Dissertations / Theses: 'Adoption of CPC SMEs'

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Favarin, Matheus Carlo. "Um estudo sobre os estágios de adoção do CPC PME sob a óptica da teoria institucional." Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, 2012. http://tede.mackenzie.br/jspui/handle/tede/909.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Matheus Carlo Favarin.pdf: 728854 bytes, checksum: 75a864425b03cc6a0728536db2bd2504 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa The present study aimed to analyze the present stage of institutionalization of the CPC PME by the small and medium enterprises, from the perspective of the Institutions Theory, taking basis the institutionalization stages developed by Tolbert and Zucker (1999). Through a formative construct, it was sought to measure the level of institutionalization of the CPC PME in small and medium enterprises. In order to conduct the empirical research, questionnaires were sent to 1.786 companies from various sectors, which had up to 500 employees, established, mostly, in the region of the state of São Paulo. Among the valid responses, 20 questionnaires had been properly filled. The data was statistically analyzed by descriptive statistics and ANOVA application. The results showed that small and medium size enterprises in Brazil, according to the analyzed sample, are currently concentrated in the institutional habitualization stage, to the extent that there is not a theory of new structures, as well as the adopters are homogeneous. Another key aspect revealed refers to the knowledge level that the respondents held on the subject (CPC PME). The research found that companies adopting the new accounting practices held a high level of knowledge about the structure in comparison with other companies. Such characteristics can be observed, according Tolbert and Zucker (1999), in the institutional habitualization stage. Among the institutional factors that motivate and inhibit the CPC PME adoption, it was found that the legal aspect stand out as the main motivational factor which conducts the company to the CPC PME adoption. The empirical results of this study were presented to two representatives of professional bodies: CRC SP and SESCON-SP, both in Campinas, in order to deepen the discussion. These representatives gave their opinion regarding the number of companies adopting the CPC PME, the organizational characteristics of the small and medium enterprises and the factors that motivate or inhibit the adoption of new accounting practices. In summary, although it is believed that the accounting professional is endowed with consciousness and applied in carrying out their profession, the empirical research shows that accounting rules have not been applied in small and medium enterprises. The reality of the profession has changed: instead of rules, attention to the essence, the managerial vocation and the management. This attributes, without doubt, greater responsibility to the accounting professional and requires a proactive stance. However, the CPC PME is in place for two years and, since few companies have adopted the new practices so far, it is essential that the attitude of the accountants is evaluated. Este estudo objetiva conhecer o estágio de institucionalização do CPC PME nas PMEs, sob a óptica da Teoria Institucional, com base nos estágios de institucionalização desenvolvidos por Tolbert e Zucker (1999), por meio de um construto formativo. Para tanto, foram enviados questionários para 1.786 empresas de diversos ramos de atividade, com até 500 funcionários e estabelecidas, em grande parte, no estado de São Paulo. Entre as respostas válidas, 20 questionários apresentaram-se devidamente preenchidos, cujos dados foram analisados por meio da estatística descritiva e da aplicação da ANOVA. A análise dos resultados permitiu verificar que as PMEs brasileiras concentram-se atualmente no estágio de institucionalização de habitualização, na medida em que não existe uma teorização sobre as novas estruturas, bem como os adotantes são homogêneos. Outro aspecto fundamental revelado refere-se ao nível de conhecimento que os respondentes detêm sobre o tema (CPC PME). A pesquisa evidenciou que as empresas adotantes das novas práticas contábeis detêm um elevado nível de conhecimento sobre a estrutura em comparação às demais. Tais características, segundo Tolbert e Zucker (1999), remetem ao estágio de institucionalização de habitualização. Entre os fatores institucionais motivadores e inibidores à adoção do CPC PME, verificou-se que o aspecto legal destaca-se como o fator motivacional principal. Os resultados empíricos deste estudo foram apresentados a dois representantes dos órgãos de classe CRC SP e SESCON-SP, ambos de Campinas, com o objetivo de aprofundar a discussão. Esses representantes opinaram acerca do número de empresas adotantes do CPC PME, das características organizacionais das PMEs e dos fatores motivadores e inibidores à adoção das novas práticas contábeis. Em síntese, os resultados deste estudo demonstram que, ainda que se acredite que o profissional contábil seja dotado de consciência e aplicado no cumprimento da sua profissão, as regras contábeis não têm sido aplicadas nas PMEs. A realidade da profissão mudou: no lugar de regras, a atenção à essência, à vocação gerencial e à gestão. Isso atribuiu, sem dúvida, maior responsabilidade ao profissional contábil e exige uma postura proativa. Todavia, o CPC PME vigora há dois anos e, visto que poucas empresas adotaram até então essas novas práticas, é imprescindível que a postura dos contabilistas seja avaliada.

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Santos, George Magno. "Critérios utilizados pelos escritórios contábeis na adoção inicial do pronunciamento CPC PME." Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, 2013. http://tede.mackenzie.br/jspui/handle/tede/910.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 George Magno Santos.pdf: 622876 bytes, checksum: 0f55167e42106cf08493594434a6a37c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-01-28 Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa As a new element to align international accounting practices, the Federal Accounting Council, through Resolution 1.255/2009 CFC approved the NBC T 19:41 which deals specifically with the rules of accounting in small and medium enterprises, for use in the financial statements for general purpose of this category of companies. In the context presented, this study aimed to investigate what are the main factors that influenced the Accounting Offices in the preparation, preparation and dissemination of financial statements of their clients, in view of the mandatory application of the CPC SMEs from the year ended December 31, 2010. Additionally highlight the major internal and external factors that influenced the adoption of Statement SMEs, and verify the behavior of society and accounting manager before the new requirement in the Financial Statements in the format CPC SMEs and their level of knowledge about such pronouncement SMEs. The research was exploratory in nature, using the qualitative method, using as a procedure for data collection, in-depth interviews with four partners of accounting firms. The data collected were processed through content analysis using NVivo software. The main results of the data analysis showed that most respondents offices is not motivated to adopt the pronouncement, making him only under special circumstances. The vision priority is the maintenance of tax rules and practices that continue to influence the accounting results, since the internal user is who else uses the accounting information, and not the external. We conclude that the absence of severe penalties for both companies, and for the offices and the lack of customer interest in the majority of SMEs, as well as offices in the tradition of meeting the fiscal aspects, precisely because of the hefty fines, potentiate untimely adoption. Ignorance on the part of the accountants of the differences between the CPC and CPC Full SMEs or full model, where the latter allows a greater economic result for the company, improving its performance indicators economics and finance, is a strong indication of the need for knowledge deep study of both pronouncements, to decide on which pronouncement adopt. Another factor is the Internal Revenue Service of Brazil did not accept the new accounting standard as the baseline for calculating federal taxes, where companies that adopted the standard CPC SMEs have to make several adjustments in order to nullify any impact that may be with the adoption of the new accounting standard on the base for calculating the taxes due. Como novo elemento para alinhamento internacional das práticas contábeis, o Conselho Federal de Contabilidade, através da Resolução CFC 1.255/2009, aprovou a NBC T 19.41 que trata especificamente sobre as regras aplicáveis na contabilidade de pequenas e médias empresas, para aplicação nas demonstrações contábeis para fins gerais desta categoria de empresas. No contexto apresentado, este trabalho objetivou investigar quais são os principais fatores que influenciaram os Escritórios Contábeis na preparação, elaboração e divulgação das demonstrações financeiras de seus clientes, em vista da obrigatoriedade de aplicação do CPC PME à partir do exercício findo em 31 de dezembro de 2010. Complementarmente evidenciar os principais fatores internos e externos que influenciaram na adoção do Pronunciamento PME, e verificar o comportamento da sociedade contábil e empresária perante a nova exigência nas Demonstrações Contábeis no formato CPC PME e seu nível de conhecimento sobre o referido pronunciamento PME. A pesquisa realizada foi de natureza exploratória, com o uso do método qualitativo, utilizando como procedimento para a coleta de dados, entrevistas em profundidade com quatro sócios de escritórios de contabilidade. Os dados coletados foram tratados por meio da análise de conteúdo com a utilização do software NVIVO. Como principais resultados a análise dos dados apontou que a maioria dos escritórios questionados não está motivada a adotar o pronunciamento, fazendo-o apenas por força de situações especiais. A visão prioritária é a manutenção das práticas e regras fiscais que continuam influenciando os resultados contábeis, uma vez que o usuário interno é quem mais utiliza a informação contábil, e não o externo. Conclui-se que a ausência de penalidades severas tanto para as empresas, quanto para os escritórios e a falta de interesse dos clientes na maioria de PME, bem como a tradição dos escritórios em atender aos aspectos fiscais, justamente por conta das pesadas multas, potencializam a adoção intempestiva. O desconhecimento por parte dos contadores das diferenças entre o CPC PME e o CPC Full ou modelo completo, onde este último possibilita um resultado econômico maior para a empresa, melhorando os seus indicadores de performance econômico-financeira, é um indicativo forte da necessidade de um conhecimento profundo e estudo de ambos os pronunciamentos, para decidir sobre qual pronunciamento adotar. Outro fator preponderante é o da Receita Federal do Brasil não aceitar o novo padrão contábil como base inicial de cálculo dos tributos federais, onde as empresas que adotaram o padrão CPC PME têm que efetuar diversos ajustes como forma de anular todo e qualquer impacto que possa haver com a adoção do novo padrão contábil na base de cálculo dos tributos devidos.

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Oni, Oluwasola. "Broadband adoption by SMES." Thesis, Brunel University, 2007. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/5330.

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Because the benefits of broadband for businesses have been widely publicized, the UK government has tried to ensure that there is a wide and fast take-up of the technology. Initial figures showed that broadband adoption by SMEs was particularly slow and there has been little research on the use of broadband by businesses, particularly SMEs. An in-depth study into the roles and activities of the groups involved in broadband diffusion to SMEs was conducted. The innovation diffusion and social construction of technology theory were applied to develop a framework that addresses some of the issues not covered in previous literature. The research was carried out in two phases and the empirical data from these was obtained and analysed using a qualitative and interpretive approach. Whilst broadband adoption figures have picked up more recently the research results show that SMEs have not adopted broadband in its full capacity. The results show that factors including cost, quality of service, and lack of awareness might be a reason for this. Implications for policy makers and groups involved in broadband diffusion to SMEs have therefore been provided. The first phase of the research provides results that indicated that broadband has not necessarily changed the way the Internet is used by the SMEs. In the second phase, the results showed a wide if not incompatible difference among groups involved in the issues surrounding broadband diffusion to SMEs. Although the governi-nenht as provided funds for SMEs' adoption of information technology, the level of awareness displayed by SMEs is persistently low. A case is put that this may be because SMEs are unique as are their needs and so need to be targeted as individual businesses with individual needs as opposed to a 'one size fits all' solution.

