Search results for "small and medium-sized enterprises"
showing 10 items of 55 documents
SMEs' Growth Heterogeneity - Evidence from Regional Developments
2014
Previous empirical research on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) frequently struggled with the extreme heterogeneity of these frms. We scrutinise one major source of this heterogeneity: SMEs' growth development. Based on a large dataset of French, Italian, UK and US firms between 2000 and 2008, we find that SMEs fall in two categories in all countries: One large group of firms that display only slow growth and one much smaller group that actively seek strong growth. We show that the growth factors particularly of the slowly-growing firms vary strongly between the countries. European SMEs differ mainly in the growth effects of their ownership structures. US firms set themselves apart…
Evaluating European Union support for innovation in Spanish small and medium enterprises
2009
Finding funding is one of the main problems small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face, which is why the European Union has set up programmes to support SME development. This paper has two objectives: firstly, to describe the different European funding programmes available to Spanish firms; secondly, to present an empirical study on the use Spanish SMEs (and especially, SMEs in the service sector) make of these programmes in order to innovate, together with an analysis of the importance these funding programmes have on SME innovation.
Product development process in Spanish SMEs: an empirical research
2002
Rapid product development has been treated as a competitive strategy in a global market environment. It is essential to improve the product development process with the objective of reducing product development cycle time and hence to reach the market as quickly as possible. Large-scale companies have adopted new strategies and technologies to reduce the product development cycle time, taking into account various market and innovation barriers. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have not received adequate attention from researchers for their product development process. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze the critical success factors for the product development proc…
Innovation in Traditional Food Products
2016
International audience; Innovation is widely accepted as one of the keys to being successful. However, companies can innovate and still fail if markets fail to accept the innovation. In most cases, the acceptance of an innovation depends on the innovation itself and also on the product to which it is applied. In this chapter acceptance of different innovations in traditional food products is investigated, thus focusing on the definition of the "traditional" and "innovation" concepts from the consumer's perspective. Qualitative and quantitative approaches are combined to better understand and predict the possibilities of success when applying different generic and specific innovations in tra…
The performance of entrepreneurial small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises
2012
Innovation is an important driver of economic growth for it leads to new products and services, enhanced quality, and lower prices. In an increasingly competitive global market, innovation turns out to be essential to secure a viable competitive position. Although there is no perfect correspondence between accounting intangible assets and innovation activities, the association between these two concepts is close enough to take investment in intangible assets as a proxy for entrepreneurship and innovation. To identify differences between innovative and non‐innovative small and medium enterprises in the service industry, both descriptive and statistical analyses are performed on financial dat…
Small family business performance: comparison between family and non-family enterprises
2010
This study compares small family business performance between the Finnish family and non-family enterprises. The sample (2,004 firms) was derived to represent nationally small businesses, in collaboration with the Statistics Finland (Centre) in Helsinki. The answer rate of the study was 90% (data collected by mail questionnaires and telephone interviews). The method of the study was to compare family and non-family enterprises with ROA (return on assets) on an enterprise population level (Finland). The results of the study show that most of the small family businesses are controlled by the founder generation. Founder generation performance was slightly higher than among descendant generatio…
OPENNESS AND KNOWLEDGE AS LEADING TENDENCIES IN DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO ENTERPRISES
2012
Small and micro businesses are the key elements of market economy and most dynamic, flexible business sales form. Establishment and development of micro enterprises are a necessary condition for forming normal economic environment, what promotes manufacturing goods and competition between service companies. Micro enterprises are important source of work-places, create spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in European Union and therefor are essential for strenghtening empoyment and competition. Lately there are heard a lot of speeches in media about importance of small and medium enterprises in the European Union and national level, but rarely are mentioned that most of these enterprises…
Entrepreneurship and SMEs Innovation in Romania
2014
Abstract The aim of this article is to present some theoretical connections between entrepreneurship, innovation and small and medium medium-sized enterprises highlighting the role of these business for the economic recovery. It will provide a brief overview of the CNIPMMR study pointing out data about Romanian SMEs innovation activities and use of information technology in such enterprises. Some recommendations for public policies are presented at the end of the paper.
Pecking Order Versus Trade-off: An Empirical Approach to the Small and Medium Enterprise Capital Structure
2003
In this paper, we explore two of the most relevant theories that explain financial policy in small and medium enterprises (SMEs): pecking order theory and trade-off theory. Panel data methodology is used to test the empirical hypotheses over a sample of 6482 Spanish SMEs during the five-year period 1994?1998. The results suggest that both theoretical approaches contribute to explain capital structure in SMEs. However, while we find evidence that SMEs attempt to achieve a target or optimum leverage (trade-off model), there is less support for the view that SMEs adjust their leverage level to their financing requirements (pecking order model). En este trabajo, exploramos dos de las teorías má…
Capital Structure and Sensitivity in SME Definition: A Panel Data Investigation
2003
We provide an empirical examination of the pecking order theory on capital structure in the field of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). We mainly investigate if the results are sensitive to different definitions commonly used for these types of companies. Our evidence offers strong support for the growth opportunities and cash flow hypotheses. Firms that have many growth opportunities and small cash flows clearly show more debt in their capital structure. Moreover, results do not change when different SME definitions or sample sizes are used.