Cloud computing utilization and mitigation of informational and marketing barriers of the SMEs from the emerging markets: Evidence from Iran and Turkey

This study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of Cloud Computing Utilization (CCU) in the mitigation of informational and marketing barriers for SMEs from the Emerging Market-Countries (EM-SMEs). A quantitative-research methodology was applied to collect data by using self-administered questionnaires from top managers of 227 SMEs based in Iran and Turkey. The study contributes theoretically to both small business and international business literature by developing a new classification of the internationalization barriers that EM-SMEs face, and proposing a series of cloud computing (CC) solutions for mitigating these barriers, resulting in the creation and testing of a new model. The empirical findings confirm that CCU can help EM-SMEs to mitigate a series of informational and marketing barriers. The key practical contributions of the study offer insights to both EM-SMEs and Cloud-Service-Providers (CSPs) on the extent to which CCU is effective in mitigating the internationalization barriers faced by EM-SMEs.     

A SEM-neural network approach for predicting antecedents of m-commerce acceptance

Higher penetration of powerful mobile devices – especially smartphones – and high-speed mobile internet access are leading to better offer and higher levels of usage of these devices in commercial activities, especially among young generations. The purpose of this paper is to determine the key factors that influence consumers’ adoption of mobile commerce. The extended model incorporates basic TAM predictors, such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, but also several external variables, such as trust, mobility, customization and customer involvement. Data was collected from 224 m-commerce consumers. First, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine which variables had significant influence on m-commerce adoption. In a second phase, the neural network model was used to rank the relative influence of significant predictors obtained from SEM. The results showed that customization and customer involvement are the strongest antecedents of the intention to use m-commerce. The study results will be useful for m-commerce providers in formulating optimal marketing strategies to attract new consumers.     

Knowledge management view of environmental sustainability in manufacturing SMEs in the Philippines

This study highlights the role of knowledge management (KM) in enabling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a manufacturing industry in a developing country to engage in environmentally sustainable business. Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, it argues that resource-constrained SMEs rely on their relational capital to augment their capability to innovate in order to find better and environmentally sound ways of doing business. However, SMEs need to harness their KM orientation in order to leverage the knowledge-based resources emanating from their relational capital towards building their innovation capability. This capability is essential in integrating effective environmental management practices in business. The findings from our analysis of data from a survey of 241 manufacturing SMEs in the Philippines support these hypotheses and underscore the importance of developing an organisational capability to engage in KM in order to adopt sustainable business practices. The implications of the findings are also discussed.     

A cloud computing adoption in Indian SMEs: Scale development and validation approach

The purpose of this research article is to identify the critical success criteria/factors that affect the cloud computing adoption and examine structure, reliability and validity of the criteria in the SMEs industry. This study considers nine types of criteria/factors with fifty-one sub-criteria, which have somewhat previously been used, and creates a ranking model that offers decision makers to measure the prior implementation of cloud computing adoption. A questionnaire-based survey research was used to collect data from 110 firms belonging to the SMEs industry in India. In this paper, the data collected was analysed by an integrated approach. Firstly, an Analytic Hierarchy Process approach was applied to find the significant fact of each criterion as the assessable indices of the cloud computing adoption. Secondly, an Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to examine structure, reliability and validity of the criteria. The data was tabulated in a Microsoft Excel sheet and then imported in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20) for analysis. The findings discovered that ‘Security and Privacy’, ‘Organizational Risk’, ‘Sharing and Collaboration’, ‘Confidentiality’, and ‘Integrity’ have a major effect on the adoption of cloud computing. The research was conducted in the SMEs industry in India, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. The findings and recommendations offer cloud computing service providers as well as users with a better understanding of what affects the cloud computing adoption feature, with a relevant understanding of the current scenario. The research aided in the application of the new technology of cloud computing adoption in the SMEs industry in India through the use of a wide range of criteria. The findings also help organizations study their information technology investments when applying cloud computing.     

Why do small and medium enterprises use social media marketing and what is the impact: Empirical insights from India

Increasingly firms are looking to use social media to connect with different stakeholders as plans on building presence on such platforms are becoming part of top-level strategy. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that would help the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of India to adopt Social Media Marketing (SMM) mechanisms for improving their business impact. Adoption of SMM by SMEs has considerable impact on the improvement of business outcome of the SMEs. A theoretical model has been developed with the help of theory borrowed from TAM and UTAUT2 with some modifications to explore this impact through business performance, sales, connect with customers, identify customer' needs and creativity of the employees. The theoretical model has been validated empirically using a survey of 310 firms and subsequent analysis have been carried out using structured equation modelling. The results highlight that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and compatibility positively affect impact of SMM after adoption by the SMEs. The facilitating conditions have insignificant impact whereas cost has a significant but negative impact on the use of SMM by SMEs. Since there are a few studies in this context, the study contributes to existing literature on the impact of SMM in SMEs in an emerging economy.     