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Roa, Baez Julian, and Remi Leon Igbekele. "Challenges of AI Adoption in SMEs." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-301269.

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This thesis paper discusses the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in the context of small and medium-sized companies. AI is a disruptive innovation currently leading a technological transition in many industries. Academic literature on its adoption in the context of SMEs is limited. This thesis aims to answer the research question "W hat are the main challenges of AI adoption in SMEs?". The authors use a qualitative research approach, interviewing 18 representatives of different Swedish organizations to answer the question. The authors identify six main challenge categories regarding AI adoption in SMEs via a coding process, which are Change Management, Education, Data, Hiring, Project Structuring, and External Help. The authors show similarities to challenges described in the existing literature on AI adoption. However, Hiring and External Help impact AI adoption in SMEs more significantly than in larger corporations, while Change Management can be easier for smaller organizations. Furthermore, a framework that helps to prioritize the above challenges is introduced. In comparison with literature on the adoption of other (non-AI) IT innovations in SMEs, some challenges are more salient to AI: the unclear definition of the term, false expectations as a result of the AI Hype, the uncertainty of project outcome, and the prerequisite of a previous digitalization process. The authors recommend further research in other contexts. I denna avhandling diskuteras införandet av artificiell intelligens (AI) teknik i små och medelstora företag. AI är en disruptiv innovation som för närvarande leder en teknisk övergång i många branscher. Den akademiska litteraturen kring dess användning i små och medelstora företag är begränsad. Denna avhandling syftar till att besvara forskningsfrågan "Vilka är de största utmaningarna med att införa AI i små och medelstora företag?". Författarna använder en kvalitativ forskningsansats och intervjuar 18 representanter från olika svenska organisationer för att besvara frågan. Författarna identifierar sex huvudsakliga utmaningar områden avseende AI-adoption i små och medelstora företag via en kodningsprocess: förändringshantering, utbildning, data, anställning, projekt strukturering och extern hjälp. Författarna visar på likheter med de utmaningar som beskrivs i den befintliga litteraturen om AI-användning. Anställning och extern hjälp påverkar dock AI-användningen i små och medelstora företag mer påtagligt än i större företag, medan förändringshantering kan vara lättare för mindre organisationer. Vidare introduceras ett ramverk som hjälper till att prioritera ovanstående utmaningar. I jämförelse med litteratur om antagandet av andra (icke-AI) IT-innovationer i små och medelstora företag är vissa utmaningar mer framträdande när det gäller AI: den oklara definitionen av begreppet, falska förväntningar som ett resultat av AI-hypen, osäkerheten från projektresultatet och förutsättningen av tidigare digitaliseringsprocess. Författarna rekommenderar ytterligare forskning i andra sammanhang.

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Hashim, Noor Azuan binti. "E-commerce adoption by Malaysian SMEs." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2012. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14590/.

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E-commerce adoption among SMEs has been much discussed in management information technology and technological innovation literature. However, most of these prior studies focused mainly on e-commerce awareness or factors that influence e-commerce adoption. This study, on the other hand, attempts to develop a holistic insight into e-commerce adoption by SMEs. It investigates why some SMEs adopt e-commerce readily, and others do not. In addition, this study investigates the appropriateness of government support for SMEs encouraging them to adopt e-commerce. There is very little research that assesses e-commerce adoption by SMEs, certainly none as extensive as this, and there is also very limited empirical investigation of government support for SMEs to adopt e-commerce. This study helps to fill this gap by exploring these issues relating to e-commerce and SMEs. The framework model proposed in this study was developed out of an integration of various perspectives using the technological innovation literature, specifically the DOl and TOE frameworks. This model considers internal factors (the demographic characteristics of managers and their organisations), external factors (particularly government support), and reasons for, benefits of, and inhibitors to e-commerce adoption. Data for this study were collected through a questionnaire survey of over three thousand SMEs in Malaysia and forty face-to- face semi-structured interviews with SME managers and government officials . ., Results show there is a low level of adoption of e-commerce by SME managers whether or not they received government e-commerce supports. E-commerce usage hardly extends beyond e-mail. Online buying and complex websites, such as websites with online ordering and online payment facility are not common. Websites are used to provide contact details and information about the firm and information about its goods and services only, without displaying prices. The SME and SME manager demographic characteristics show significant association with e-commerce adoption. Two important factors that facilitate e- commerce adoption emerge from these characteristics namely SME location and the manager's experience of living abroad. To encourage e-commerce adoption, SMEs in developing countries need not only to have appropriate technology infrastructure installed, but also to be in a location with good public transportation services and efficient delivery methods. SME managers also need experience of buying and selling on the Internet, which they might gain while living abroad. The interviews raise a number of questions about the effectiveness of government support programmes, and the ulterior motives of SMEs. The benefits of e-commerce are more often perceived than achieved. Interestingly, the reason that SMEs adopt e-commerce is to enhance company image, rather than its efficiency. From the research findings, a series of recommendations for e-commerce adoption among SMEs in Malaysia emerges, providing guidance for policymakers, practitioners, and academics. Many recommendations, such as the need to evaluate e-commerce initiatives, may perhaps be extended to government K'T policies in the developing world as a whole. The study exposes many gaps, often overlooked, between the rhetoric of e-commerce adoption and the reality. The model proposed in this study may be comprehensive for e-commerce adoption in firms. Future research can build on and extend the proposed integrated model by including other potential factors from different contexts. It will be helpful to explore other statistical analysis, either in the current model or in an enhanced one. The findings will help towards a better understanding for firms and government and suggest a quantitative basis for them to determine favourable policies and conditions for expanding their e-commerce. This study provides the impetus for future research on many issues.

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Thi, Lip S. "Electronic commerce adoption among manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2006. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7860.

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It is widely acknowledged that electronic commerce presents a significant opportunity for Small- Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to compete alongside larger enterprises. For SMEs in the developing world in particular, the opportunities afforded by electronic commerce for competing in a global marketplace, are also attractive. However, it has also been observed that electronic commerce poses a considerable challenge for SMEs, particularly with regard to the decisions that must be made about which of the available electronic commerce applications to adopt and to integrate into existing business operations. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the adoption of electronic commerce by SMEs. These studies have tended to view electronic commerce adoption in terms of a dichotomous outcome: either e-commerce is adopted, or it is not. Such studies give little indication of the diffusion, or extent of usage, of individual e-commerce applications. The aim of this study was to address this gap in existing research by investigating both the level of adoption and extent of usage of e-commerce applications. In so doing, the study draws on research in the area of innovation diffusion theory. The focus of the study is on manufacturing SMES in Malaysia, and considers their use of B2B (Business-to-Business) e-commerce. The specific objectives of the study were to measure and characterise B2B e-commerce adoption and extent of usage among manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia; to identify factors associated with the adoption of B2B e-commerce in Malaysian SMEs; and to determine the impacts of that adoption. (Continues...)

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Doherty, Eileen. "Broadband adoption and diffusion : a study of Irish SMEs." Thesis, Ulster University, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.567099.

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This research examines the adoption and diffusion of broad band technology by Small-to- Medium-Sized-Enterprises (SMEs) on the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). The dearth of literature in this area acted as a catalyst for this study which endeavours to address a current gap in academic research and literature - in particular with reference to the Irish case and in respect of the SME, this research is justified and indeed timely. The strident advances made over the last decade in the development of the Internet and associated technologies have, from a micro perspective transformed, the nature of day-to-day business activity. From a macro perspective, these Internet-related technologies are key to economic growth in a region. Of fundamental importance to this economic growth is the adoption and diffusion of broad band Internet technology by SMEs., Theoretically underpinning this study, are two distinct schools of thought; technological determinism and instrumental theory. Technological determinist scholars purport that 'technology' and in particular communications technology form the basis of society past. present and future and they advocate that it is this technology which ultimately 'changes' society. Instrumental theorists proffer that technology is 'neutral' without any valuative content of its own. Consequently, these differing philosophies of technology adoption will be examined through this research process. Through adopting a sequential mixed methods approach, employing both a quantitative (questionnaire) followed by a qualitative (in-depth interview) phase in the data collection process, this study seeks to examine the extent of broad band usage, key drivers / challenges, usage, impact and the underlying factors that impact upon the adoption and diffusion of broadband technology by SMEs in Ireland. A number of important conclusions have been derived from this research: clarification that most Irish SMEs are connected to broadband Internet technology for business purposes, highlighting the importance of the owner manager in the decision to adopt the technology; more specifically, the internal factors of 'staff' and 'relative advantage' are found to be key iv factors of influence in this adoption decision. Further, those factors that are external to the firm, specifically 'suppliers', 'customers', 'competitors', 'government' and the 'media' are found to have little influence in this broadband adoption decision. The study also found that SMEs are making extensive use of the technology for their business and overall they are satisfied with the broad band service that they receive. SMEs are also seeing significant benefits following adoption of broadband, particularly in terms of the level of perceived professionalism and the overall positive impact of the technology on the efficiency and level of productivity of their firm. Resultantly, SMEs are benefiting from cost-savings and an increase in the level of profitability of their business as a consequence. Finally, a key conclusion of this study is that the 'location' of the firm and the 'length of time since adoption' of broadband technology are important factors in how the technology is used and the overall benefits gained by the SME resulting from its use. The thesis also proposes a number of practical recommendations for various stakeholders. Firstly, the practical recommendations are of value to SMEs who may be considering adoption of the technology and for those who have already adopted the technology; to advance the value that can be harnessed from its usage. Further, governmenUpolicy makers, broadband service providers and web content developers will benefit from these practical recommendations as an insight has been gained in respect of the key drivers, challenges, usage and the impact following broadband adoption by the SME. This knowledge serves to inform policy and helps focus the marketing activities of their associated products and services to the SME market. Importantly, this study also adds to the existing knowledge base through making theoretical contributions (confirmation, extension and disconfirmation) to the literature concerned with the adoption and diffusion of innovations, broadband, e-business and the greater SME research. Future studies may consider extending their scope to include other regions and perhaps employ a longitudinal approach in their research.

