New technologies and technological information in small businesses |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of microbiology, immunology and parasitology, faculty of medicine, Sabzevar university of medical sciences, main educational campus, Pardis, Touhid Shahr boulvard, 9613873136 Sabzevar, Khorasan e Razavi Province, Iran;2. Groupe d’étude des interactions Hôte-Pathogène, EA 3142, université d’Angers, université de Brest, université Bretagne–Loire, 49933 Angers, France;3. Laboratoire de parasitologie-mycologie, centre hospitalier universitaire, 49100 Angers, France;4. Molecular cell research center, Sabzevar university of medical sciences, Sabzevar, Iran;1. KEK: High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan;2. John Adams Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom;1. Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden;2. Division of Command and Control Systems, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), SE-58111 Linköping, Sweden;3. Cinvestav-IPN, Unidad Querétaro, Libramiento Norponiente 2000, MX-76230 Querétaro, Mexico;1. KU Leuven & Deutsche Bundesbank, Center for Economic Studies, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;2. TU Dortmund University, Faculty of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences, Vogelpothsweg 87, 44221 Dortmund, Germany;1. Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu Univ., Kasuga, 816-8580, Japan;2. Plasma Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 311-0193, Japan;3. National Institute for Fusion Science, Toki 509-5292, Japan;4. FURUKAWA C&B CO., LTD, Hiratsuka 254-0016, Japan;5. Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar 382428, India;6. Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga 816-8580, Japan;7. Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, University of Tokyo, 277-8561 Kashiwa, Japan;8. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA;9. Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan;1. Politecnico di Torino, Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy;2. Pier Luigi Nervi Project Association, Belgium |
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| Abstract: | The use of new management and production technologies is essential for most small businesses if they are to improve their competitiveness and thus face up to increasing national and international competition. This presupposes access to scientific, innovative, and technological information, making firms aware of developments in technology and the resources available for obtaining and using the technology correctly.Many authors have already shown that small businesses lag far behind large firms in their use of new technologies. Some reasons put forward to explain this include the more generally limited resources of small firms and a national structure for the production and transfer of new information that is poorly adapted to small business needs. However, assuming that some gap between small and large firms actually exists, how can we explain that most small firms nevertheless not only survive, often for a very long time, but also produce a return comparable to large firms?One way of doing this is to study the situation of small businesses by using methods adapted to the small business sector and not developed for large firms. It is important to analyze not only the characteristics of the firms themselves, but also what they do to become competitive.Our own research in the small business field has shown that the lag in terms of new computer technologies has decreased considerably in recent years, and also that it tends to be smaller in many industries if specific advanced technologies are added. The perspective also changes if we examine the innovation capacity of small business, and its ability to develop niches or to work on smaller and more specific markets.The same applies to technological watch. An inquiry following a case study shows that small firms use different channels according to their objectives and turn to networks to overcome the limits of the information transfer system they use. They evaluate information by comparing different sources, and they use iterative techniques and intuition to complete their information and to decide on their investments. New technology acquisition by small and large firms cannot be compared; for small firms, it is an entrepreneurial act that in no way resembles the behavior of larger firms.However, to understand small businesses, further research is required into their behavior in different kinds of decision-making situations. To do this, we need tools developed specifically for the small business sector, free of any presumption of the supposedly better performance of large-scale production. |
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