Search results for "small firm"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Exploring the determinants of anti-mafia entrepreneurial behaviour: an empirical study on southern Italian SMEs
2017
This study analyses organized crime from an economic perspective and highlights the crucial role of extortion in mafia activities. From an economic viewpoint, we debate the conditions that lead companies to resist mafia extortion. To study the reactions of firms to extortion, we adopt an institutional perspective and consider the contribution of different theories in the socially responsible behaviour and organized crime literature, in an attempt to understand this complex entrepreneurial behaviour better. A sample of 116 southern Italian SMEs, whose entrepreneurs have publicly opposed mafia extortion, was selected. By adopting a matched-pair design, anti-mafia firms were subsequently match…
Entrepreneurship training for new ventures
2009
Several studies in the field of international entrepreneurship have indicated the inadequacy of public policy support for new ventures and called for more tailored training programs. This paper introduces a training program created for new ventures in Central Finland and analyzes its benefits and shortcomings using a qualitative case study. The findings reveal that the training program provided useful knowledge on how to develop a business further and how to make it understandable and attractive to a funder. However, the findings also indicate that there is a need for cultural adaptation: the training program developed originally for U.S. new ventures was not fully adapted for the needs of …
Supporting value creation in SMEs through capacity building and innovation initiatives: the danger of provoking unsustainable rapid growth
2009
Value creation comes in many guises, and may be achieved through expansion and efficiency, innovation and novel processes, and closer alignment with customer needs. This article examines the real dangers to firms, especially small firms, which pursue very ambitious capacity growth plans in order to chase market opportunities. Case analysis has unearthed a new phenomenon, which might be termed ‘business gigantism’ – a situation of rapid and unsustainable growth that places severe strains on the firm. This article briefly recounts two case studies where small firms secured substantial funding to support rapid expansion – in both cases via public agencies. In each case, funding was justified b…
The Evolution of Pulp and Paper Industries in Finland, Sweden, and Norway, 1800–2005
2012
In this chapter, we study Finland, Sweden and Norway as examples of countries with small firm populations without intense domestic competition. This has enabled firms to build certain organizational capabilities while neglecting others. The basic story-line in the Nordic paper industry evolution is that a few firms that emerged as industrial populations were (a) built on to exploit abundant raw materials (timber, water, labor); (b) focused to a large extent on exporting their products; and (c) relied on cooperation between competitors to success in competition with the large firms populations of Britain and Germany – the two main markets for Nordic paper industry products.
Generalising Theories Explaining the Different Modes of SME Development and the Associated Growth Trajectories
2010
Previous research has identified two forms of “abnormal” growth – styled as business dwarfism and gigantism - which can both lead to missed opportunities for owners/entrepreneurs and local economies, and even to business crisis and collapse. It has also shown that stunted and inflated growth phenomena, rather than being characterised by completely different rules and rationales, are closely related and that certain fundamental structures and processes underpin both those forms of ab-normal company growth behaviour. This paper reports an examination of a further SME phenomenon – what we have chosen to call "micro-giants". These are companies that would be categorised as rela-tively small fir…
A Physiological Approach to Analysing SME Growth Patterns and to Understanding the Distinctions and Similarities between Normal and Abnormal Growth
2010
Building on earlier work on abnormal SME growth trajectories, this paper investigates to what extent the analysis can be extended to the study of an unusual but “normal” growth pattern. The detailed case histories of two firms which might be called micro-giants are presented. These are companies that would be categorised as small firms but are actually competing, and competing successfully, in non-niche markets with much larger firms, or even multinational giants. The resource based view and modelling approaches developed in the earlier non-normal growth situations is then applied to these cases. It is argued that by viewing the management of strategic assets as part of the normal business …
Entry into Geographically and Psychically Distant Foreign Markets by Small and New Ventures
2008
Paper presented at the 16th Conference on Pacific Basin Finance, Economics, Accounting and Management (PBFEAM), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, July 2-4.2008. (Key-note paper) peerReviewed
Entrepreneurial Marketing in Small Firms: A Comparative Study of Small Software Technology Firms in Central Finland, Wales, UK and Silicon Valley, US
2015
This paper reports on present research of Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) in small software technology firms (SSTFs) in order to investigate and compare the effects of ecosystems in three different countries and, the effect this has on a firm’s EM orientation and, on business growth. Firms today operate in a business environment characterized by increased risk and decreased ability to forecast while markets are uncertain, are fragmenting and becoming frictionless. Hence, firms interact as competitors, customers, and collaborators in a global, knowledge economy. Such changes have had an effect on marketing (Schindehutte, Morris and Pitt 2008) and reflect the type of marketing practiced in sma…
Social media adoption in Italian firms. Opportunities and challenges for lagging regions
2021
Social media are an important growth opportunity for firms, especially small‐sized ones operating in peripheral and lagging regions. In this paper, we investigate not only whether firms are able to take this opportunity, but also if they are able to face the challenge of adopting social media at a professional level to obtain a significant economic impact, measured in terms of exporting activities. Exploring the Italian case, our empirical study indicates that smaller firms in lagging areas are more likely to adopt social media but at the same time less likely to use them at a professional level. This reflects poor strategic targets of social media adoption and lower probabilities of enteri…
Business Models and Market Entry Mode Choice of Small Software Firms
2007
So far the critical choice of the entry mode for a target country has been examined ignoring the special features of firms. Particularly, the impact of the wide variation of business models of software firms has been ignored. This multi-case study investigates the relation between the business model and the entry mode of eight software firms. The results imply that the product strategy and the service and implementation model of a software firm are closely connected to the entry mode choice, while the distribution model of intangible software products does not seem to have impact on the operation mode. peerReviewed