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Savola, Tommi, Tyko Tuohimaa, and Sebastian Berg. "AI-Enhanced Marketing Management – Factors Influencing Adoption in SMEs." Thesis, Högskolan i Jönköping, Internationella Handelshögskolan, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-39908.

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Recent developments and hype around artificial intelligence (AI) have arisen as result of two main factors: increase in computational power and data. Although marketing is considered as one of the main business applications within AI today, there is a lack of literature combining the disciplines. Marketing management tools, which utilise AI in supporting decision making are referred to as knowledge-driven marketing management support systems (MMSS). These systems provide besides quantitative analysis, further qualitative facets into marketing management. Despite the willingness of many SMEs to engage with the technology that may foster competitive advantage, many adoption processes fail. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the factors influencing adoption of knowledge-driven MMSS in SMEs in Finland and Sweden. Qualitative primary data was collected from nine company representatives at top management level in Finnish and Swedish firms. Companies were classified in three categories, providers, adopters and non-adopters of knowledge-driven MMSS. The findings show that there are several factors influencing adoption of knowledge-driven MMSS. The factors were grouped into technological, organizational and environmental factors, based on the TOE framework. Even though SMEs suffer from a lack of resources compared to large companies, this research suggests that they are at the forefront of adopting AI for marketing purposes. Additionally, it was found that the factors affecting adoption are dependent on whether the knowledge-driven MMSS is built in-house or outsourced. This study has contributed to the identified gaps in literature by combining the disciplines of AI, marketing and SMEs, and by exploring the factors behind adoption of knowledge-driven MMSS. The authors of this thesis have the aspiration that the developed post-empirical framework will serve as a guiding tool for top management and marketing managers in SMEs looking to adopt knowledge-driven MMSS into their organizations.

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Abubakar, Dahiru Abubakar. "Cloud computing adoption by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1575.

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This research contributes to the growing body of research on cloud computing and addresses the paucity of research on cloud computing adoption, as well as information systems (IS) and information communication technologies (ICTs) adoption in sub-Saharan Africa. The research addresses the current state of cloud computing adoption in addition to the issues that can encourage or preclude its use by SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. Further, the research establishes the extent to which cloud computing adoption stimulates small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in sub-Saharan Africa to contribute to development. A qualitative research methodology with an interpretive viewpoint is adopted for this research comprising of two major phases that involved a total of eighteen small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. A pilot exploratory study using grounded theory was conducted in the initial phase and the development and refinement of a conceptual framework for analysis and evaluation was carried out in the second phase. The framework is theoretically grounded in the integration of two distinct theoretical traditions, i.e. institutions theory and the capability approach. This is the first research study that employs such a combination to examine cloud computing adoption. This research examines the expectations of cloud users against their fears together with other related influences to draw conclusions regarding the future of cloud computing usage in sub-Saharan Africa. The research found that SMEs considered issues like security, privacy and trust as playing a role in enabling adoption of cloud computing. This is in contrast with SMEs in the global north where these specific issues are discouraging adoption. The research recommends to policy makers and stakeholders interested in developing the cloud infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa, that there is the need to be cautious in drafting policies (which are non-existent at present). This is in order not to draft policies and regulations with regard to cloud computing usage that will inhibit adoption. Finally, this research presents an incremental model that is used to analyse how cloud service provision was introduced in sub-Saharan Africa. The novel three-stage maturity model identified the incremental approach to the delivery of cloud services in sub-Saharan Africa which started from (i) no local provision, (ii) cloud brokers promoting foreign cloud service provision and (iii) locally-available cloud service provision over a period of three to four years. This research envisages that, with further development of the cloud infrastructure especially in terms of internet connectivity, and improved awareness, more SMEs will adopt cloud computing as part of their IS/ICT strategy.

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Runevad, Mattias, and Sandra Olofsson. "ICT Adoption Among Tanzanian SMEs : Barriers Hindering Internet Use." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för ekonomi och teknik (SET), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-26234.

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Problem Tanzanian SMEs are experiencing rapid development and the emergence of ICT innovations related to business applications. However, the development is hindered by a number of barriers related to infrastructural, human capital and institutional issues. To raise economic growth, these barriers must be understood, what implications that follows in taking the next step up the adoption ladder and how to overcome them. Purpose To identify and explore how the barriers of ICT at different levels of the adoption ladder are to be overcome and what implications it has for SMEs in Tanzania. Research design/methodology A mixed method approach was conducted with a survey where 96 SMEs responded that asked questions regarding ICT use and its barriers. A qualitative study on site in Tanzania was also conducted involving eight different companies and organizations within the tourism sector. The data from both sources was then combined and analyzed to get a view of the current situation and reach a conclusion. Conclusions The major barriers identified were; bad/slow Internet connection, high cost of Internet access, high cost of equipment, lack of power supply, poor IT skills and difficulties getting bank loans. Regarding adoption levels, for every step upwards in the adoption ladder the barriers of ICT are raised. This dynamic view of barriers within this context were, for example, that continuous power supply at lower levels in the adoption ladder does not affect the use or perceived usefulness among SMEs in Tanzania. The combined theory and analysis of the empirical data was used to develop an analytical model that illustrates the rising barriers at every step in the adoption ladder. The empirical data and this dynamic perspective on barriers that the analytical model gives serves as the main contributions of this study. Practical implications The view on barriers in Tanzania is not static and the understanding of the barriers and how they impact SMEs will from this study help the government, NGOs and other organizations in Tanzania, in how to address the barriers of ICT that is currently impeding growth and economic development for SMEs. Research limitations/implications For these results to be generalized a bigger sample needs to be gathered and address more SMEs outside the tourism industry.

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Schmuck, Ludger, and Veronika Vintish. "SMEs offline: why? : A multiple-case study of Swedish micro SMEs." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-111569.

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The Internet is becoming a more and more influencing factor in our everyday life. It affects many of our daily tasks and it is a determining factor we built our decisions on. Especially in Sweden, retrieving information about products or services online prior to the purchase is a matter of course and emphasizes therefore its importance. A website offers a costefficient potential for smaller firms with limited resources to be visible for consumers and to compete on the larger market. However, the website adoption has been neglected amongst 41% of Swedish micro Small- and Medium sized Enterprises (SME), which raises the question why this phenomenon exists. Existing literature does not provide a solid explanation of this occurrence and this is where our study steps in. In order to answer our research question and to fill this gap, the study is designed as a qualitative multiple-case study with twelve semi-structured interviews conducted amongst the owner-managers of micro SMEs in different parts of Sweden. The study aims to fill the theoretical gap by identifying and explaining the reasons why micro SMEs in Sweden do not adopt a website. The empirical contribution is the development of managerial recommendations about how micro SMEs can overcome the barriers to adopt a website. This research was guided by a conceptual framework, including strategic, consumer and customer, communication and interaction perspectives, as well as the perspective of the perception of websites. In order to carry out a profound analysis, we decided to apply two steps. The first step of the analysis was to connect the themes itself to theory in order to explore what the collected data represents so that reasons explaining why micro SMEs do not adopt a website could be found. The second step of the analysis included the exploration of the identified reasons in order to understand why these exist. The results from this study are expressed as six reasons why the owner-managers of micro SMEs in Sweden have not adopted a website. These reasons are: a wrong perception of a website, the lack of resources and competences, precaution, being a contractor to an umbrella company, being unaware of a website’s impact on the business and having successful network and offline-communication methods. The findings leave practitioners and researchers with an idea about what reasons are leading owners of micro SMEs to neglect a website and why these reasons exist.

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Roos, Conrad. "The motivation and factors driving crypto-currency adoption in SMEs." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/52305.

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Businesses should not only focus on their current environment and challenges. In order to survive in a world that is faced with constant change organisations needs to not only be adept at exploiting their current environment but also need to allocate a fair portion of their resources and time at exploring the future. Organisations that managed to balance their exploitative and explorative activities are referred to as ambidextrous organisations. Ambidextrous organisations have not only proved to be more capable at pioneering new innovations but have also demonstrated that they are more adaptive to disruptive change. Cryptocurrencies are seen as a potential disruptive megatrend with questionable consequences to financial institutions, regulating authorities, businesses and government. The purpose of this research study was to provide small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) with a model/lens with which to examine the cryptocurrency megatrend. The study utilised the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model to examine the factors that drive cryptocurrency adoption in SMEs. The research study found that the following UTAUT2 constructs : performance expectancy, price value and habit are all significant drivers on the behaviour intention to use Bitcoin. The research study also demonstrated that the trust construct, a construct that does not form part of the original UTAUT2 model, is also a considerable driver on the behaviour intention to use Bitcoin. The findings of the research study can be used by organisations as an input for constructive discourse to anticipate the potential impact or opportunities brought by the cryptocurrencies megatrend. Armed with this knowledge, managers can make more informed decisions, implement targeted interventions and channel resources more effectively to streamline the change process. Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2015. sn2016 Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) MBA Unrestricted

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Akin-Adetoro, Adedolapo. "Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) adoption in South African SMEs." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22724.

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The advancement in technological development is now altering the conventional order in the diffusion of IT innovation from a top-down approach (organisation to employees) to a bottom-up approach (employees to organisation). This change is more notable in developed economies and has led to the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon which promises increased productivity for employees and their organisations. There have been several studies on the corporate adoption of BYOD but few have investigated the phenomenon from a small and medium enterprise (SME) perspective and from developing countries specifically. This study investigated the BYOD phenomenon in South African SMEs. The goal was to identify contextual factors influencing BYOD adoption with the purpose of understanding how these factors shaped and reshaped by SME actions. The Perceived EReadiness Model (PERM) was adopted to unearth contextual BYOD adoption factors, while the Structuration Theory was adopted as the theoretical lens from which the social construction of the BYOD phenomenon was understood. The study adopted an interpretive stance and was qualitative in nature. Data was collected from SMEs using semi-structured interviews, and analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The findings show that for BYOD to be adopted and institutionalized in an SME there needs to be organisational readiness in terms of awareness, management support, business resources, human resources, employees' pressure, formal governance, and technological readiness. Specifically, business resources, management support and technological readiness were perceived to be of the outmost importance to the success of BYOD. Environmental factors of market forces, support from industry, government readiness and the sociocultural factor are identified. Findings from the structuration analysis reports the presence of rules and resources (structures) which SMEs draw upon in their BYOD actions and interactions. It provides understanding on the guiding structures such as "no training" and "no formal governance" within which BYOD meanings are formed, and actions such as allowing employees to use their devices to access organisational resources without the fear of security breaches and data theft, are enacted. While it is true that the successive adoption of ICTs in organisation depends on the availability of a conducive formal policy, findings in the study show that SMEs used their business resources and management support as guiding structures of domination which were legitimized by internal informal verbal rules, lack of an institutional BYOD specific policy, minimal industry support; and the presences of social pressure.

