Small business dynamics in Europe

This paper examines how the firm-size distribution has shifted over the last two decades across a broad spectrum of European countries. The evidence suggests that a shift away from large firms and towards small business has taken place, particularly is the southern regions and in the high technology indutries.     

小额贷款公司运营管理探析

小额贷款公司自成立以来,解决了众多小微企业融资难题,但在运营管理中还存在众多问题,主要体现在存在政策支持不足,网络运营安全风险大,融资渠道不通畅,运行机制不健全,管理人员整体素质低下等方面。基于此,我国应完善小额贷款公司运营管理政策,降低系统风险,提高小额贷款公司信用等级,建设完善运营机制,以此促进规范小额贷款公司经营,提高运营效率,促进其可持续发展。     

Parsimonious Models of Financial Insolvency in Small Companies

This study is an extension of current research on insolvency diagnosis. We intend to demonstrate that in small firms, the relevant information for the preventive diagnosis of insolvency can be synthesised in a model built upon a more reduced number of economic and financial ratios than the ones generally used in this kind of study. Our approach produces parsimonious models that can extract information from publicly available accounting-financial data. We demonstrate that using an extensive exploratory stage that will monitor the effects of correlation between financial variables, we will be able to build relatively stable models with a small set of variables.The results of the models built by resorting to discriminant analysis and to logistic regression present a similar accuracy to models previously developed. Our models present the advantage of including a small number of variables that can be interpreted in the light of current financial theory and therefore it reduces the number of financial data needed to make an insolvency diagnosis. This is particularly decisive when working in an environment of restricted information availability, which is very common in small companies.     

CSR Policies: Effects on Labour Productivity in Spanish Micro and Small Manufacturing Companies

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper analyses empirical evidence of efforts to enable Spanish micro and small manufacturing companies to boost their labour productivity rates through the...     

The Internationalisation of Small to Medium-Sized Retail Companies: Towards A Conceptual Framework

The internationalisation of large multinational retailers is well documented and much research attention has been given to their processes, motives and strategies for expansion. However, a successful international retailer does not necessarily have to be a large retailer. Dynamic smallerretailers with strong concepts, formats and products have shown themselves capable of rapid international growth. To date there has been a distinct lack of research on the internationalisation of small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) operating in the retail sector. Any discussion of SME internationalisationwithin the retail industry should recognise that research on large multinational corporations is not directly transferable to small and medium-sized firms who by their very nature and characteristics embrace a very different set of opportunities in the international market. To address thisgap in research, this paper draws upon broader established international SME and entrepreneurship literatures to provide a framework for examining some of the key aspects of the internationalisation of retail SMEs.     

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and IT Diffusion Policies in Europe

The main argument to justify an information technology (IT) diffusion policy for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is that IT could act as a catalyzer to the SMEs' growth, which is important because of the role played by these firms in innovation and regional development. However, due to the heterogeneity of SMEs, present IT diffusion policies in Europe are reaching only a limited number of these firms. The aim of this paper is to discuss the obstacles to the implementation of an IT diffusion policy for SMEs. The main arguments that justify a policy for IT diffusion in SMEs, and the main initiatives taken for IT diffusion in these firms in European countries are summarized. The shortcomings of present policies will be discussed, together with possibilities to increase IT diffusion in SMEs.     

论中小企业不确定性条件下的适应性战略

中小企业在我国经济发展中占有重要的地位，然而中小企业的抗风险能力较弱，造成企业生命周期大大缩短。随着知识经济的到来，市场竞争会不断加剧，而其他诸如成本、法律等不确定性因素的存在将是不争的事实，在这样的环境下，中小企业更应该调整自己的发展战略来提高其适应性。     

商业银行与小额贷款公司合作模式探索

小额贷款公司相对商业银行而言,资金来源渠道较窄。而商业银行相对小额贷款公司而言,贷款条件较苛刻,独立经营小额贷款成本较高。商业银行和小额贷款公司可以在相互竞争的环境下更好地合作发展小额贷款业务,建立小额贷款批发机制,创新以外包零售业务方式、以资源共享为主和以技术输出为主的双赢的合作模式,为中小企业和"三农"提供更多贷款。     

Promises Made, Promises Broken: An Exploration of Employee Attraction and Retention Practices in Small Business

Entrepreneurial organizations have undergone substantial workforce changes and transformations during the last two decades in order to compete successfully on a global scale. The ability to attract and retain reliable and competent employees has become a key component in developing an effective and sustainable competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the psychological contract and the types of promises made and communicated by small business organizations to attract and retain their employees. From a sample of 151 employees within small businesses, the results demonstrate that perceived unfulfilled promises can have a considerable impact on workplace attitudes, commitment, and intentions to leave the organization. Implications and recommendations for small businesses as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

