Search results for "small and medium-sized enterprise"
showing 10 items of 58 documents
CLUSTER IMPACT ON COMPANY CREDITWORTHINESS: CASE OF LATVIA
2013
One of the leading driving forces of every state economy is small and medium enterprises (SME). In Latvia, SME accounts for 99.7% of the national industrial system, creating 70% of the national’ value added. The lack of sufficient capital and credit is often a major problem for the development of SME, particularly in their early growth stages. The main criterion and quality indicator of credit risk assessment is the borrower’s creditworthiness. Before issuing a loan, the checking of the borrower’s credibility and solvency is carried out. The assessment of the borrowers’ ability to pay, their creditworthiness at a definite moment must be connected with the ability to meet their liabilities i…
WAITING FOR THE CAPITAL MARKET UNION: THE POSITION OF LATVIAN CORPORATE BOND MARKET
2017
Baltic region is traditionally treated as similar and comparable when analysed on the macroeconomic level. The major difference is faced when the analysis is performed for the corporate bond market – the weight of Latvian publically traded corporate bonds among the three countries- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia- reached 94% by the number of issues quoted. With 47 corporate bonds listed in Nasdaq Riga, Latvian corporate bond market demonstrated the rapid growth and recognition of corporate bonds as the source of alternative to bank lending financing method (Nasdaq Baltic, 2017). There are no obvious macro or microeconomic evidence for Latvia meeting more favourable conditions for corporate b…
The evolution of the local role(s) of the university in a low-tech region
2013
The present case study addresses the case of a geographical area neglected by most of the literature about the changing role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): the low-tech contexts. This literature has traditionally exhibited two primary aspects. First, a focus on success stories such as entrepreneurial universities located in high-tech regions (e.g. Silicon Valley). Second, it reveals an inclination towards an evolution from ivory towers to entrepreneurial universities. The article argues that this oversimplification does not apply exactly to some environments where the HEIs have maintained links with industry since their inception. The purpose is to demonstrate HEIs' relevance in l…
Small business in a small country and the role of government (the case of Georgia)
2019
Problem statement: The value of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for a national economy is recognized all over the world. Georgia is not an exception. Georgian government has declared the importance of the creation of a strong private sector in strategic documents - “Socio-Economic Development Strategy of Georgia – Georgia 2020” (2014) and “For a Strong, Democratic and United Georgia” (2015), first of all. In line with country’s general strategy - to achieve economic growth through private sector development - more proactive reforms to develop entrepreneurship, start-ups and build a competitive SME sector have been developed and special program -“SME Development Strategy 2016-2020”…
Incidence of Stakeholders in the corporate social responsibility of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises of Santa Marta
2018
Abstract This article analyses the perception and application of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in a sample of 499 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the city of Santa Marta (Colombia) following the theory of Stakeholders. Specifically, the interdependence technique of exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the most influential Stakeholders in the execution of CSR practices. It was found that Stakeholders related to the value chain, the environment and corporate management favour social responsibility actions in local MSMEs. In contrast, community and government have less influence on the development of social responsibility practices in MSMEs. Additi…
Innovation capabilities in tourism and food production SMEs in the Baltic Sea Region
2011
Drawing on the resource-based view, this paper addresses two fundamental questions: what innovation capabilities are most important for the creation of innovations in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and what are the relations between different innovation capabilities? We propose a model for the analysis of innovation capabilities in small and medium enterprises. In the model, we distinguish between capacities, such as access to financial, physical, technological and human resources, and competencies, such as knowledge and skills, market and entrepreneurial orientation. The findings are based on surveys from 277 tourism and food production SMEs from five Baltic Sea Region countries.
Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria
2017
This paper provides new evidence on the impact of microfinance on job creation beyond self-employment. We examine wage-employment effects for a typical program in Eastern Europe with average loan sizes that are considerably above what has been studied so far. We apply propensity score matching extended by a difference-in-differences estimator to panel data from an individual-lending program to firms in Bulgaria. Our results indicate that microcredit has very positive effects on job creation. Participating firms have on average 2.5 (or 33 percent) more employees two years after receiving a microcredit than matched non-participants. This strong effect seems to be related to a certain loan siz…
The requisite match between internal resources and network ties to cope with knowledge scarcity
2020
PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the internationalization strategies of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the interaction between network ties and “soft” internal resources at the foundation of knowledge management (KM). Specifically, it identifies the firms’ internal capabilities that affect KM strategies, and their collective influence on the degree of internationalization; verifies the influence of network ties on the internationalization process itself; and develops a conceptual “preliminary theoretical framework of SME internationalization capabilities and networks.”Design/methodology/approachThe primary research and analysis are based on a proportional stratified s…
Subsidizing technology: how to succeed
2011
Examining the database of applications to the Regional Government of Valencia's Institute for Small and Medium-sized Industries (Spain) for subsidies to aid technological development in small and medium-sized enterprises, this study seeks to explain the approval or rejection and the success or failure of projects that look to receive state funding. The independent variables in the database are particularly concerned with reliance on path dependence. The variable length of membership of the Institute, the number of previous applications, technology level, or belonging to a particular geographical area relate to the accumulation of experience and correspond to the study hypotheses. The study …
Small and medium enterprises web page design: a qualitative study
2012
The present paper is based on the results of seven consumer focus groups developed in Spain. The results are interpreted using an ethnographic summary of each focus group (qualitative approach) and a systematic coding procedure (quantitative approach). The research pursued two major objectives. Firstly, to identify the key design variables for building a successful transactional small and medium enterprises (SME) website. Secondly, the transactional relevance of each key design variable was tested in order to establish priorities according to Spanish online buyers’ preferences. The findings indicate that a SME transactional website should have three main strong points: 1 it must be secure 2…