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Ndiege, Joshua Rumo Arongo. "Absorptive capacity and information technology adoption strategies in Kenyan SMEs." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1014672.

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Although Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), arguably, make up a significant part of economic development in many countries, these enterprises have continued to face challenges especially in developing countries like Kenya. With Information Technology (IT) being considered a critical component of the survival of SMEs, many are striving to invest in it. However, a number of these SMEs are still far from realising the full potential of their IT investments. In today‟s challenging and dynamic business environment, SMEs need to leverage both internal and external knowledge, exploit it to help improve and maintain their competitiveness, and consequently, their survival. This study has endeavoured to address the IT adoption strategy challenges experienced by SMEs in Kenya and other developing countries, as these have been largely flawed. The study has explored on the way in which these enterprises can build strong Absorptive Capacities (AC) and exploit these to improve their IT adoption processes through a model of AC. To achieve this, a qualitative, interpretive case study research approach was employed in this study. The findings of this study suggest that although AC plays a critical role in the performance of SMEs in Kenya, many of these enterprises have low levels of AC. It also became clear that all the SMEs that participated in the study had not attained maturity in their IT adoption process. However, SMEs that exhibited strong AC employed the use of more superior IT adoption processes than did their counterparts with low levels of AC. From the results of this study an IT Adoption Strategy Improvement Model (ITASIM) has been developed to help SMEs improve their IT adoption strategies. The model focuses on improving SMEs‟ AC and injecting these alongside the elements of a good strategy in the SMEs‟ IT adoption process. Furthermore, in order to help in the effective implementation of ITASIM, implementation guidelines have been developed.

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Oyemike, Vivian Chinwendu. "Trust and related challenges influencing cloud computing adoption by UK SMEs." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2017. http://arro.anglia.ac.uk/702184/.

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Cloud computing technology offers flexible, pay-per-use and convenient access to a pool of services and virtualised computer resources using internet connection. Despite these benefits, the adoption of cloud computing by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is still slow due to (perceived) security and privacy issues. Recent studies concluded that such issues could result in issues of trust for both adopters and potential adopters of cloud computing. While security and privacy issues are actively being researched in the area of cloud computing, there is little published research regarding the aspect of trust between the clients (SMEs) and their Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). The main focus of this study was to investigate the role of trust and other factors involved in the adoption and usage of cloud computing by SMEs. By combining the variables introduced by Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 2003), Technology Organisation Environment Framework (Tornatzky and Fleishchner, 1990) and the Integrative Model of Organisational Trust (Mayer, et al., 1995), a conceptual model was produced. This model was tested empirically through an online survey of 269 participants consisting UK SMEs. Using the statistical software ‘SPSS’, the description of each variable was presented. The reliability of multi scale items was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Factor analysis was carried out to reduce the dimensions of items used for further analysis (regression). Then an ordinal regression analysis was done to examine the relationship between variables. It was found that an increase in the challenges of cloud computing decreases its chances of adoption. Also, an increase in the knowledge level of cloud computing was found to increase the chances of adopting cloud computing. On the other hand, trust in service provider was found to have a negative effect on the perceived usefulness of cloud computing. This is because majority of the respondents revealed that cloud computing is very useful but indicated total disagreement of trust in their CSPs. This is not an attractive finding for the CSPs. Therefore, the recommendations provided will enable to CSPs to increase trust in order to encourage the continuous use of cloud computing by adopters and also encourage the uptake of cloud computing by potential adopters.

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Al, Rahbi Hafedh Said Abdullah. "Factors influencing social media adoption in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)." Thesis, Brunel University, 2017. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/14514.

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The adoption and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is widely regarded as essential in contemporary organisational environments. Such technologies have substantial effects on an organisation’s productivity and competitiveness. However, the nature of the effects varies across types of organisation (small to large), by country-context (developed and developing countries) and with the type of ICT adopted. This thesis focuses primarily on Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a less-researched developing country context, the region of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with special reference to Oman. In terms of the ICT under investigation, recognising the emergence of more interactive forms of technology, this thesis focuses on social media applications. It is widely recognised that the adoption and use of these applications change the ways in which organisations conduct their activities and represent a critical business opportunity for SMEs. This opportunity will only be realised by SMEs if, and when, social media are adopted in their organisations. This therefore creates a requirement to understand the factors that influence SMEs in making the adoption decision. The research related to such factors is scarce, not least because the technologies are relatively new. By using the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework, this study therefore attempted to understand the factors influencing the decision by SMEs to adopt social media. It employed a sequential, exploratory mixed method, where both qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined to meet the research objectives. In the first stage, a preliminary TOE model of 18 factors was developed from the analysis of semi-structured interviews with 18 SMEs owner-managers in Muscat, the capital city of Oman. In the second stage, a survey involving 205 SMEs in Muscat was conducted to examine empirically the preliminary model. The survey data were analysed using logistic regression (LR). Of the factors examined, compatibility, observability, trialability, trust, image, perceived lack of managerial time, market scope, customer pressure and family and friends’ support were found to have significant influence on SMEs’ decisions to adopt social media. These findings have important implications and value for the research community, SMEs and policy makers (in particular, the Public Authority for SME Development (PASMED)) in terms of formulating improved strategies for social media adoption. The resulting research model proposed in this thesis can improve these stakeholders’ understandings of why some SMEs have chosen to adopt social media technologies, while other SMEs which face similar market conditions have not.

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Rabie, Mohamed. "The adoption of e-commerce in SMEs : an empirical investigation in Egypt." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/16400.

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The Adoption of E-commerce in SMEs: An Empirical Investigation in Egypt It is recognised widely that e-commerce can offer substantial opportunities for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to compete in the global market. In developing countries, e-commerce opportunities can be a meaningful approach for SMEs to be able to compete with large businesses and to access, with lowest possible costs, international markets. However, the current situation shows that SMEs continue to lag behind in maximising their capabilities in taking these chances. Universally, they are reported to be slow adopters of new technologies as a result of limited financial resources and lack of expertise. The importance, of SMEs, emerged from their positions since they contributed more than 90% to many developed or developing countries’ economies and they were considered to be the backbone of any economy. Hence, the main purpose, of conducting this research, was to increase the body of knowledge about the process of the adoption of e-commerce. This was done by a primary empirical focus on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt. SMEs represented about 90% of all Egyptian businesses (ITP, 2012). This study aimed to investigate the factors which could influence the SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. In order to accomplish this objective, the researcher investigated the previous studies, on the same approach, in order to identify the gap, within the literature, regarding the adoption of e-commerce amongst SMEs. Additionally, the researcher integrated existing theories on the adoption of innovation in order to develop a conceptual framework for the determinants of the adoption of e-commerce in the SMEs sector. The researcher reviewed the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI); Resource Based View of the Firm (RBV); Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) Model; and Technology Acceptance Models (TAM) to give constructive information about the firm and decision makers, within the firm, who were believed to have an impact on the adoption of innovation. 3 The proposed model was tested using quantitative research data. The data was collected by means of an online questionnaire survey and, subsequently, due to the high rate of non-respondents, changed to a face-to-face survey. A total of 130 usable responses were generated for purpose of analysis. The study contributed to the existing research by providing valuable information about the factors which influenced the SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. As the results showed, there were 6 groups of factors which impacted mainly on the adoption processes. Namely, these were: Decision maker characteristics (education level, position within the firm, management support, management attitude); organisational characteristics (firm activity, firm size, firm’s assets/capital, firm age, employee’s IT knowledge, firm marketing capability); innovation characteristics (Perceived Relative Advantage); e-readiness (Individual and organisation e-readiness); government support; and barriers to e-commerce. This study’s findings offered important information for Egyptian government, policy makers and managerial participants; those were the people who encouraged the Egyptian SMEs to adopt e-commerce. These findings could be generalised to be applied to other countries with similar conditions to Egypt, as well as being applicable to Egyptian SMEs in other sectors.

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Sun, Yiyang. "The adoption of High Performance Work System : perspectives from SMEs in China." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2016. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-adoption-of-high-performance-work-system-perspectives-from-smes-in-china(de6e03c6-37ef-4eb6-98e8-7292eb31576c).html.

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This study focuses on investigating the existence and application of HPWS in the context of Chinese SMEs, given HPWS have been studied mainly in large enterprises rather than in small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, there is an inadequate amount of study with regard to the motivations for enterprises adopting HPWS. Therefore, considering the significant role of SMEs in China practically, and the knowledge contribution to HPWS within this particular research context academically, Chinese SMEs are selected as the research context in which to explore the application of HPWS. In particular, this thesis first assesses the extent and nature of the uptake of HPWS. The influential factors mainly associated with the adoption of HPWS are then discussed. Specifically, factors related to willingness to adopt HPWS, and reasons associated with the different types of application of HPWS are discussed respectively. Finally, related outcomes after the application of HPWS are presented. In order to effectively answer these questions, mixed methods are employed. Precisely, quantitative data from 207 Chinese SMEs, supplemented by qualitative data from 15 SMEs in China, are analysed to answer the above questions. The results demonstrate that HPWS are being adopted by Chinese SMEs. The extent of application is at a moderate level and the nature of the adoption shares something in common with SMEs in western countries but also shows unique characteristics. Moreover, findings suggest that employing management innovation theory as a theoretical underpinning to explain the reasons for the adoption of HPWS seems promising. It turns out that internal factors have more explanatory power than external factors for the adoption of HPWS. In particular, top management support, organisational size, business strategies, perceived impacts of HPWS, and pressures from the business community have been found to be significantly related to the adoption of HPWS. In addition, pressures from national legislation have limited power in explaining the adoption of HPWS. Lastly, related positive outcomes, such as increased productivity, lower turnover rate and enhanced economic performance, can be obtained through the application of either HPWS systematically, or some of its elements individually.

