SMEs in a globalised world:survival and growth strategies on Europe's geographical periphery

This insightful book shows how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from some of the traditionally less dynamic peripheral economies of the 'old' EU - namely Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain - have responded to the twin challenges of globalisation and industrial restructuring. Through a series of unique case studies the contributing authors discuss how these economies, and in particular the SME sector, can be transformed. The book begins by examining the key drivers of the globally competitive SME sector in the EU, before moving on to explore the relationship between multinational enterprises (MNEs), SMEs and industrial development. The authors investigate important policy implications and provide lessons for SME development and growth. With empirical and theoretical contributions on SMEs in both the manufacturing and the services sectors, this essential book will be invaluable for researchers and policymakers in small business economics and management. Postgraduate students of entrepreneurship, business economics, industrial economics and European studies will appreciate this unique set of insights.

The Library of Birmingham project:lifelong learning for the digital age

The Library of Birmingham (LoB) is a £193million project designed to provide a new space for lifelong learning and knowledge growth, a physical and virtual portal for Birmingham's citizens to the wider world. In cooperation with a range of private, public, and third-sector bodies, as well as individual citizens, the library, due to open in June 2013, will articulate a continuing process of organic growth and emergence. Key delivery themes focus on: arts and creativity, citizenship and community, enterprise and innovation, learning and skills and the new media ecology. A landmark design in the heart of the cultural district of the city, the LoB aims to stimulate sustainable economic growth, urban regeneration and social inclusion by offering a wide range of new digital learning services, real and virtual community spaces, and new opportunities for interpreting and exploiting internationally significant collections of documentary archives, photography, moving image, and rare printed books. Additionally, the LoB will offer physical space for creative, cultural, enterprise, and knowledge development. This paper outlines the cultural and educational thinking that informs the project and the challenges experienced in developing innovative service redesign.

Revolution or evolution:the challenges of conceptualizing patient and public involvement in a consumerist world

Background Changing the relationship between citizens and the state is at the heart of current policy reforms. Across England and the developed world, from Oslo to Ontario, Newcastle to Newquay, giving the public a more direct say in shaping the organization and delivery of healthcare services is central to the current health reform agenda. Realigning public services around those they serve, based on evidence from service user's experiences, and designed with and by the people rather than simply on their behalf, is challenging the dominance of managerialism, marketization and bureaucratic expertise. Despite this attention there is limited conceptual and theoretical work to underpin policy and practice. Objective This article proposes a conceptual framework for patient and public involvement (PPI) and goes on to explore the different justifications for involvement and the implications of a rights-based rather than a regulatory approach. These issues are highlighted through exploring the particular evolution of English health policy in relation to PPI on the one hand and patient choice on the other before turning to similar patterns apparent in the United States and more broadly. Conclusions A framework for conceptualizing PPI is presented that differentiates between the different types and aims of involvement and their potential impact. Approaches to involvement are different in those countries that adopt a rights-based rather than a regulatory approach. I conclude with a discussion of the tension and interaction apparent in the globalization of both involvement and patient choice in both policy and practice. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Real world image analysis

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"Virtual word of mouth":a case for the adaptation of existing word of mouth theory to virtual community environments

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Impact of religion on business ethics in Europe and the Muslim world

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Supplementing the virtual learning environment for information systems graduate education

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Factors affecting the adoption of new products by the sales force

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Ethnic identity in a globalised world:the German community in Richmond and Kingston since 1970

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The relationship between personality and social factors and success as a sales representative, both of a petrol company and an animal food company

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Dimensioning of Telecommunication Network Based on Quality of Services Demand and Detailed Behaviour of Users

