencies (obtained, e.g., through international education and international experience) and constraining the geographic expansion to their home region. The framework is empirically tested on data from Swiss SMEs engaged in international operations, employing the multiplicative heteroscedasticity regression model specification with endogenously modeled scope.     

Excellence Award for French SMEs in China

More and more French S＆M enterprises are interested in China market in recent years, according to the statistic from French Chamber of Commerce and Industs in China （CCIFC）,     

浅议我国中小企业文化建设的相关问题及举措

中小企业文化建设的目的是提升中小企业核心竞争力、加速k 小企业发展的动力。通过分析我国中小企业文化在中小企业发展中的重要作用、存在的问题,并提出相关举措,为企业的快速发展提供良好的文化氛围。     

ISO 26000在中国应用面临的三个技术问题

ISO26000自2010年11月1日正式颁布至今,已一年有余。我国全程参与了ISO26000的制定,并最终投票赞成通过该标准,但从其在我国的应用情况看,并不十分理想。笔者认为,应抱着“拿来主义”的心态,     

对我国中小企业债务融资渠道的探讨

本文从各种债务融资渠道特点出发,分析了适合中小企业的债务融资渠道,并就国内外中小企业利用债务融资渠道的情况进行了分析.最后就如何拓展我国中小企业债务融资渠道进行了探讨.     

中部地区中小企业竞争力动态评价

已有的研究文献中对地区中小企业竞争力的评价主要是静态的评价,其实竞争力应该是一个动态的、相对的概念,对地区中小企业竞争力进行动态评价更有必要。通过构建一套度量中小企业区域竞争力的评价体系,并对中部地区6个省中小企业竞争力进行了动态评价。     

互联网金融模式下我国小微企业融资问题研究

近年来,我国小微企业的数量迅速增加,对促进我国经济发展起着显著的作用,但是小微企业融资难和融资贵的问题一直制约着小微企业的发展。随着我国互联网金融的迅速壮大,各种新型的互联网融资平台不仅为小微企业提供了便捷高效的融资方式,还满足了小微企业的个性化需求。但是由于互联网金融体系监管尚未完善,各类矛盾开始显现。通过对小微企业融资现状进行研究,运用三种不同的互联网金融模式来破解小微企业融资困境,指出小微企业在互联网融资中存在的问题,提出相应的对策建议,从而进一步完善互联网金融平台的建设,使小微企业在互联网融资过程中更安全、高效。     

SMEs, Social Capital and the Common Good

In this paper we report on empirical research which investigates social capital of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Bringing an international perspective to the work, we make a comparison between 30 firms located in West London and Munich in the sectors of food manufacturing/production, marketing services and garages. Here we present 6 case studies, which we use to illustrate the early findings from this pilot project. We identify differences in approach to associational membership in Germany and the U.K., with a greater propensity to "belong" to an official group in Germany. We distinguish clear sectoral similarities across the countries, and indications that certain personality types will seek out engagement and find time beyond busy work life schedules, often merging work/home/leisure life and friends. Some of our cases illustrate that formal institutions, networks and mutual relationships can develop social capital for the SME, although we should take care not to assume a universal win-win situation for those who are engaged and contribute to the common good. Some of the obstacles to co-operation and civic engagement are outlined.