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Abousaber, Inam. "WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia." Thesis, Brunel University, 2012. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7169.

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This research focuses on developing a framework for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) technology adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). WiMax has emerged as a technology to overcome the limitations of traditional and existing broadband technologies and support a great number of organisations and consumers/citizens in providing a higher speed over substantial distances i.e. in areas that are difficult for wired infrastructure to reach. Despite all the interest in the types of broadband adoption as demonstrated by SMEs in several countries, there seems to be slow progress and lack of information supporting the decision making process for WiMax technology adoption by SMEs specifically in the context of KSA. This may illustrate that SMEs adopt WiMax technology solutions at a slower pace and make them characterised as laggards in terms of new technologies adoption. This research takes into consideration this literature gap and makes a step forward and investigates on WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in KSA with an organisational cultural view, vendors’ commercialisation strategies and government policies by analysing the normative literature related to this research. The data collection of this study was carried out in two phases including quantitative and qualitative approaches. The first phase of the research provided results indicated that, the Saudi SMEs who participated in this research are strongly dominated by clan culture and adhocracy culture. These cultures also have a positive impact on the Internet technologies adoption such as WiMax by SMEs. It is found that, the combination of clan and adhocracy cultures in Saudi SMEs is making them more likely to adopt latest Internet technologies. In the second phase, the results showed a wide difference in views among SMEs, WiMax vendors and government agencies involved in WiMax technology diffusion to SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Although WiMax technology started as an innovation that has the potential to be disruptive and could replace the widely diffused fixed wire line Internet connection, the research findings showed an interesting deviation from this path. In particular, the WiMax technology market analysis in Saudi Arabia highlighted the vendors’ tendency to treat WiMax technology as a sustaining innovation. Research findings also indicated that, the Saudi government provided funds for Information and Communications Technology‘s diffusion in the country. However, the level of awareness displayed by SMEs is persistently low. Knowledge deployment, mobilisation, innovation directive and subsidy have been emphasised by SMEs as the most important government interventions that might have an impact on WiMax adoption by them. Finally, further important issues have been uncovered by the research such as taxation, experience exchange, herd culture/bandwagon, consumer right protection and customer service in relation to the adoption of WiMax by SMEs. The perceived future prospect of these additional issues has been considered as an influence on adoption of WiMax technology by SMEs. The findings of this research can be useful to guide analysts and researchers in determining critical aspects of the complex issues involved in technologies adoption, and lead to suggestions for further valid research.

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Thompson, Sheryl S. "ICT Adoption by Jamaican SMES : Policy and Firm Level Perspectives on Managed Interventions." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.504205.

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Kaewkitipong, Laddawan. "E-business adoption and valuation in Thai tourism SMEs : Process and content perspectives." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.533065.

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Pontikakis, Dimitrios. "Technology diffusion in industry : an empirical investigation of technological adoption in Greek SMEs." Thesis, Northumbria University, 2005. http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/2262/.

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The thesis is about the spread of technology in the economy. More specifically it concerns the adoption decisions of individual firms. The basic relationships between technology and the economy are outlined along with the main theories employed to explain them. A diffusion-centred typology of technology is constructed building on existing work. Following that, a review of literature on diffusion and its associated measuring and modelling techniques is undertaken. Valid determinants of diffusion are identified in empirical literature. The above theoretical framework is used to analyse the technological performance of the Greek economy. Traditional technology policy is looked at and a 'technological map' of Greece is constructed. The map presents an overview of the current situation with regards to the diffusion and creation of innovations. The main country-specific factors affecting the process of diffusion are also identified. Informed by both theory and Greek reality a methodology is presented for an original survey in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The empirical part focuses on the stage of diffusion concerning individual adoption decisions. An accompanying econometric model (logit) is used to explain the adoption of Internet Enabled Personal Computers (IEPCs) by SMEs. Results suggest that learning effects, the perceived availability of financial capital, perceived threat from competition, perceptions regarding the technology's life expectancy and linkages with multinational enterprises (MNEs) are strongly associated with instances of adoption. The author contributes an original insight into the adoption determinants pertinent to the Greek context. Finally, the findings of the survey and its empirical analysis are combined with secondary sources to construct tentative policy suggestions.

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Wilson, Berlin. "A framework to support cloud adoption decision-making by SMEs in Tamil Nadu." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2017. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/23243/.

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Cloud computing is a disruptive technology which represents a paradigm shift in the way computing services are purchased and maintained within organisations. Due to its benefits like low capital, scalability and high reliability, the cloud infrastructure has the features and facilities to speed up Information Technology (IT) adoption in developing countries. However, moving data and applications to a cloud environment is not straightforward and can be very challenging as decision makers need to consider numerous technical and organisational aspects before deciding to adopt cloud infrastructure. There are existing models and framework available to support different stages of the cloud adoption decision making process. However, they are developed for technologically developed countries and there has been very little investigation done to determine whether the factors that affect cloud adoption are any different for a technologically developing country like India. This research aims to provide a framework to aid cloud adoption among SMEs in Tamil Nadu, a southern state of the Indian Union. The major contribution to knowledge is the framework, based on Scientific Decision Making (SDM) which has been developed to support SME decision makers at all the different stages of the cloud adoption decision making process. The theories of technology adoption like Diffusion of Innovation (DOI), Technology, Organisation and Environment (TOE) framework along with Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) forms the theoretical underpinnings of the research. The primary data was collected via two web-based questionnaire surveys among SME decision makers from Tamil Nadu. Six determinants of cloud adoption such relative advantage, compatibility, innovativeness, organisation size, external issues and industry type were identified. The findings identify that 12 organisational factor specific to SME location is a very important decision factor while planning cloud adoption. The proposed cloud adoption decision support framework (CADSF) includes two tools namely; cloud suitability assessment and cloud service identification. The framework provides a preliminary structure for developing a knowledge driven Decision Support System (DSS) to support cloud adoption among SMEs in Tamil Nadu. Finally, based on the findings of the research, it is expected with developments to the existing cloud infrastructure, especially the availability of reliable internet and increased awareness, more SMEs in Tamil Nadu would adopt the cloud computing infrastructure.

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Vieira, Rafael Bezerra. "Impactos da implantação parcial das IFRS no Brasil: efeitos na qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas de capital aberto." Universidade de São Paulo, 2010. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/96/96133/tde-10122010-160415/.

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Com a aprovação da lei 11.638/07, o Brasil iniciou o processo de adoção de normas internacionais de contabilidade (IFRS), as quais são consideradas internacionalmente como uma das normatizações de maior qualidade. Considerando que esse processo está sendo feito em duas grandes etapas, sendo a primeira a adoção parcial das IFRS (2008) e a segunda a adoção completa, este trabalho estudou os efeitos que ocorreram na qualidade da informação contábil na fase de adoção parcial. Em termos de qualidade da informação contábil estudou-se o gerenciamento de resultado, o reconhecimento oportuno de perdas e a relevância das informações contábeis, com o objetivo de identificar se houve aumento na qualidade das informações contábeis. Foram usadas amostras estratificadas a partir do conjunto completo de empresas de capital aberto com o objetivo de comparar eventuais mudanças da qualidade das informações contábeis entre os períodos pré e pós-adoção parcial por meio de análise de seis medidas de qualidade. Em todas as amostras foram encontrados indícios que levam a crer que houve aumento na qualidade das informações contábeis quando medidas por gerenciamento através de alisamento de resultados. Entretanto isso não foi possível afirmar quando usado o gerenciamento para atingir meta. Quanto ao reconhecimento oportuno de perdas, foram encontrados resultados conflitantes, alguns demonstrando aumento de qualidade e outros não. Para relevância da informação contábil, os indícios, em todas as amostras, são de que houve aumento na qualidade das informações. Em geral, os resultados são condizentes com a literatura, demonstrando que as IFRS, mesmo parcialmente adotadas, proporcionam melhora na qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas de capital aberto do Brasil. With the approval of the law 11.638/07, Brazil started the process of adopting international accounting standards (IFRS), which are regarded internationally as one of the highest quality norms. Whereas this process is done in two main stages, the first being the partial adoption of IFRS (2008) and the second is full adoption, this paper studied the effects that occurred in the quality of accounting information in the phase of partial adoption. In terms of quality of accounting information studied the earnings management, timely loss recognition and value relevance, in order to identify whether there was an increase in the quality of accounting information. We used stratified samples from the complete set of publicly traded companies in order to compare any changes in the quality of financial information between periods before and after partial adoption by analysis of six quality measures. In all samples found evidence to suggest that there was an increase in the quality of accounting information as measured by management through smoothing results. However this was not possible to say when used to management to achieve goal. As for the timely recognition of losses, there were conflicting results, some showing an increase in quality and not others. For the relevance of accounting information, the evidence in all samples, are that there was an increase in information quality. In general, the results are consistent with literature showing that IFRS, even partially adopted, provide improved quality of accounting information of publicly traded firms in Brazil.

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Hu, Guo Dong. "The factors that influence electronic payment adoption by SMEs in two cities of China." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2008. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_8049_1263765238.

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Mijinyawa, Kabiru. "An evaluation of open source software adoption by UK SMEs in the IT industry." Thesis, Brunel University, 2008. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4509.

