Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2011 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 6 Articles
The potential contribution of information technology to improving the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the State of Parana has been recognized. However, fulfilling this potential has been problematic. In this context, this paper sets out to measure the capacity of Brazilian civil construction companies in the town of Ponta Grossa ââ?¬â?? ParanÃ?¡ to use IT. The methodological approach consists of a quantitative research study comprising a review of the literature and case studies. The theoretical foundation is based on concepts of competitive strategy, the management of knowledge, competitiveness, the alignment of IT and the value chain. Information on the companies studied was gathered which demonstrates how the factors mentioned in the literature all over the world are understood by the companies studied as being inhibiting. The results indicate what factors inhibit adopting IT and describe the practical experience of the civil construction industry in planning and control. Moreover, it was observed that, in general, the SMEs surveyed have a reasonable perception of the importance of IT for their organizations. The results presented illustrate the concepts presented in the review, as well as the influence of what has been learned as to how innovation has been developing and as to the role of IT. The study concludes by pointing the way forward as to the possibilities for further research on the issues tackled in this paper....
Clean production strategies are the continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategies applied to process, products and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. This paper provides an analysis of factors influencing the adoption of clean production strategies among food and beverage firms in Peninsular Malaysia. The main purpose is to determine the relationships of three non-regulatory factors with clean production strategies adoption. Three sets of interrelated factors leading to the widespread adoption of these technologies considered are: technology characteristics, technology performances and communication networks. This paper begins with an introduction and literature review, followed by the hypotheses statements. Pearson Correlation analysis was applied to examine these hypotheses. A sample of 76 Malaysian food and beverage firms was used for investigation, with one respondent for each firm. The results of the analysis indicated that technology characteristics, technology performances and communication networks are significantly influence the adoption of clean production strategies....
This paper deals with description and suggestion of an appropriate communication environment to support cooperation between large number of small and medium enterprises (SME�s). Goal of my work is to make communication between larger number of subjects as effective and transparent as possible. From a certain degree of complexity of the project communication becomes very confusing and therefore there is a need for appropriate and affordable solution for SME�s. Proposed communication environment works on e-mail client basis. It is focused on transparent and effective communication between unlimited numbers of interested subjects.\r\nIn the new communication client all solved projects, tasks or problems are transparently separated. Each project has its own directory branch where all messages regarding the project are stored. Current problems and tasks are clearly separated from the already solved ones. This significantly sorts out all the information about finished projects and the whole actual communication becomes more transparent. All users with sufficient rights can trace the state of the process. For example who already read the message, if particular person responded to the message or how long it took to a particular person to respond to the message since reading it or receiving it. All messages are therefore traceable and it is simple to find out who is responsible for any delay of response and as a matter of fact a delay of the whole project.\r\nThis software solution gives the managers in SME�s simple but strong tool for controlling and managing the communication...
Six Sigma is a one of the most common used programs in production companies for reduce cost, improve productivity and provide a basis for goals improvement which leads to competitive advantage. Understanding the key Six Sigma factors (Total Quality Management, strong customer focus, data analysis tools, financial results and project management) allows organizations to better support their strategic directions focused on improving customer requirements through the improving of own business systems and operational performances. In this paper will be described a Six Sigma approach and presented results of the empiric research conducted in Croatian graphic companies. All findings of this empiric research will provide better understanding of Six Sigma benefits and graphic companies, but production companies will be able to guide business and production processes in right directions with minimizing inputs, maximizing outputs and satisfy owners, employees and customers....
IT governance is a relatively new concept in Malaysia. There are limited studies available related to IT governance in Malaysia. Thus, this paper surveys 50 Malaysian SMEs in the state of Melaka in regard to their understanding of IT governance. Results indicate that IT governance is new to them. Findings also show that IT governance performance is related to ownership of decision making and various formal governance mechanisms. Although they know the benefits of IT governance, majority of them do not implement IT governance. The findings are discussed and interpreted to provide implications to companies and Malaysian government....
In this paper, we describe the BONSAI approach and how Small-Medium Enterprises can take advantage of it. BONSAI consists of a set of behaviors, best-practices and guidelines which help professionals to develop better software. Conceived as an iterative and incremental process, it helps to integrate the software development process with the upper processes of the enterprise taking advantage of Business Process Management techniques. It brings to Small-Medium Enterprises the capability to support continuous changes helping them to mitigate and assess the risks involved....
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