Digital transformation and European small and medium enterprises (SMEs): A comparative study using digital economy and society index data

Digital transformation is profoundly transforming SMEs' business activities, bringing about comparative advantages and associated risks. Previous studies on digital transformation and SMEs focus on technology adoption, innovation, new value creation, and dynamic capabilities. However, it is unclear how digital technology affects SMEs' specific business activities. We study SMEs' customer access, increasing competition, external funding or access to finance, rising input costs, skilled labor shortages, exogenous shocks, global crises, and regulatory issues. This study aims to fill the literature gap by exploring the impact of digital technology, using digital economy and society index (DESI) as proxies for the SME issues. We use DESI and SME data from a survey on European enterprises’ access to finance. We find that digital transformation strengthens SMEs' ability and flexibility to address main business issues. Furthermore, findings reveal that digitally transformed SMEs have fewer concerns about access to new and traditional customers, competition changes, access to finance, increasing input costs, external shocks, and regulatory changes. However, digital transformation also brings risks, such as the shortage of skilled labor and experienced managers and loss of inherent competitiveness. The novelty of our work lies in supplying quantitative knowledge on the link between digital transformation and European SMEs' critical business concerns. These findings substantially increase our understanding of the impact of digital change on European SMEs' business activities.     

外部环境对中小型企业采用数字技术影响研究

数字技术对企业发展至关重要。中小型企业是我国经济发展的重要贡献者,相较于大型企业,其对外部环境更为敏感,但现有研究却未解释外部环境影响中小型企业采用数字技术的作用机制。为此,研究基于技术-企业-环境（TOE）框架理论,构建了结构方程模型,并利用207家中国中小型企业的数据对模型进行了实证检验。结果表明,政府政策和竞争压力两个外部环境变量通过技术因素对中国中小型企业采用数字技术产生间接影响;企业层面的感知利得对中小型企业采用数字技术的影响并不显著。研究结论可解释外部环境影响中小型企业采用数字技术的路径,对中国中小型企业数字化转型具有启示意义;同时,结果证实了数字能力和数字兼容性两个技术因素在外部环境与中小型企业采用数字技术间起到的中介作用,可对现有TOE框架理论形成补充与完善。     

Development of SMEs and heterogeneity of trajectories: the case of biotechnology in France

Biotechnology is an emergent sector based on the creation of research-intensive Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). While some SMEs are growing, most of them remain small, even those set-up several years ago. What is the pattern of development of the biotech sector? What are the patterns of development of firms? Studies on the development of high-tech SMEs have focused on a business model, in which entrepreneurs rely on growth forecasts to persuade capital investors (business angels and venture capitalists) to invest in a radical innovation project. Firms aim for a world market to industrialise their innovation, and initial public offering (IPO) enables initial investors to make profits that offset risky initial investment. While this model is appealing, it is simply one of the possible models of biotechnology development. Some firms are not designed to experience exponential growth, and choose to target local markets. Moreover, not all firms have the ambition of being listed on the stock exchange. Based on an in-depth analysis of the business and development of 60 French biotech SMEs, this article identifies two business models. By defining the development trajectories of each of these models, it highlights the temporary nature of the emergent model.     

Time to seize the digital evolution: Adoption of blockchain in operations and supply chain management among Malaysian SMEs

This study aims to investigate the effects of relative advantage, complexity, upper management support, cost, market dynamics, competitive pressure and regulatory support on blockchain adoption for operations and supply chain management among Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. Unlike existing studies that employed linear models with Technology Acceptance Model or United Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology that ignores the organisational and environmental factors, we adopted the Technology, Organisation and Environment Framework that covers the technological dimensions of relative advantage and complexity, organisational dimensions of upper management support and cost and environmental dimensions of market dynamics, competitive pressure and regulatory support. Empirical data from 194 SMEs were investigated and ranked using a nonlinear non-compensatory PLS-ANN approach. Competitive pressure, complexity, cost and relative have significant effects on behavioural intention. Market dynamics, regulatory support and upper management support were insignificant predictors. SMEs often lack resources for technological investments but faces same requirements for streamlining business processes to optimise returns and blockchain presents a viable option for SMEs’ sustainability due to its features of immutability, transparency and security that have the potential to revolutionise businesses. This study contributes new knowledge to the literature on factors that affect blockchain adoption and justifications were discussed accordingly.     