中国上市公司小股东保护:一个公司治理的视角

上市公司小股东权益遭受侵害的一个重要原因在于上市公司治理存在制度缺陷。存在于我国上市公司治理制度中不利于小股东保护。有四大缺陷使其通过各种途径小股东遭受侵害。为完善我国小股东保护制度提出五项建议:稳步推进上市公司股票全流通;建立小股东对控股股东的权力制衡机制;加快董事会制度建设;完善上市公司信息披露制度;构建独立高效的证券司法体系,完善法律救济与实施机制。     

International Strategy Formation in Small Canadian High-Technology Companies– A Case Study Approach

For some companies, especially in the high technology sector, internationalisation is no longer a matter of choice, but of necessity. This paper explores the strategy development patterns of internationalising small high-technology companies in an environment where windows of opportunity close quickly. Findings from in-depth interviews suggest that emergent strategies within or outside established networks are likely to trigger small high-technology companies' initial internationalisation. Further overseas expansion is constrained by resource availability. This study demonstrates that internationalisation is an iterative process that happens in a holistic way much more than a systematic one. Rather than trying to fit small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') internationalisation patterns into a stage model, managers and policy-makers should recognise the importance of networks. Training and programs could, therefore, help identify strategic networks of importance for the companies and assist them in both contributing and taking advantage of these.     

Factors Influencing Human Resource Management Solutions at Subsidiaries of Multinational Companies in Central and Eastern Europe

There is a shortage of empirical human resource management (HRM) literature in respect to identifying new patterns of multinational company (MNC) involvement in the Central and Eastern Europe region and the impact of ongoing MNC operations on the patterns of the HRM behavior of these companies. To counter this lack of understanding within the field, our broadly based, international survey asked 279 subsidiaries located in Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia and was conducted in 2010. It aimed to describe the relationships within the companies involved—between the influencing factors and the HR solutions applied—in a statistically valid way.     

上市公司控制权溢价与中小投资者保护

上市公司中控股股东往往会利用控制权溢价为自己谋求私利,从而损害了中小股东的利益。在运用2002-2006年的样本数据,对中国上市公司控制权的隐性利益水平所进行的实证分析,结果表明中国上市公司的转让溢价与转让比例呈正相关,与转让溢价水平与净资产收益率、现金比率、流通股数和公司规模均呈负相关。同时,随着转让比例的上升,一开始溢价比例会增加,当转让比例增大达到一定程度时,溢价比就会随之下降。用法律或制度安排保护中小股东以及或者形成较为分散的股权结构对于保护中小投资者权益更为有利。     

An Empirical Approach to the Financial Behaviour of Small and Medium Sized Companies

This paper shows how the financial behaviour of small and medium sized companies is influenced by size and business sector. This idea underlies two research approaches to capital structure: (i) credit rationing, and (ii) the pecking order theory. Both approaches are based on asymmetric information and have been widely developed over the past two decades. An analysis has been carried out on 1000 Valencian companies that were randomly selected from the state company registry. These companies were divided by size before analysis. As an innovation, the investigation implements a multivariate MANOVA model that takes into account two key variables in the financing of small and medium firms. Our results show that size influences company self-financing strategies, and that business sector influences short-term financial policy.     

Financing Small Technology-Based Companies: The Relationship between Familiarity with Capital and Ability to Price and Negotiate Investment

This study examines the financing of small technology-based firms. Specifically, the study investigates the familiarity of owners of small technology-based firms with alternative forms of capital by stage of development and in comparison with their ability to price and negotiate external equity and debt investment. The results indicate that owners are most familiar with traditional sources of capital, somewhat less familiar with capital commonly used to fund growth, and least familiar with government funding initiatives. Owners believe that they are better able to negotiate than to price equity and debt. The perceived ability to negotiate and price externally funded investments increases as the firm matures through the various stages of development.     

中小企业市场中介组织发展的思路与措施

从国外中小企业发展的历程及我国改革开放20多年来中小企业发展的实际情况来看,中小企业主要是在市场机制的作用下产生和发展起来的.它们生于市场,与市场有着天然的联系;它们长于市场,主要依靠市场力量寻求发展;它们贴近市场,长期活跃在市场竞争最激烈的领域.中小企业的这一特点决定了非官方组织性质的,以为中小企业提供服务为主要目的的市场中介组织将成为中小企业发展的重要依托.本文拟在借鉴外国经验、总结规律的基础上,从中国的实际情况出发,探讨发展为中小企业服务的市场中介组织的总体思路与对策措施.     

浅谈如何构建中小板上市公司的财务绩效评价体系

我们都知道,在当今企业的发展与管理道路上,中小板上市公司的整体管理绩效正在不断的扩展与深化。这就要求我们更加重视对于中小板上市公司的整体财务绩效评价体系的建立。本文通过解析中小板上市公司的财务绩效体系的构建,力求能够帮助中小板上市公司完善自身上市的条件,为各大投资者提供更优、更完善的投资信息,并以此逐步的深化、扩展中小板上市公司的发展动力、潜力。