scholarly journals Corporate parents, initial legitimacy, and resource acquisition in small and medium firms: An empirical examination

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Murphy ◽  
Neil Tocher

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) commonly struggle to acquire needed financial, human, and technological resources. The above being stated, recent scholarly research argues that SMEs that are able to successfully navigate the legitimacy threshold are better able to gather the resources they need to survive and grow. This article provides an empirical test of that claim by examining whether the presence of a corporate parent positively influences SME resource acquisition. Results of the study show that SMEs with corporate parents, when compared to like-sized independent SMEs, have higher credit scores, have more complete management teams, use more computers, and are more likely to be on the Internet. These differences are most pronounced for very small firms and diminish in significance as firm size increases. Study implications include the notion that presence of a corporate parent likely represents a successful navigation of the legitimacy threshold, positively increasing SME resource acquisition.

Author(s):  
Axel Demenet ◽  
Quynh Hoang

Is the lack of ‘managerial capital’, alongside human and financial capital, a constraint on the growth of firms in developing countries? The evidence on this is still mixed, especially among small and medium enterprises. This chapter uses a panel of Vietnamese enterprises to investigate this question. We build a multidimensional measure of managerial capital, combining both practices and attitudes, and link it with consistent estimates of firm-level productivity and mark-up. We show that there is a positive and significant association between managerial capital and productivity: changes in management practices allow firms to be more efficient. Furthermore, we compare this association by firm size, and show that managerial capital is arguably as important for micro and small firms as it is for medium ones. Finally, it appears that the indicators related to ‘entrepreneurial attitudes’ play a more important role than elementary business skills.


2020 ◽  
pp. 98-114
Author(s):  
Evguenia V. Bessonova ◽  
Alexander G. Morozov ◽  
Natalia A. Turdyeva ◽  
Anna N. Tsvetkova

The paper considers necessary conditions for acceleration of labor productivity growth in Russia. Based on micro data, as well as aggregate data, the paper quantifies the contribution of small and medium firms to labor productivity growth. It shows that mere increase of the number of small and medium enterprises is not as important for positive effects of these programs, as qualitative improvements: development of favorable environment for growth, which is largely determined by business climate. Accelerating productivity growth involves redistribution of labor and capital from inefficient to efficient enterprises. In particular, it is necessary to create conditions, which allow a firm to grow after it enters the market instead of stagnating as a small firm with low efficiency. At the same time, it is necessary for ineffective firms, which exhausted their growth potential, to have an opportunity to exit the market easily leaving resources including labor to fast-growing companies.


Author(s):  
Davinder Singh ◽  
Jaimal Singh Khamba ◽  
Tarun Nanda

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been noted to play a significant role in promoting economic growth in less developed countries, developing and also in developed countries. Worldwide, the micro and small enterprises have been accepted as the engine of economic growth of any nation. Small and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of the economies, because it trigger employment, output, export, poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, economic development etc. in developed as well as in developing countries. It is more important to developing countries as the poverty and unemployment are burning problems. MSMEs have been playing a momentous role in overall economic development of a country like India where millions of people are unemployed or underemployed. Therefore, the growth of small sectors is essential for the growth in the GDP, employment generation, total manufacturing production and export. India, being one of the fastest growing economies of the world, needs to pay an honest attention for the utmost growth of MSMEs for its increased contribution in above areas.


Author(s):  
Mohini Singh

Australian small businesses are increasingly adopting the Internet and the World Wide Web as a medium of doing business to reach new customers and suppliers, cut costs and expand business. They also use it to enhance communication between buyers and suppliers. This chapter discusses the findings of an exploratory study in Australia that identified the objectives, opportunities and challenges of e-commerce experienced by small businesses that were mostly early adopters of the Internet as a medium of trade. E-commerce issues presented in this chapter include research findings, supported by theory from literature. Electronic commerce opportunities, challenges and organizational learning by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Australia indicate that small businesses have created value with e-commerce, although benefits are long term and dependent on a plethora of technological, business and management issues that need to be addressed. Due to the fast-evolving nature of e-business and technological developments that are new to many small businesses, challenges such as managing the expanded flow of information, cross-border taxation, authentication, trust and security, as well as the high costs of acquiring the required technologies and skills, are prevalent. Other challenges of e-commerce range from Web site maintenance to business process reengineering for an integrated environment. Research findings also highlight the fact that small businesses need formal methods of evaluating the performance of e-commerce to realize the benefits of investment and to further expand their e-commerce venture.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel John Doiron

