Differences in Funding Sources between Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Light of Empirical Studies

This research attempts to explore the importance of cluster-based systems in preparation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to go global, and it is an ongoing research. The findings of this research are aimed at providing insights to policy makers, academicians, and practitioners with the objective of creating initiatives, strategies, and policies, which reflect the primary aim of supporting SMEs in managing global challenges. SMEs that are cluster-based have the potential to facilitate the successful inclusion of SMEs in the growth of productivity and networks of global distribution. Most Asian developing countries are in the dark when it comes to this matter. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between the capabilities of the networks and clusters in developing SMEs’ preparedness in facing business players in the global arena. This study’s scope includes specific Asian developing countries. Even though the issue of clusters in SMEs has been well researched in developed countries, such empirical studies are still lacking in the Asian region despite its prevalent collectivism practice. In the concluding analysis, the study intends to develop a model emphasizing the cluster-based industrial SMEs toward globalization.

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Another failed M&A: misaligned business models as culprit

Journal of Business Strategy ◽

10.1108/jbs-05-2016-0049 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (5) ◽

pp. 18-26

Author(s):

Gaël Le Floc’h ◽

Laurent Scaringella

Keyword(s):

Customer Value ◽

Multinational Enterprises ◽

Business Models ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Empirical Literature ◽

Content Type ◽

Recent Debate ◽

Definition Of ◽

Medium Enterprises

Purpose Literature on business models (BMs) has grown ve ry rapidly since the beginning of the twenty-first century, and although the theoretical and empirical literature has developed significantly, the number of practical and management-oriented studies remains relatively low. A recent debate in the field has focused on the definition of BM invariants: sensing customer needs, creating customer value, sustaining value creation and monetizing value. Extant empirical studies have mainly focused on multinational enterprises (MNEs) and successful BMs; however, this study concentrates on the failure of BMs in the case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An important source of a BM’s failure is the misalignment between MNE and SME involved in an acquisition. Design/methodology/approach Looking through the lens of the four BM constants, the aim of this study is to examine the case of the acquisition Domestic Heating (an SME) by Ventilair (an MNE). Findings Although both separate entities were achieving good results and each had a specific BM, the acquisition produced poor results mainly due to the misalignment of the two BMs. The findings lead the authors to make recommendations to practitioners on avoiding BM misalignment during an acquisition. Originality/value The authors encourage practitioners to enhance communication, promote organizational experiments, acknowledge specificities of both entities, foster employee commitment and ensure homogeneity in IT system usage.

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Factors behind trade credit financing of SMEs in Croatia

Zbornik Veleučilišta u Rijeci ◽

10.31784/zvr.8.1.11 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 59-76

Author(s):

Sandra Pepur ◽

Dujam Kovač ◽

Marijana Ćurak

Keyword(s):

Trade Credit ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Added Value ◽

Knowledge Generation ◽

External Financing ◽

The European Union ◽

East European ◽

Funding Sources ◽

Credit Financing ◽

Medium Enterprises

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute to the national economy in terms of employment, added value, knowledge generation, and innovation. However, their potential and in the case of economic downturns even their survival is affected by the difficulties in their access to external financing under acceptable terms and adequate timing and amount. In the case of asymmetric information problems, which make SMEs more sensitive to financial market imperfections, trade credit can be a valuable source of financing. In the European Union, trade credit is among the most relevant external funding sources and it is among the most important alternatives to financial intermediaries’ financing. However, there are substantial differences between the countries with respect to availability and use of trade credit. Therefore, this research examines determining (company-specific and country-specific) factors behind the use of trade credit as a financing source in Croatia. The empirical analysis is based on the data for 1,225 SMEs operating in Croatia in the period from 2008 to 2017 and is done using the panel data methodology. The findings confirm that firms’ characteristics, as well as the characteristics of financial, macroeconomic and legal environment in which the firms operate, influence the use of trade credit in SMEs in Croatia. The paper contributes to relatively scarce empirical evidence on the determinants of trade credit use by SMEs in South-East European countries.