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This study evaluates the adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) by IT Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. The growing popularity and acceptance of OSS continues to draw much attention in research and practice. However, researchers and IT practitioners within the UK SME sector still face challenges in understanding the issues that influence the acceptance, adoption, and diffusion of OSS. While previous research studies have focused mainly on the software development model and the unique characteristics of OSS, the area of OSS adoption by UK SMEs has largely been ignored. Furthermore, there is a lack of widely-acceptable theories that explain the adoption of OSS, implying that there is limited understanding of OSS adoption by UK SMEs. This gap in research has led this thesis to evaluate existing adoption theories and then apply the 'Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour' to model the adoption of OSS by SMEs. Based on the emerged conceptual model, an innovative and structured qualitative research design that uses a case study strategy was developed to evaluate the adoption of OSS across 10 UK SMEs in the IT industry. The analysis of the standardised data from the case study interviews led to the definition of the 16 factors of an emergent theory of OSS adoption by IT SMEs. The analysis of that empirical model has led to important conclusions including the following five issues, summarily. (1) The participant IT SMEs were drawn to different benefits, and experienced different challenges, in using OSS, suggesting that there is subjectivity and complexity in the factors influencing OSS adoption. (2) As in most Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption, ITcapability was identified to be essential for successful adoption of OSS, and therefore, it presents potential for important cooperative and collaborative support with OSS communities. (3) The emergent theory from this research study provide researchers and practitioners with variables for surveying critical-success-factors and a reference model for understanding the adoption of OSS. (4) The emergent theory and other general findings from this study are likely to have relevance in other areas of Information Systems research and practice, owing to the factors and theoretical framework that are common to OSS and general ICT acceptance, adoption, and diffusion. (5) This study appears to be the first that has focused on developing a widely-acceptable theory of OSS adoption by IT SMEs in the UK, suggesting that this innovative research study is a novel contribution that has important implications for theory and practice in OSS and general ICT acceptance, adoption, and diffusion.

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Onicescu, Ana-Maria. "Actors influencing sense-making of ICT adoption in SMEs : The case of Zenergy AB." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-27071.

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Background Every company nowadays needs to use ICT artifacts to cope with the business development. The adoption and use of ICT involves different actors who make sense of ICT in relation to their work environment. This thesis focuses on the relationships between the actors involved in SME’s ICT adoption and their influence upon the process. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interactions between different actors in the SME’s network and analyze how they influence the SMEs ICT adoption process. Method An embedded single case study strategy was chosen as research strategy, in line with the explorative nature of the purpose. A conceptual framework was created giving structure to the entire research. The empirical data was gathered through observations, one in-depth interview and ten semi-structured interviews. The method used for data analysis had the same qualitative and deductive nature following the areas highlighted by the conceptual framework; the data was summarized condensing meanings around the relationships between actors and the evolution of the sense-making process of ICT adoption, in order to provide answers to the two research questions. Conclusion The research has shown that the customer and the strategic suppliers as human actors have an important influence on the sense-making process of ICT adoption as well as the non-human actor - the ICT artifact. The actors are influencing the ICT adoption process through series of adaptive processes generated by an inter-organizational sense-making process shaped by the design of the ICT artifact. The study contributes to the body of knowledge through a new construct that enriches the conceptual framework with the findings of the research.

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Meckel, Matthias Erich Manfred. "A taxonomy of e-adoption strategies in SMEs and rapid e-business strategy development." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2009. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/2935/.

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Recent research has shown that the use of c-business can provide an important advantage in today's competitive business environment and it is likely that not using ebusiness will be a disadvantage in the future. Recent research has also shown the need for a strategic approach when undertaking a new investment such as c-business. In this context, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face special problems; they are often dependent on larger enterprises where they are suppliers of products (goods or services)or the buyers of products. They also tend to neglect strategies more than large enterprises and they cannot adopt the strategies of large enterprises because of their different situation. The literature review discovered that research in this area is deficient. While the subjects SME, c-business, and strategy are frequently covered in academic literature there is insufficient research available covering integration of all three subjects. The research available suggests that, although general models and frameworks exist, SMEs generally do not use these models and frameworks and even tend to neglect strategies, operate without strategies or do not have the time to develop a strategy: they are reactive rather than proactive, when making decisions. For the first stage of the study a questionnaire was conducted with 1000 SMEs in the North West of England to find out more about the SMEs' e-business strategies. The analysis of the collected responses has corroborated the belief that many SMEs are neglecting c-business strategies and that they enter the e-business arena without careful planning. Moreover the data has indicated that the choice of strategic models, if any, is to a large extent confined to the use of one model. The data suggests that the SMEs can be grouped into five different clusters, according to their adoption of e-business technology and their use of general business and e-business strategies. For the second stage 29 SMEs from the five different clusters were interviewed to find out more about their use of e-business technologies, their c-adoption and their use of business strategies and e-business strategies. The interviews found that old fashioned SMEs, blind e-business users, formal strategy leaders, e-adoption leaders and e-business strategy leaders were distinct groups whose existence can also be confirmed through the interviews. The knowledge gained form this stage, together with the findings from the quantitative survey were used to create a model addressing the need of SMEs to develop e-business strategies in a quick and easy way. This work contributes to knowledge in the area of strategic management and information systems by providing a taxonomic classification of SMEs based on the dimensions of c-adoption, business strategy and c-business strategy and by providing a model that can help SMEs by allowing them to carry out suitable strategic analysis rapidly before undertaking an investment in c-business.

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agostini, Alessandro. "Winning Customers in the Era of Cloud Business Intelligence: : Key Adoption Factors from a Small and Medium Enterprise perspective." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för ekonomi och teknik (SET), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-23403.

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Due to the fast development of new technologies, the Business Intelligence market is changing rapidly, forcing vendors to adapt their offerings to the customers’ needs. As the amount of data available to companies has been substantially increasing in the past years, the need of suitable software tools that perform the right analyses became essential, even in the small and medium sized business' environment. The previous literature,focused on big firms and traditional implementation of Business Intelligence solutions, highlighted the importance of understanding the key factors in successful projects. In the past few years, a new delivery model for Business Intelligence software is taking place: the cloud computing. To date, key factors for adopting cloud Business Intelligence in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have not been systematically investigated. Existing studies have rarely considered these arguments and we lack of a proven framework. This paper is aimed to fill this gap and the structure of the article is subordinated to this objective. Firstly, the thesis offers an overview of the subject and the terminology used in it with the purpose of facilitating the understanding of a rather complex argument. Therefore, it starts with a short historical overview of the Business Intelligence sector, it defines the term Business Intelligence, and it explains both the characteristics of the Business Intelligence systems (cloud vs on-premise) and the importance of having a business intelligence solution for SME. Subsequently, the theoretical framework of this study is defined, combining the prior theories and empirical data collected through the interviews with four Business Intelligence vendors and customers. Initially, the existing Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of IT and BI projects proposed by different authors in the literature are reviewed. Afterwards, the evaluation criteria for the cloud software are taken into consideration. By integrating insights drawn from these studies, as well as adding new factors coming from the interviews, a framework has been created and utilized as a basis for the further questionnaire development. The choice of pursuing both the quantitative and qualitative approaches is aimed at improving the study’s reliability. Empirical data are mainly primary data, collected during a survey and four interviews, supported by secondary data such as general companies' reports, market and trends analysis from trustworthy sources. Based on the findings, the author of this thesis has ranked the key aspects of a cloud BI adoption in SMEs. It is revealed the most important key adoption factors that SMEs evaluate when purchasing a cloud BI solution are the level of software functionalities, the ubiquitous access to data, the responsive answers to customer support requests, the ability to handle big amount of data and the implementation cost. Regarding the managerial implications, the study’s practical relevance consists in offering to BI suppliers' managers, executives and decision-makers interesting areas of discussion for improving the knowledge of SMEs' needs. Moreover, the results of this investigation can be used by Business Intelligence newcomers as a guidance for evaluating solutions available in the market.

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Nwosu, Anthony Obioma. "E-Commerce Adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4089.

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The future survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is inextricably linked to their implementation of e-commerce systems. The lack of e-commerce strategies among SME business owners has contributed to a low level of e-commerce adoption by SMEs. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that Nigerian SME business owners used to implement e-commerce systems. The population consisted of retail SMEs in Lagos, Nigeria, that have functional e-commerce systems. The conceptual framework supporting the study was dynamic capabilities framework. Data for the study were derived from semistructured interviews of 4 SME business owners/managers and documentation from the case companies. Data analysis entailed coding of the interview transcripts and analysis of documentary data to identify themes. Member checking and triangulation ensured the credibility of the study. The main themes that emerged from data analysis include service delivery strategies, dynamic marketing strategies, and learning and adaptation. The implications for social change include the potential to contribute to increased wealth creation opportunities for the business owners, their employees, and the local communities in Nigeria.

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Eze, Sunday Chinedu. "Understanding dynamic process of emerging ICT adoption in UK service SMEs : an actor-network approach." Thesis, University of Bedfordshire, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10547/301101.

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Although literature reveals that significant efforts have been made to study ICT adoption and diffusion, the diversity of research in terms of theory and methodology is very low. Most studies have relied on traditional adoption theories (e.g., TAM and DOI) and these theories are not capable of providing rich explanantion on how the adoption and post-adoption develop over time. It is argued here that ICT adoption involves multi-dimensional and complex issues. These issues range from how various roles played by actors in emerging ICT are accounted for to ensuring successful adoption. Therefore, this research aims to advance our understanding of emerging ICT adoptions in SMEs from a dynamic process perspective. The specific objectives of this research are to: establish the stages of the dynamic process, identify the key actors and their roles, explore the critical factors affecting the emerging ICT adoption process, identify the challenges and provide recommendations and implications for stakeholders in promoting future adoption and diffusion in UK SMEs. The research adopts a social-technical approach that challenges the ideas of the mainstream thinkers. More specifically, it adopts Actor Network Theory (ANT). The key ANT concepts that influenced the empirical investigation are inscription, translation, framing and stabilisation. The research adopted a qualitative method using face to face interviews. Two rounds of data collection were undertaken. The first round started with a theoretical review, the analysis of relevant literature, and unstructured interviews mainly with small business managers. Eleven interviews were carried out. The second round of interviews was semi-structured with key human actors identified in the first round of interviews. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted. They included the small business manager; SMEs service sector customers, government agencies, SMEs consultants, and IT vendors. The aim was to further explore the dynamic adoption process, the roles and challenges of actors and to validate the outcomes of the findings. The analysis was guided by a hybrid approach of thematic analysis using NVivo software. The study proposed and validated a conceptual framework that illustrates the dynamic process of emerging ICT adoption in SMEs from the Actor Network Theory perspective. This framework helps to understand the adoption process, actors involved, actors’ roles and interactions, and the critical factors. Using the key concepts of ANT as the basis of the investigation, the findings identify a number of key activities associated with the adoption process. These activities include: problem assessment and evaluation, concept generation and evaluation, concept specification, product outsourcing /role delegation, misalignment and alignment of interests, product trial, product modification, adaptation, and impact and problem redefinition. These activities reveal that adoption of emerging ICT in a small business context is not constant, straightforward and certain; instead it is unpredictable, dynamic, and an on-going and reiterative process. ANT concepts were further used to analyse and categorise 20 roles that different actors play, 15 critical factors influencing emerging ICT adoption in SMEs, and the challenges facing actors. While all of these roles, factors, and challenges are critical, in this study, the findings reveal that monitoring and legislation are the most recurring roles at each stage. Furthermore, ease of use, managerial time, shared support, customer focus and adoption costs are the factors affecting the success of multiple stages (three stages). Finally, the thesis presents the contributions and implications for both research and practice in future adoption and diffusion.