Contextualizing the impact of blockchain technology on the performance of new firms: The role of corporate governance as an intermediate outcome

The modern digitalization trends have totally transformed business practices and business models. Blockchain as a distributed technology makes possible the basic structure of a database with a combination of data blocks and hash chains. Using distributed software architecture and advanced computation, blockchain might change the method of data exchange among chain actors. Blockchain causes administration of a network in peer-to-peer and decentralized form; and influences the way of data exchange and interactions in organizations; hence, this study looks for evaluation of the impact of blockchain technology on corporate performance and governance of new firms. In the first section of the study, the research conceptual model was extracted by means of the previous studies and the hypotheses were formulated. In the second section, the relationships between the variables of the model among newly-established active business were assessed. The statistical population of the study was managers of SMEs in Iran and 397 completed questionnaires were received. Structural equation model and Smart PLS software have been used for data analysis. The research findings showed that the more the blockchain adoption in a new firm; the more direct effect it would have on the firm's performance. Similarly, corporate governance has an effect on the relationship of blockchain technology on corporate performance. Thus, managers of new firms by means of blockchain, can prepare the grounds for good corporate governance as well as the achievement of better performance.     

科技型中小企业生命周期各阶段经营特征研究

经过20年的发展,我国科技型中小企业现在已成为国民经济中一支充满生机和活力的生力军。像其他中小企业一样,科技型中小企业在其发展过程中也存在一个生命周期。此方面的研究有很多,但是对于科技型中小企业生命周期各阶段经营特征的研究缺乏实证的支持。本文选取了上海市257家科技型中小企业,试图通过实证的方法研究不同生命周期企业的经营特征。调查结果显示,在不同的生命周期阶段企业对于市场和组织结构的关注度有很大差别,而对于外部支持、战略定位、人员、生产四个要素的关注度没有明显的区别,这些差别造成了不同的经营特征。     

Applying open innovation in business strategies: Evidence from Finnish software firms

Our study aims at shedding light on the innovative business strategies in the software sector and understanding better the economics that underlies the supply of Open Source Software (OSS). We use survey data collected from 170 Finnish software companies to investigate how different properties of software firms, such as size, age, intellectual capital, absorptive capacity, and ownership structure affect their decisions to base their business strategies on OSS supply or proprietary distribution of products and services.Our empirical findings indicate that the adoption of technologically advanced strategies requiring complex legal and managerial knowledge, such as the OSS supply strategy, demands relatively highly educated employees. The support for and development of an education system providing highly skilled people from different fields are essential for the firms’ successful adoption of innovative business strategies. We also find that market entrants have largely driven the OSS adoption, but there are no significant age-related differences in the adoption behavior of incumbent software firms.     

The impact of entrepreneurial leadership on innovation work behavior and opportunity recognition in high-technology SMEs

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of entrepreneurial leadership on innovation work behavior and opportunity recognition of employees in high-technology (high-tech) small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Iran. This study involved 310 employees from 39 high-tech SMEs. Using validated questionnaires, the participants were asked to evaluate entrepreneurial leadership practices of their business leaders and their own innovation work behavior and opportunity recognition. The findings suggest a significant impact of entrepreneurial leadership on innovation work behavior and opportunity recognition of employees in the high-tech SMEs.     

Congenital learning,organisational performance and work-life balance culture

A possible explanation for the numerous failures in the implementation and use of work-life balance (WLB) practices may relate to the fact that the majority of companies have introduced them without exploring the nature and extent of their founders’ or owners’ prior knowledge of WLB and WLB practices. This paper analyses the relationships between congenital learning and WLB culture and tries to identify whether WLB culture impacts on business performance through an empirical study of 229 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Spanish metal industry. Our findings show that in order to create positive attitudes toward WLB, managers need to create and support a learning process. These findings provide interesting insights into the drivers of organisational performance for SMEs that develop and support a WLB-supporting culture.     

Perceived values and motivations influencing m-commerce use: A nine-country comparative study

Mobile--> commerce (m-commerce) has become increasingly important for organizations attempting to grow revenue by expanding into international markets. However, for multinational mobile retailers (m-retailers), one of the greatest challenges lies in carefully managing their websites across multiple national markets. This work advances cross-national research on m-retailing by (1) examining how value dimensions shape m-shoppers’ motivations, (2) analyzing differential effects of hedonic and utilitarian motivations on intention and habit, and (3) examining the competing roles of conscious (intentional) and unconscious (habitual) m-commerce use drivers across developed and developing countries. This research also examines the moderating role of m-commerce readiness at the country level on the effect of motivation on intention and habit, along with their impact on m-commerce use. Based on data from 1,975 m-shoppers in nine countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam) across four continents, the results demonstrate differential relationships: consumers at an advanced (early) readiness stage are more likely to be hedonism-motivated (utility-motivated) when using m-commerce and tend to use it intentionally/consciously (habitually/unconsciously). In addition to advancing knowledge about m-commerce from a scientific perspective, the findings can help multinational firms decide whether to standardize or adapt m-shopping experiences when internationalizing.     