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Impact of service quality on satisfaction and loyalty at manufacturer-distributor dyad

Journal of Advances in Management Research ◽

10.1108/jamr-12-2017-0120 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 91-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Surjit Kumar Gandhi ◽

Anish Sachdeva ◽

Ajay Gupta

Keyword(s):

Service Quality ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Content Type ◽

Northern India ◽

Indian Setting ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role played by service quality (SQ) in manufacturer–distributor working partnerships in the context of Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and present two models which propose and validate that contributions toward SQ, made by both the manufacturing unit and distribution firm lead to satisfaction which consequently results in business-to-business (B2B) loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe research design for this study includes a combination of literature review, exploratory interviews with a focus group and a questionnaire survey conducted through interview schedule from 101 information rich and willing respondents working in SMEs of northern India.FindingsThe paper brings out scales foe measuring organizational (internal) and distributor (external) SQ. Further, two models using structural equation modeling are developed. Model-I examines the effect of organizational SQ on distributor SQ. Model-II examines the impact of distributor SQ on satisfaction and loyalty and also tests a set of four propositions related to their working relationship. The models are empirically tested and are found to be fit.Research limitations/implicationsFuture researchers may validate these scales, and empirically test the proposed models in alternate settings. Insights derived from this study may be transferred to other partnerships, which may exist in a manufacturing supply chain including suppliers, employees, retailers and end consumers.Practical implicationsThis study would be of interest to SME practitioners interested in improving SQ with their distributors. The study also finds support for strengthening collaborative relationships with B2B partners to achieve a win-win situation.Originality/valueThere are very few empirical studies that measure SQ w.r.t. distribution function in SMEs and the concept is in nascent stage, especially in Indian setting.

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INNOVATION CLUSTERS AS AN ASSOCIATION MODEL OF THE SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

6th LIMEN Selected Papers (part of LIMEN conference collection) ◽

10.31410/limen.s.p.2020.47 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ivana Kostadinović ◽

◽

Sunčica Stanković ◽

Keyword(s):

Regional Development ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Added Value ◽

Western Balkans ◽

Services Sector ◽

High Level ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

Innovation Clusters

Numerous empirical studies have long been indicated the importance of business infrastructure for economic and regional development. Ensuring long-term economic growth, as well as the creation and development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as key drivers of the development of modern economies, requires a high level of efficiency and flexibility of business infrastructure. In the Western Balkans, the absence of a coherent business infrastructure network is the biggest obstacle to the rapid growth of their economies. For this reason, the activities of the Western Balkan governments in the future should be aimed at developing a network of business infrastructure in order to increase the share of the knowledge and services sector with high added value in the economic structure. This paper aims to point out the role of innovative clusters as a model of associating SMEs in the context of regional development.

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The Vulnerability of SMES in the Economic Crisis

Annals of Spiru Haret University Economic Series ◽

10.26458/1421 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 9

Author(s):

Nicolae ŢÂU ◽

Raluca Ionela CREŢOIU

Keyword(s):

Economic Crisis ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

European Market ◽

Financial Resources ◽

Funding Sources ◽

Negative Results ◽

Single European Market ◽

The Subject ◽

Medium Enterprises

The vulnerability of small and medium enterprises is closely related to their reduced volume of activity and insufficient financial resources available to them. Therefore, these types of organizations are more likely to be the subject of the changes that occur in the market. Although there are available a variety of funding sources, most SMEs in Romania are not able to access existing funds as they are not competitive on the single European market. During the economic crisis, the businesses environment but the economical one as well was not beneficial for the Romanian SMEs due to the financial, structural and fiscal instability, which led to negative results, especially on long term.

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An Investigation into the Factors Affecting E-Commerce Adoption Decisions by SMEs

Advances in E-Business Research - Strategic E-Commerce Systems and Tools for Competing in the Digital Marketplace ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8133-0.ch011 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 206-243 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sabah Abdullah Al-Somali ◽

Roya Gholami ◽

Ben Clegg

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Arab World ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Great Opportunity ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Adoption Decisions ◽

Main Factors ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

Exploratory Case Studies

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become an increasingly important initiative among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as both a great opportunity and as a source of competition. The factors affecting adoption decisions of e-commerce by SMEs have been well documented, but there is a paucity of empirical studies that examine the adoption of e-commerce in the Arab world. The aim of this chapter is to provide insights into the salient e-commerce adoption issues by focusing on Saudi Arabian businesses. This chapter investigates the state of e-commerce adoption and analyses the factors that determine the extent to which SMEs in Saudi Arabia are inclined towards deploying e-commerce technologies. This research was designed using a qualitative approach through exploratory case studies selected from firms in Saudi Arabia. The findings contribute towards a better conceptual and practical understanding of the main factors driving SMEs to adopt e-commerce. The study has found that the level of e-commerce implementation has yet to mature and customer readiness for Internet shopping has to improve before e-commerce reaches the levels of maturity seen in other regions of the world. This study highlights several directions for future inquiry and implications for policymakers and managers who are involved in efforts to introduce complex innovations such as e-commerce into their organisations or are interested in expanding their e-commerce applications and generating more revenue.