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Elsammani, Zakia Anastassia. "An investigation of ecommerce technology adoption : augmenting the eCTI framework in the context of SMEs." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.414843.

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Houghton, Kathryn Ann. "Adoption of Websites and E-commerce as marketing tools within exporting SMEs : conceptualisation and testing." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.289490.

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Otuka, Richard. "SMEs adoption of SaaS cloud services : a novel ontological framework (Nigeria as a case study)." Thesis, University of East London, 2017. http://roar.uel.ac.uk/6365/.

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The future of Information Technology lies in cloud computing, whose primary objective is to reduce the cost of IT services while increasing production output, availability, reliability, flexibility as well as a decrease in processing time. Owing to few exploratory studies that explain the adoption of cloud services, this research tends to understand the factors affecting cloud service adoption decision by SMEs in Nigeria. Also, it proposes a solution based framework to tackle the identified factors in view of promoting cloud service adoption by Nigerian SMEs. In view of the above, this thesis investigates the reason for slow adoption of cloud services with specific emphasis on Nigeria SMEs. Firstly, the existing literature in cloud service adoption by SME is examined based on Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method. This helps to inform the research gap in relation to cloud service adoption technique. Secondly, the thesis uses a mixed method approach integrating quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data through four stages of data gathering approach. The primary data gathering is based on quantitative (survey) stage 1 and qualitative (Focus Group) stage 2, which involves the studies identifying the cloud service adoption challenges specific to Nigeria SMEs. Furthermore, a solution framework CLOUDSME which includes an ontologically developed Decision Support System(DSS) is proposed to tackle the challenge identified in Primary data gathering stage 1and 2. The proposed framework consists of four phases: The first phase deals with gathering information on how various cloud services address dynamic SME user requirements identified in the primary data gathering stage, this phase forms the building block through which the framework is built upon. The second phase which is the prioritisation phase Adopts Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) approach to deal with the issue of complex comparison, also the third stage of data gathering (quantitative) is performed whereby a group interview is carried-out to compare and assign weights to service provider offering in addressing user requirements using pairwise comparison scale. The Third phase addressing the issue of cloud service ranking. In this phase, the major contribution of this research is introduced, whereby a new formalism is proposed using rational relationships to tackle the issue of rank reversal associated with the traditional AHP approach. The fourth phase of the framework is the development of the ontological proposed DSS which comprises of the information gathered in phase 1, 2 and 3. The proposed DSS promotes cloud service Knowledge management, service recommendation and service ranking toward cloud service adoption decision making by SME managers. The final stage of the research is the validation phase which comprises of construct validation. As well as user opinion and expert opinion and researcher opinion validation based on a survey (Quantitative) which makes up the fourth stage of the data gathering stages. The findings from the user opinion evaluation and validation prove the CLOUDSME has the capability to tackle the slow adoption of cloud services by Nigeria SMEs.

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Lyu, Fen. "The path of the adoption of digital technology to SMEs’ business performance : evidence from China." Thesis, Paris 1, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020PA01E070.

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D’impressionnantes améliorations dans le domaine de la technologie numérique, comme le big data, la réalité virtuelle, l’enregistrement dans le cloud et l’intelligence artificielle ont continuellement et durablement pénétré plusieurs champs, qui ont redessiné le paysage de l’innovation en accélérant la croissance d’internet, la computation data orientée, l’aide en ligne portée par des plateformes et l’industrie de l’intelligence. La prolifération des technologies numériques accélère l’intégration avec l’économie réelle, conduisant les technologies numériques à prendre de l’ampleur en tout. Tremplins pour l’emploi, les petites et moyennes entreprises (PMEs) sont l’unité de base, pour les développements économiques et les activités innovantes. Elles sont les parties les plus larges et les plus dynamiques sur le marché économique, et donc l’innovation digitale est l’enjeu de la survie et la croissance des PMEs chinoises. De ce fait, une compréhension claire d’à la fois les processus par lesquels les PMEs développent l’innovation digitale mais aussi les revenus qui découlent de l’innovation digitale en termes de part de marché et taux de profit sont importants. La démonstration de cette thèse se base sur l’utilisation d’un cadre théorique conceptuel, la chaîne de valeur d’innovation digitales (CVID), et montre comment l’approche CVID permet de comprendre le processus de transformation digitale des PMEs. La valeur de la CVID est exprimée en montrant les interrelations clefs dans le processus de l’innovation digitale, en partant de l’adoption des technologies numériques (ATN) à travers l’innovation digitale vers la performance commerciale en ce qui concerne la part de marché et le niveau de profit. Cette thèse a démontré de manière empirique que l’adoption des technologies numérique peut avoir un impact positif sur à la fois les réseaux commerciaux et personnels des PMEs. De plus, les résultats indiquaient que les réseaux hétérogènes, comprenant à la fois les réseaux commerciaux et personnels, rendus abordables par l’adoption des technologies numériques, permettent aux PMEs de constamment administrer des activités d’innovation digitale. Cette thèse étend la revue de littérature existante concernant la chaine de valeur de l’innovation en illustrant empiriquement l’importance des technologies numériques en regard des activités d’innovation digitale, en particulier pour les produits d’innovation digitale, le numérique dans le contexte du support en ligne, et l’innovation dans le cadre du business model, qui a une influence indirecte sur la performance de PMEs. Un avantage clef de l’approche CVID est alors sa capacité à mettre l’accent sur les rôles des différents facteurs dans différentes chaines du noyau de la performance commerciale, et de montrer leur impact direct et indirect. Cette recherche apporte une contribution dans le domaine de l'innovation numérique visant à catégoriser les dimensions de l'innovation numérique en suggérant que l'innovation numérique implique l'innovation de produits numériques, l'innovation de service numérique et l'innovation de modèle d'entreprise selon la relecture des études précédentes sur l'innovation. Cela s’étend aux connaissances existantes sur la chaîne de valeur de l'innovation en illustrant empiriquement l'importance de la technologie numérique par rapport aux activités d'innovation numérique, en particulier pour l'innovation des produits numériques, l'innovation des services numériques et l'innovation de modèle d'entreprise. Cette recherche correspond également à la nécessité de fluidifier l’innovation numérique d’aujourd’hui, facilitant ainsi la diversité et la flexibilité de DIVC dans un environnement dynamique et sans limites Impressive developments in digital technology such as big data, virtual reality, cloud computing and artificial intelligence have been continually and thoroughly penetrating various fields, which have reshaped innovation landscape by accelerating growth of internet of everything, data-driven computation, platform support and intelligence industry. The mushrooming of digital technology is accelerating the integration with the real economy, driving the digital innovation to expand with full extent. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the basic units to promote employment, economic development and innovative activities. They are the largest and most dynamic parts in the market economy and thus digital innovation is central to the survival and growth of Chinese SMEs. Therefore, a clear understanding both of processes by which SMEs develop digital innovation and the benefits which flow from digital innovation in terms of market share and profit level is important. This thesis demonstrates the use of a conceptual framework, the digital innovation value chain (DIVC), and shows how the DIVC approach helps to understand the process in digital innovation for SMEs. The value of the DIVC is expressed in showing the key interrelationships in the process of digital innovation from adoption of digital technology (ADT) through digital innovation to business performance in terms of the market share and profit level. This research empirically showed that the ADT can have a positive influence on both business networks and personal networks for SMEs. Furthermore, the results indicated that heterogeneous networks including business networks and personal networks afforded by ADT allows SMEs to continuously deal with digital innovation activities. We extend existing knowledge about innovation value chain by empirically illustrating the importance of digital technology with respect to digital innovation activities, in particular for digital products innovation, digital service innovation and business model innovation , which has indirect influence on SMEs’ business performance. A key benefit of the DIVC approach is therefore its ability to emphasize the roles of different factors at various chain of the digital source-digital innovation-SMEs’ business performance nexus, and to show their indirect and direct impact. This research provides a contribution in the area of digital innovation aimed at categorizing dimensions of digital innovation by suggesting that digital innovation involve digital products innovation, digital service innovation and business model innovation according to review on previous studies of innovation. It extends existing knowledge about innovation value chain by empirically illustrating the importance of digital technology with respect to digital innovation activities, in particular for digital products innovation, digital service innovation and business model innovation. This research also corresponds with the need to make today’s digital innovation more fluid, thereby facilitating the diversity and flexibility of DIVC with regard to dynamic and boundless environment

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Taylor, Joyce. "An analysis of the adoption of the initiative Investors in People in Northern Ireland." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.365944.

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Kim, Ye Ryung. "Understanding the adoption of clusters by SMEs in Australia using innovation diffusion theory a case study /." Access electronically, 2007. http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/public/adt-NWU20080610.120546/index.html.

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Dakup, Karan. "The adoption of eco-innovations : a study of SMEs in the Scottish food and drink sector." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10059/3112.