吉林省中小企业信息技术吸纳能力影响因素实证研究

文章基于余翠玲提出的信息技术吸纳能力三维结构及其影响因素模型,结合中小企业的特性及原有模型的不足,提出新的影响因素模型;同时,结合吉林省中小企业,进行了实证研究。一方面,揭示了地区、行业作为控制变量对中小企业信息技术吸纳能力的影响;另一方面,揭示了信息技术咨询对中小企业信息技术吸纳能力的特殊影响。     

中小企业非研发与研发创新活动交互效应研究

企业的研发活动一直是创新研究的焦点,而其内部不基于研发的多样化、行之有效的创新性活动常常受到学术界的忽视。实际上,此类创新活动也是广大中小企业获取竞争优势的重要来源。当他们面临着资源约束时,能通过有效利用手边的研发和非研发资源,整合构建起自己的创新能力,获取持续竞争优势。但现有研究对于资源约束情境下企业研发与非研发创新活动共同作用下可能产生的交互效应缺乏关注。本文基于对中国中小企业的调查,实证探索了非研发创新与研发创新对企业绩效的交互效应。研究结果表明：外部技术采用与改良、产品/服务定制、组织和市场创新三种非研发创新活动和研发创新活动在对企业创新绩效的影响上呈替代效应;外部技术采用与改良和研发创新的替代效应不稳定;模仿创新对企业创新绩效的影响不显著。本研究对于中小企业如何依靠行之有效的多样化创新模式（如非研发创新）提升创新能力与创新绩效具有指导借鉴意义,对我国中小企业创新政策的优化也具有参考价值。     

Understanding mobile marketing adoption intention by South African SMEs: A multi-perspective framework

This paper examines the key drivers of mobile marketing adoption intention by South African SMEs using a multi-perspective framework that combines elements in the technological, organisational and environmental contexts of the enterprises. Data was collected from a random sample of 205 SMEs from Gauteng, South Africa. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results identified perceived relative advantage, perceived cost, top management support, employees’ IT capability, and customer pressure as important drivers of mobile marketing adoption intention. Of these factors, top management support emerged as the strongest driver of adoption intention. The implications of these findings for mobile marketers and others interested in accelerating the adoption of mobile marketing among SMEs are highlighted.     

Knowledge management systems: the hallmark of SMEs

This paper provides an overview of the knowledge management systems (KMSs) adopted by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). KMSs are divided into two categories: knowledge management tools (KM-Tools) and knowledge management practices (KM-Practices). On the basis of the analysis of the literature, two research questions (RQs) were identified and addressed through semi-structured interviews carried out in a sample of 35 SMEs operating in high-tech industries. The first RQ concerns the degree of adoption of KMSs by SMEs. The second RQ regards the relationship between KM-Tools and KM-Practices. As far as the degree of adoption of KMSs, the paper highlights that SMEs are not a homogeneous world but there are a variety of approaches and behaviours. As far as the relationship between the degree of adoption of KM-Tools and KM-Practices, the paper identifies three groups of SMEs that seem to point out the stages of the process of adoption of KMSs: Introduction, SMEs that deal with the process of knowledge management exploiting practices and tools that are already known; Growth, SMEs that adopt specialist practices of knowledge management acquiring new organisational and managerial competence in the field of knowledge management; Maturity, SMEs that invest in new technology and that acquire new technological competence in the field of knowledge management. This categorisation paves the way for further theoretical and practical implications for both managers and policy makers.     

Facilitating enterprise application integration adoption: An empirical analysis of UK local government authorities

local government authorities (LGAs) are organised around operational structures with business processes spanning within departments and across other government organisations. In such an organisational setting, the harmonisation of Information Technology (IT) operations, integration of cross-departmental processes and the underlying Information Systems (IS) signifies a challenge in delivering integrated services. This paper attempts to explore enterprise application integration (EAI) adoption in the UK local government authorities (LGAs). Despite the hype of EAI adoption in private domain, its application in LGAs is inadequate as there is a lack of adoption models/frameworks that can be used by the public sector. The context of the study is to consider the transformation of IT infrastructure management and operations with EAI technologies. The empirical findings, generated through a detailed case analysis, manifestly exemplify that EAI predominantly acts as a ‘back-office’ technology that facilitates operations by developing a flexible and maintainable integrated IT infrastructure. Our proposed framework is believed to be imperative and unique as it provides a more systematic way to examine the adoption of integration technologies, extends the established norms for EAI adoption by utilising a prioritisation technique to classify the importance of factors. The contribution of the research extends the literature on EAI and identifies theoretical and practical opportunities that facilitate LGAs in their decision-making process to produce more robust proposals for EAI adoption.