The aim of this paper is to be determined the network capacity (number of necessary internal switching lines) based on detailed users’ behaviour and demanded quality of service parameters in an overall telecommunication system. We consider detailed conceptual and its corresponded analytical traffic model of telecommunication system with (virtual) circuit switching, in stationary state with generalized input flow, repeated calls, limited number of homogeneous terminals and losses due to abandoned and interrupted dialing, blocked and interrupted switching, not available intent terminal, blocked and abandoned ringing (absent called user) and abandoned conversation. We propose an analytical - numerical solution for finding the number of internal switching lines and values of the some basic traffic parameters as a function of telecommunication system state. These parameters are requisite for maintenance demand level of network quality of service (QoS). Dependencies, based on the numericalanalytical results are shown graphically. For proposed conceptual and its corresponding analytical model a network dimensioning task (NDT) is formulated, solvability of the NDT and the necessary conditions for analytical solution are researched as well. It is proposed a rule (algorithm) and computer program for calculation of the corresponded number of the internal switching lines, as well as corresponded values of traffic parameters, making the management of QoS easily.

Social media and related technology:drivers of change in managing the contemporary sales force

The selling environment has undergone tremendous transformation over the past 2 decades. Perhaps the greatest change has centered on changes and advancements in technology. The latest dramatic change has been the rapidly increasing use of social media and other related technologies in the business-to-business realm. The sales world began the use of technology through the use of Web 1.0, which was primarily webpage oriented; now we see the world of social media as the paradigm of how firms should implement technology. Although there has been some recent emphasis on how marketing might implement social media into their strategies and how the individual salesperson might implement social media into his or her daily selling routine, no substantive discussion on how social media is affecting the role of the sales manager has appeared in the literature. This article systematically examines how social media is impacting the sales management function and, in fact, may be dramatically revolutionizing the position. To help the marketing and sales organization better understand the changing sales world, we present eight lessons that every sales manager needs to embrace.

The impact of general sales agents on the air cargo industry

A General Sales Agent (GSA) is an airline's outsourcing counter part that markets and manages cargo services. An empirical investigation is undertaken to ascertain whether GSAs contribute economically to the air cargo industry using three 'litmus test' indicators:1) contribution to the airline's sales and profitability by expanding o perating networks; 2) viability as a marketing option for emerging or struggling airlines to help cut operating costs to reduce prices; 3) cost-effective GSAs were found to establish an airline's market presence through wide network coverage and good local knowledge, leading to an expansion of airline's operating networks and generating greater sales revenue. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

A New Charging and Billing Model and Architecture for the Ubiquitous Consumer Wireless World

In a Ubiquitous Consumer Wireless World (UCWW) environment the provision, administration and management of the authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) policies and business services are provided by third-party AAA service providers (3P-AAA-SPs) who are independent of the wireless access network providers (ANPs). In this environment the consumer can freely choose any suitable ANP, based on his/her own preferences. This new AAA infrastructural arrangement necessitates assessing the impact and re-thinking the design, structure and location of ‘charging and billing’ (C&B) functions and services. This paper addresses C&B issues in UCWW, proposing potential architectural solutions for C&B realization. Implementation approaches of these novel solutions together with a software testbed for validation and performance evaluation are addressed.

Services for Content Creation and Presentation in an Iconographical Digital Library

Content creation and presentation are key activities in a multimedia digital library (MDL). The proper design and intelligent implementation of these services provide a stable base for overall MDL functionality. This paper presents the framework and the implementation of these services in the latest version of the “Virtual Encyclopaedia of Bulgarian Iconography” multimedia digital library. For the semantic description of the iconographical objects a tree-based annotation template is implemented. It provides options for autocompletion, reuse of values, bilingual entering of data, automated media watermarking, resizing and conversing. The paper describes in detail the algorithm for automated appearance of dependent values for different characteristics of an iconographical object. An algorithm for avoiding duplicate image objects is also included. The service for automated appearance of new objects in a collection after their entering is included as an important part of the content presentation. The paper also presents the overall service-based architecture of the library, covering its main service panels, repositories and their relationships. The presented vision is based on a long-term observation of the users’ preferences, cognitive goals, and needs, aiming to find an optimal functionality solution for the end users.