Do social capital building strategies influence the financing behavior of Chinese private small and medium-sized enterprises?

Using data from 65,485 Chinese private small and medium-sized enterprises over the period 2000-2006, we examine the extent to which firms can improve access to debt by adopting strategies aimed at building social capital, namely entertaining and gift giving to others in their social network, and obtaining political affiliation. We find that although entertainment and gift-giving expenditure leads to higher levels of total and short-term debt, it does not enable firms to obtain greater long-term debt. In contrast, we demonstrate that obtaining political affiliation allows firms greater access to long-term debt.

"Lájkolom őket, de ennék is náluk?" – Aktivitásra buzdító kis- és középvállalati közösségimédia-tevékenységek fogyasztói fogadtatása magyarországi vendéglátóhelyek példáján keresztül ("I like them, but would I eat at their place?" – Encouraging social media activities of small and medium-sized enterprises and their consumerreactions – the case of Hungarian catering establishments)

A vendéglátóipari egységek kommunikációjában fontos szerepe van a közösségi médiában való jelenlétnek. Hazánkban a leggyakrabban használt felület a Facebook, amely sok ilyen vállalkozás esetében kiemelt fontosságú, vagy akár az egyetlen reálisan elérhető marketingkommunikációs felület. Kutatásunkban azt vizsgáljuk, hogy a felhasználók hogyan érzékelik a feléjük továbbított üzleti célú információkat a közösségi felületen, illetve hogy a fogyasztókra milyen mértékű aktivitás jellemző kedvenc vendéglátóipari egységük oldalán. Ennek céljából szubjektív fogyasztói narratívákat (n=151) elemzünk a kvalitatív tartalomelemzés módszertanával. A válaszadókat arra kértük, hogy írjanak kedvenc vendéglátóhelyükkel való kapcsolatukról az online térben. A "belájkolt" vendéglátóipari egységek felületeinek fogyasztók által észlelt aktivitása segítheti a vállalkozásokat abban, hogy alaptevékenységük elemeinek kommunikálásával, vagy akár ettől teljesen eltérő közösségi stratégiát használva pozicionálják márkájukat. A márkák tudatos tartalommenedzselése hozzájárulhat továbbá a felhasználók virtuális térben való hatékonyabb eléréséhez és bevonásához. ____ Presence in social media is an important element in the communication of catering establishments. The most frequently used platform in Hungary – that is extraordinarily important, or even the only reasonably accessible marketing communications platform for many catering companies – is Facebook. In our research, we analyse how users perceive the business-purposed information forwarded to them on the social media platform, and how intensive are the consumers’ activities on their most preferred catering establishment's site. For this purpose we analyse subjective consumer narratives (N=151) with the methodology of qualitative content analysis. We asked the respondents to write about the relationship with their most preferred catering establishment in the online sphere. Perceived activity of the "liked" catering establishment's platform could help enterprises to position themselves by communicating their core activities, or by using a totally different social strategy. Moreover, conscious content management of brands could contribute to reach and to engage users in the virtual sphere more efficiently.

A Belief rule-based environmental responsibility assessment system for small and medium-sized enterprises

Various environmental management systems, standards and tools are being created to assist companies to become more environmental friendly. However, not all the enterprises have adopted environmental policies in the same scale and range. Additionally, there is no existing guide to help them determine their level of environmental responsibility and subsequently, provide support to enable them to move forward towards environmental responsibility excellence. This research proposes the use of a Belief Rule-Based approach to assess an enterprise’s level commitment to environmental issues. The Environmental Responsibility BRB assessment system has been developed for this research. Participating companies will have to complete a structured questionnaire. An automated analysis of their responses (using the Belief Rule-Based approach) will determine their environmental responsibility level. This is followed by a recommendation on how to progress to the next level. The recommended best practices will help promote understanding, increase awareness, and make the organization greener. BRB systems consist of two parts: Knowledge Base and Inference Engine. The knowledge base in this research is constructed after an in-depth literature review, critical analyses of existing environmental performance assessment models and primarily guided by the EU Draft Background Report on "Best Environmental Management Practice in the Telecommunications and ICT Services Sector". The reasoning algorithm of a selected Drools JBoss BRB inference engine is forward chaining, where an inference starts iteratively searching for a pattern-match of the input and if-then clause. However, the forward chaining mechanism is not equipped with uncertainty handling. Therefore, a decision is made to deploy an evidential reasoning and forward chaining with a hybrid knowledge representation inference scheme to accommodate imprecision, ambiguity and fuzzy types of uncertainties. It is believed that such a system generates well balanced, sensible and Green ICT readiness adapted results, to help enterprises focus on making improvements on more sustainable business operations.

Electronic commerce in small to medium-sized enterprises : frameworks, issues and implications

Electronic Commerce in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises: Frameworks, Issues and Implications addresses eCommerce issues in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a global setting. The book aims at addressing issues that are of importance to researchers, to students, and to professionals interested in the eCommerce field in SMEs and hence, interested in addressing issues pertaining to theory and to practice.

Fact Findings and Lessons Learned from the Comparative Study on Information Techonology (IT) Usage by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and Asia

ECLACs International Trade and Integration Division (DCII) will launch the book titled Information Technology for Development of Small and Medium-sized Exporters in Latin America and East Asia in the end of September 2005. The report provides an overview of the present condition of Information Technology (IT) and its use to promote international trade. It focuses on the experiences of IT usage by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Latin American and Asian-Pacific regions, with a special focus on SME exporters in the 13 researched countries, that were selected from the Forum for East Asia - Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) member countries. This issue of the FAL bulletin is produced based on the executive summary of the book.

Who needs it? An exploratory investigation into the reaction of small and medium enterprises to mobile data technologies

The technological environment in which contemporary small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate can only be described as dynamic. The seemingly exponential nature of technological change, characterised by perceived increases in the benefits associated with various technologies, shortening product life cycles and changing standards, provides for the small and medium-sized enterprise a complex and challenging operational context. The development of infrastructures capable of supporting the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)and associated 'wireless' applications represents the latest generation of technological innovation with potential appeal to SMEs and end-users alike. The primary aim of this research was to understand the mobile data technology needs of SMEs in a regional setting. The research was especially concerned with perceived needs across three market segments; non-adopters of new technology, partial-adopters of new technology and full-adopters of new technology. Working with an industry partner, focus groups were conducted with each of these segments with the discussions focused on the use of the latest WP products and services. Some of the results are presented in this paper.