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The public funding of innovation in agri-food businesses

Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.5424/sjar/2018164-12657 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. e0111 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Silverio Alarcón ◽

Pedro Arias

Keyword(s):

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Public Funding ◽

Local Environment ◽

State Funding ◽

Logit Models ◽

Food Sector ◽

The Public ◽

Funding Sources ◽

Dependent Variables ◽

Medium Enterprises

Public administrations have in recent years developed programs of public funding for innovation to boost the competitiveness of business. The study of how companies have used these funding sources generates knowledge to improve the design of support for private innovation and to provide advice for innovative companies. This paper investigates these issues in the agri-food sector which is of particular interest as it is comprised mainly of small and medium enterprises with a wide regional presence and interaction with their local environment. A survey on technological innovation was used to estimate panel logit models with random effects, taking as dependent variables three types of funding: regional, state and European Union. The results generally show a positive relationship between innovation efforts and access to public funding, but also significant differences between types of funding and between sectors. Food companies that obtain public funding tend to have a more innovative profile than Agriculture ones. Both types of firm present higher probabilities than others companies when it comes to gaining access to regional funding, though the opposite often occurs in the case of state funding. Firm size is not significant for regional funding and no overlap was detected between regional and state funding. The financial crisis has adversely affected regional and national aid, which experienced a significant decrease in the period from 2008 to 2013.

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The role of mediation resources in the operation and development of knowledgeintensive small and medium enterprises

Acta Agraria Debreceniensis ◽

10.34101/actaagrar/69/1798 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 109-113

Author(s):

Tamás Köpeczi-Bócz ◽

Mónika Lőrincz

Keyword(s):

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

Financial Risks ◽

Funding Sources ◽

Innovation Activities ◽

Knowledge Intensive ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

The University ◽

Major Emphasis

Address social and economic processes of social capital system between universities and the business sector – because of their special and similar characteristics – major emphasis will be displayed. Knowledge-intensive companies would be hard to imagine functioning without established links with tertiary education institutions and universities can now functions would be unthinkable without displaying the corporate sector sectoral specificities of knowledge and strategies of the university. Because of the development of knowledge-intensive business activities based on innovation-oriented economic development which are specific to innovative SMEs, funding sources and opportunities. In a typical operating environment of innovation, with sectoral, spatial and temporal factors are constantly changing. These factors are decisive elements in the innovation opportunities, and through this indirectly the success of these enterprises. The resources involved in mediating the markets perceive a high risk to price this innovation activities and their funding. Under the study to try to answer that by optimizing the functions of universities, how and in what form they may have a role in mitigating financial risks.

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The Development of Small and Medium Entreprises Clusters in Indonesia

Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business ◽

10.22146/gamaijb.5532 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 29

Author(s):

Tulus Tambunan ◽

Hendrawan Supratikno

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Development Policy ◽

Success Factors ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Critical Factors ◽

Cluster Development ◽

Critical Success ◽

Clustering Approach ◽

Medium Enterprises

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia are very important not only for employment creation, but also as important sources of economic growth and foreign currencies generation through exports. Since the early 1980s, the Indonesian government has adopted SME development policy through a clustering approach. This paper reviews the existing empirical studies on development of SME clusters in Indonesia. This paper deals with two main questions. First, what are the critical success factors of development of an SME cluster. Second to what extent this policy has contributed to the dynamic of SME clusters in the country. The paper argues that in many cases, the development policy has not been so successful. In essence, most failures can be attributed to the fact that one or more critical factors for successful SME cluster development were either not existing or not addressed correctly. Neglecting cluster linkage to markets is one reason of the failure. Prerequisite for successful cluster development is the cluster's potential to access to growing market, either domestic or abroad.

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