Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2016 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly faced with competitive pressure due to\nswift and constant change to the dynamic and highly interconnected environment in which they\noperate. Competing in this dynamic ecosystem, SMEs need a strategic tool for managing coevolution\nwith the dynamic environment in order to create sustained value. Drawing from the\nspecific SME characteristics operating in a collaborative network ecosystem of firms, this paper\nelicits the specific strategic management requirements that need to be satisfied by a Business\nArchitecture. Extensive exploratory literature review and semi-structured interviews are used\nto explicate the underlying drivers of SME�s requirements for business architecture that need to\nbe addressed by the requisite BA practice. The paper finds that, the BA practice must possess\nthe capabilities to guide and assist the SMEs to adapt with the dynamic collaborative ecosystem\nof firms and sense, leverage and orchestrate the network of resources and ICT capabilities to\ncreate sustained value. This paper concludes with some guidelines for developing the business\narchitecture-enabled journey toward creating sustained value within the said dynamic\necosystem....
Universities are fostering links and facilitating technology transfer with industries. Industries\nare transforming rapidly to sustain and ensure businesses prosper well. These have created a\ndynamic approach by stakeholders towards university-industry collaboration (UIC). However,\nthere is a lack of studies which focus on how the process of formation of the partnerships are\ndeveloped and coordinated effectively. This case study examines the drivers of change in\nfostering collaboration of a Public University, an anchor institution located in a town with its\nsurrounding food processing companies. Data were collected from 5 Chief Executive Officers of\nthe food processing companies, as they are among the key decision makers who are able to\ninfluence the future direction of UIC of food industry. Face-to-face interviews were used to\ncollect the views of the industry foresight into the year 2025. The rate of technology adoption\nand policies are the two key drivers of change driving future UIC between UTHM, an anchor\ninstitution in the Town with its surrounding food processing companies. This paper has made\nrecommendation for future of the University and Food Industry collaborative linkages....
Nowadays many small and medium companies are interested in entering into foreign\nmarkets to establish a brand presence, sell their products and beat the competitors. Before\nmaking such a marketing decision, marketing experts can be guided by the traditional\nanalysis of reports but also by the Web, through the analysis of social networks, blogs,\nforums, etc. These sources can provide real-time information about the perception that\nusers have of specific brands and products. As a result, there are several tools that can\nextract interesting information from these unstructured data. In this paper, we propose an\ninnovative knowledge extraction architecture realized through the integration of some\nexisting tools. The aim is to retrieve the more frequent concepts from unstructured sources,\nsuggest other links of articles and images, with multi-language feature so that the research\nis language independent. The architecture provides a knowledge base of a specific domain,\nwhich is used to suggest concepts related to the research, and to filter the results obtained\nfrom the elaboration of the unstructured sources. We present a case of study related to\nmarketing in agri-food sector, in order to illustrate how the software works, the results\nobtained, their interpretation and the managerial implications....
The SMEs that have been internationalized embark on the adventure of internationalization\nin various ways. Sometimes valiantly competitive, so they know how to develop efficient\nstrategies to hold strong positions in foreign markets. Such is the case of Japanese firms that\nhave jumped steps to effectively organize and develop their specificities. This was followed\nby radical innovations. However, only few studies have focused on analyzing the\ninternational development of emerging countries. Thus, it is possible to study this\ndevelopment at an earlier stage of the added value. Indeed, sometimes some timidly\nexporting, SMEs in developing countries are able to penetrate the foreign market without\nachieving global leadership; that is the case of the Tunisian industrial companies. The latter\nare not best placed in their area to create and adopt radical innovations, then they decide to\ngo on micro-radical innovations.The aim of this paper is to explain the international\ndevelopment of Tunisian SMEs. We want to know if the technological innovation could be an\nexplanatory factor for this development. Through a case study of a Tunisian industrial\ncompany and an abductive approach, our work gives rise the possibility for a SME to\ninternationalize by commercializing, on the external market, patented inventions which are\nmicro-radical innovations....
This study provides an extensive critical review of the theoretical perspectives applied on\ncorporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure literature. From a CSR standpoint we review\nand discuss, in detail, legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, social contract theory, and\nsignalling theory to identify the situations that suit each of these perspectives. The findings\nshow that there is no universal theory applicable on corporate social responsibility disclosure\nfor all situations or societies. While legitimacy theory suggests CSR disclosures are part of a\nprocess of legitimation, stakeholder theory offers an explanation of CSR accountability to\nstakeholders. Legitimacy theory seems to be more suitable for organizations working in\ndeveloped countries, on the other hand, stakeholder theory appears to be most suitable for\norganizations working in developing countries; where a corporation can manage its\nstakeholders and the pressure to comply with existing legislation is less as compared to the\ndeveloped countries. Social contract theory is appropriate for developed/emerged economies,\nas CSR disclosure exists due to an implicit social contract between business and society,\nwhich implies some indirect obligations of business towards society. Signalling theory will\nsuit a situation where firms are competing for resources. A firm willing to demarcate from\nother firms will engage in more CSR practices. It is also important that the signal reaches the\ntarget audience by reporting on CSR....
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