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been adopting the internet at a feverish pace. Recent studies have shown that up to 85% of SMEs in industrialized countries have web sites, yet less than half are utilizing these web sites to securely transact with their customers. Consumer media consumption is moving away from traditional media, like newspapers, to the internet. These revelations coupled with the growth of tools and techniques available to support online marketing, make it a perfect time for SMEs to market their web sites and ultimately succeed online. In this chapter we will present and support the hypothesis that SMEs should stop investing in their web site’s design and functionality and start investing in efforts to market their web sites online, no matter how lousy their web site may be in comparison to today’s standards. With the support of two case studies, illustrating the successful utilization of internet marketing by two very different SMEs, we will relate how a SME can effectively market their web site online. We will also discuss the tools and techniques available to help an SME successfully begin a journey of internet marketing.


Author(s):  
Celia Romm ◽  
Wal Taylor

The primary emphasis of much of the literature on electronic commerce (EC) is on its global nature. The literature is replete with examples of companies that, over a relatively short period of time, made a successful transition from a local, small business, to a global enterprise, with customers and suppliers based all over the world. The literature in EC, both in the popular media and the learned journals, attributes this phenomenon to the fact that with access to the Internet, many businesses can sell globally without having to make an investment in “bricks and mortar.” The rhetoric that EC is free from constraints of geography is, however, contradicted by a growing evidence that, particularly for small and medium enterprises (defined in this chapter as “organizations with less than 500 employees”), business on the Internet is not necessarily as profitable and risk free as it is supposed to be. Establishing an EC “shop-front” may be a relatively painless exercise, but having prospective customers notice that shop-front, having them actually transact with the virtual business, and setting the business so that it successfully copes with the demands of a virtual customer base are all challenges that most small and medium enterprises (SMEs) find difficult to meet.


Author(s):  
Gurudas Nulkar

Research and discussions on environmental sustainability of businesses generally focus on large corporations. Their environmental impacts are more likely to be noticed while small and medium enterprises (SME) are largely ignored. With a small scale of operations, SMEs are generally perceived to have less environmental impacts. However, as larger corporations outsource their manufacturing to SMEs the environmental burden shifts within their supply chain. This research was conducted within manufacturing SMEs in industrial markets (B2B) in Pune, India. In depth interviews with large and small firms helped develop the conceptual model and the questionnaire. Responses from 60 SMEs were analysed. The research identified factors like owner awareness, barriers and influencers to green practices and categorized environmental practices within product life cycle. The results showed that owners with high awareness levels had advanced environmental activities. The strength of barriers and influencers was established and the author makes recommendations based on these findings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ploypailin Kijkasiwat ◽  
Pongsutti Phuensane

This study examines the moderating effect of firm size on the relationship between innovation and firm performance of small and medium enterprises in 29 countries in Eastern European and Central Asia. The study also investigates whether the impact of innovation in products and processes on firm performance is affected by financial capital. The method applied is partial least square structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that firm size and the financial capital both moderate and mediate the impact of innovation on firm performance, positively or negatively. The findings have implications for decision makers by highlighting the significance of firm size and financial sources when planning to introduce innovations to enhance firm performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-79
Author(s):  
Shoaib Abdul Basit

Abstract Background: Firms increasingly depend on external actors for the process of generating innovation. Interaction with these actors might occur through an official collaboration agreement or via external actors as the source of information. Objectives: Although open innovation has received more attention, still less is known about its effect on organizational innovation. To fill this gap, this study investigates the impact of various external knowledge sources on the willingness of small and mediumsized enterprises to introduce organizational innovation. Methods/Approach: To achieve the proposed objective, the German Community Innovation Survey conducted in 2017 is used for the econometric analysis. Results: Different external sources of knowledge are relevant for the introduction of organizational innovation in small firms (customers in the private sector, competitors, conferences, and crowdsourcing) compared to medium-sized firms (customers in the private sector and industry associations). Conclusions: External knowledge sources are more important for small firms compared to medium firms, and those small firms are more likely to use various sets of external knowledge.


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