Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2011 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
The latest technological advances made over recent times led to a profound market change, characterized by increased competition. In order to be competitive, organizations have been forced to adapt themselves to this new reality, seeking innovative solutions permitting them to achieve lower costs, greater productivity and differentiation from competition. \nThis work focuses the e-business maturity stages of Portuguese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Our goal is to identify in which e-business maturity stage they are and explore the relationship between their e-business maturity and the technology they use....
E-business technologies present unique opportunities and challenges for businesses, and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are no exception. However, there is a rich body of the e-business literature concentrates on adoption concerns from SMEs buyers' viewpoint, little research has so far been reported from the viewpoint of SME suppliers. Participation of SME suppliers needs to be ensured in order to use the full potential of e-business technologies. This study was thus initiated to identify the experienced and expected benefits and barriers to adoption of e-business technologies from the viewpoint of group SME suppliers. In general, the findings designate that the SME suppliers have experienced numerous impediments that they need to overcome for the successful implementation of e-business technologies. The suppliers also have a broader view of e-business benefits than just cost saving....
Due to globalization, export is considered as an essential asset for the continuity and profitability of businesses. Nevertheless, export is a complex process. To initiate and to develop this strategy, a business must clear away the internal and external constraints and take advantage of the stimulating factors. The latters show up at each stage of the process. These stimuli are especially decisive during pre - export behavior or the intention stage. So the export intention is explained by some variables: the differential advantages, the organizational predisposition and the perception of the risk. Our conceptual model has been applied on a sample of small and medium Tunisian enterprises (SME). Inspiring by churchill's methodology, our principal conclusion is that export is the strategy implying less capital and risk than the other modes of entry. However this decision may turn up like suicidal if the firm having the intention to export doesn't proceed by an assessment of its export....
Intellectual capital of the organization would determine the success of the organization itself if it is well capitalized. Knowledge sharing is a platform for the organization to further enhance productivity. Furthermore, knowledge sharing is always linked to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to their advantage of being small. Convenience sampling was used for manufacturing and services industries of SMEs. Data was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to investigate the impact of intellectual capital on knowledge sharing. Measurement model and structural model were developed. Findings show that relational capital has a positive impact on knowledge sharing while human capital and structural capital has negative impact on knowledge sharing. All the intellectual capital dimensions contributed a significant impact on knowledge sharing. It is important for SMEs to invest and focus on knowledge sharing activity as it would create a platform for innovation, thus enhances the performance....
This article discusses the role of information and communication technology (ICT) within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Gauteng, a province in South Africa. ICT plays a very important role in the current knowledge economy. It is vital for SMEs to participate in this economy in order to compete and thrive in the future. The problem is that SMEs are mainly using traditional tools to stay competitive. They need to take advantage of the power of ICT in order to take on the competition, whether small, big or global. Both the traditional and the ICT tools are very important for the competitiveness of the business. The article follows a qualitative research approach and uses semi-structured questionnaires with open-ended questions as data gathering method. There are a number of reasons why an SME might not implement ICT tools, such as limited funds, lack of knowledge, lack of skilled staff and lack of tools. The article highlights the limitation that SMEs have in using ICT and make recommendations on how to overcome them....
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