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The increasing government and consumer interest in, and growing concerns about environmental issues have pressured businesses to adopt eco-innovative measures and activities. These pressures have been felt particularly by the food and drink sector in Scotland, a sector that is of considerable importance to the Scottish economy. To date, few studies have considered the challenges businesses in this sector face with regard to the adoption of eco-innovations. In particular, there has been little research on the challenges faced by the SMEs in the sector and how they are adopting eco-innovations. This study seeks to address this research gap through utilization of the diffusion of innovation theory to explore the adoption of eco-innovations by the Scottish food and drink SMEs. A qualitative survey of the website of 52 businesses was used to collect data and analysed using content analysis to generate five categories of eco-innovations namely; Waste, Energy, GSCM, Carbon and Embedding. This data collected informed the next phase of the research where in-depth interviews was conducted with 18 businesses to understand their eco-innovation adoption processes. The findings revealed two groups of attitudes among the participants namely; the positive and the sceptics. The main motivators to adoption were found to be; moral principles and beliefs, eco-consumer drive, cost saving, legislation and the creation of jobs and new opportunities. The major barriers to eco-innovation were more profound and found to include; non-recyclable waste, non-compliance by suppliers, cost of adoption, lack of interest, the challenge of finding credible and reliable sources, attitudes and behaviours, and a general lack of education and awareness. Using the categorisation of eco-innovations that emerged from the website data analysis, the research developed a scale of greenness reflecting the adoption of eco-innovation along with a classification of adopter types namely; advanced, intermediate and basic adopters. The thesis contributes to the theory of diffusion by illustrating ways to capture and evidence innovation adoption without dependency on the time element and enabled a classification of eco- innovation adopters. The contribution to methodology is viewed from the application of a qualitative approach that enabled the categorisation of the forms of eco-innovation which resulted in the model depicting eco-innovation adoption and the profiling tool for innovation diffusion. Practical contributions are offered to enable businesses to understand their adoption of eco-innovation through the use of the model, adopter type classification and the application of a best practice guide to facilitate adoption. Recommendations for policy, practice and further areas for research are also proposed within the thesis.

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VLAJIC, DAJANA. "Product lifecycle deficiencies in the Swedish fashion industry - a feasibility study on cloudcomputing adoption in SMEs." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-232493.

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Makiwa, Peter Jakuwosi. "Developing and validating an ICT adoption framework for SMEs in developing countries : a case of Zimbabwe." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/67785.

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In recent decades, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), adoption in global Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), transformed the business landscape and has had a significant effect on social and economic developments that have saturated every aspect of human life. However, SMEs in developing countries are still facing various constraints that inhibit them from effectively incorporating ICT in their business operations and Zimbabwe has not been an exception. This research investigated the main reasons why Zimbabwean SMEs face challenges in adopting and utilising ICT, with particular emphasis on the role of the government in enhancing ICT use in SMEs. The study also aimed at presenting a validated and implementable ICT adoption framework that the Zimbabwean government can utilise to stimulate ICT adoption in SMEs. The methodology adopted in undertaking this research was the Design Science Research (DSR) approach that facilitated the creation of innovative and unique solutions relevant to the issues under study. The approach included a qualitative survey that utilised semi-structured interviews with 12 SMEs in and around five key Zimbabwean cities. The study revealed key government-related factors that affect ICT adoption in Zimbabwean SMEs that facilitated the development of an SME ICT adoption framework. These factors included government policies, government support and financial subsidies. The framework was validated using a focus group approach. The analysed data revealed that the framework is valid and relevant for use in practice, with the majority of the participants accepting and agreeing with the framework constructs. The study also offered various recommended strategies that will aid the government and other key SME stakeholders in resolving the challenges that SMEs face in adopting and utilising ICT. Informatics PhD Unrestricted

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Saucke, Maximilian [Verfasser]. "Full IFRS and IFRS for SMEs Adoption by Private Firms : Empirical Evidence on Country Level / Maximilian Saucke." Frankfurt : Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2015. http://d-nb.info/1080457089/34.

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Alshamaila, Yazan Yassen. "An empirical investigation of factors affecting cloud computing adoption among SMEs in the North East of England." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/2080.

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The growing adoption of cloud computing is changing the way business information systems are developed, scaled up, maintained and paid for. This not only applies to large organisations, but also increasingly to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). In particular, cloud computing promises to improve the reliability and scalability of IT systems, which allows SMEs to focus their limited resources on their core business and strategy. In the SME context, technology adoption and usage decisions are influenced by many factors. Despite the extensive literature, there is still limited research related to the factors which impact on SMEs' adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) innovations. By adopting the Technological, Organisational and Environmental (TOE) Model, this research project attempts to conceptualise cloud computing adoption and to enhance understanding of the range of factors affecting cloud computing adoption decision making in SMEs. This work utilises both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to meet the research objectives. This study proposes a conceptual framework of SMEs' adoption of cloud computing. Before carrying out a survey to test this model, a preliminary empirical study involving 15 SMEs in the North east of England was conducted in order to specify the factors that can be included within the developed conceptual framework. Our pilot study findings were fed into the second stage of our empirical study involving 184 SMEs in the North East of England. Among the factors examined, relative advantage, uncertainty, innovativeness, and external computing support were found to have significant influence on whether SMEs adopted cloud computing. These findings have important implications and great value to the research community, managers and ICT providers, in terms of formulating better strategies for cloud computing adoption. The research model in this study can improve their understanding of why some SMEs choose to adopt cloud computing services, while seemingly similar ones facing similar market conditions do not.

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Sophonthummapharn, Kittipong. "A comprehensive framework for the adoption of techno-relationship innovations : Empirical evidence from eCRM in manufacturing SMEs." Doctoral thesis, Umeå : Umeå School of Business, Umeå University, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1800.

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Rapitsenyane, Yaone. "Supporting SMEs adoption of sustainable Product Service Systems : a holistic design-led framework for creating competitive advantage." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/16399.

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This thesis explores effective and contextually appropriate means through which manufacturing SMEs can create competitive advantage through design and sustainable Product Service Systems (PSS). The exploration focuses on how design capabilities can be developed and used in non-design led contexts to drive an effective adoption of sustainable product service systems, creating competitive heterogeneity. A comprehensive review of literature gave understanding of perspectives to competitiveness issues, how organisations have been supported towards PSS, sustainability and design adoption and related challenges. From this review surfaced the need to be cautious of contextual considerations leading to a Delphi study. The purpose of the Delphi study was to identify factors relevant for SMEs in Botswana to embrace sustainable PSS as a competitive business strategy. Priorities from the Delphi study informed a study aimed at exploring competitiveness experiences of SMEs and their perceptions of sustainability and product service systems. Following the position of experts on industries highly prioritised in Botswana s economic diversification agenda, this was done with a specific industry; the leather industry. Possible opportunities of how design can address challenges identified and how PSS and sustainability can open new business opportunities for SMEs were also drawn from the findings. A systems success framework was developed using the main findings. The framework was tested through workshops with 3 SMEs who were also participants in the previous study. Through interactions with designers, the workshops exposed SMEs to design and PSS. Findings from the workshops indicate that through design capabilities SMEs can recognise opportunities and translate them in a service context to differentiated offerings suitable for their various markets. A designerly approach also offered a simplified but holistic process for SMEs to engage in systems thinking.

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Kimana, Vanessa. "Factors affecting E-commerce adoption among Small andMedium Enterprises (SMEs) in Developing Countries : The Context of Kenya." Thesis, Mittuniversitetet, Institutionen för data- och systemvetenskap, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-43187.

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Electronic commerce (EC) has radically revolutionizedtraditional business practices across the globe. It is alsobelieved that EC offers considerable benefits andopportunities for enterprises.Despite the benefits, however, several scholars have shownthat Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have beenlagging in EC adoption. In this regard, this study aimed toexplore the factors that influence EC adoption among SMEsin developing countries, in the context of Kenyan retailSMEs.The study employed a qualitative approach through whichempirical data was collected by semi-structured interviews.The target population consisted of managers/owners of retailSMEs that use some form of EC technology in their businessoperations. The study identified several motivating factors forthe adoption and implementation of EC. Moreover, theresearch used (TOE) framework, the technological,organizational, and environmental (TOE) framework withan added national factor, to study and understand the factorsaffecting EC adoption among SMEs. The study identifiedsome factors ranging from, but not limited to the cost of IT,the benefits offered by EC, compatibility, lack of cleargovernment regulations, the role of managers, lack ofinfrastructure. The study further identified a national factorassociated with the social and cultural context in Kenya suchas the resistance to adopt a culture of purchasing online, lackof trust, lack of IT awareness, national address system, etc.

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Akhtar, Muhammad Naveed, and Kayode Olumide Eniodunmo. "Examination of Strategic Management Accounting Techniques among SMEs (Perception of the Usefulness, Adoption, and Outcomes) : A multiple Case Study of SMEs in the Food Processing Industry in Nigeria." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för ekonomistyrning och logistik (ELO), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-105675.

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Purpose: This thesis examines the perception of the usefulness of SMAT, its adoption, and expected outcomes among SMEs in the food processing industry of Nigeria. Research Questions: Three research questions have been addressed in this thesis; (1)What is the perception of the usefulness of SMAT among SMEs in the food processing industry in Nigeria? (2) What leads to SMEs adoption of SMAT (antecedents) among SMEs in the food processing industry in Nigeria? and (3) What outcomes (consequences) are believed to result from using SMAT among SMEs in the food processing industry in Nigeria? Methodology: Qualitative studies are employed to handle empirical data gathering by semi structural interviews from four SMEs in the food processing industry in Nigeria. The data has been analyzed and thoroughly discussed in the light of previous theories, and findings are presented. Findings: A significant positive perception of the usefulness of SMAT among the selected SMEs in the food processing industry in Nigeria was observed. With few exceptions, costing techniques, customer-focused techniques, and competitors' accounting are moderately and highly perceived while customer accounting techniques are not in use. The most adopted technique is target costing, and the other including; pricing strategy, competitor position tracking, brand valuation, and life cycle costing. Moreover, the management of the sample SMEs thought that benchmarking is the most suitable method to meet their operational targets. The perception of usage of SMAT positively and significantly impacts the perception of increasing customer base and obtaining competitive advantage. The findings imply that SMAT could replace the traditional management accounting practices such as budget and budgetary control in SMEs. Further, human capital is a more influential factor for SMEs than technology because human capital is better positioned to decide which technological tools are more effective for the firms to implement them in their business processes and operations to achieve the organizational goals. Significance of the Study: The research work contributes towards the literature by increasing the knowledge regarding the perception of the usefulness of SMAT and the implications of SMAT practices and its awareness in the SME sector. The larger and smaller firms' policymakers, owners, and managers can benefit through the knowledge and awareness of SMAT and its implementation in their day-to-day business operations. Moreover, the knowledge of using SMAT can enhance the effectiveness of the organizations in achieving their goals that would result in the overall prosperity of the economy of any country. Limitations: The study is restricted to the perception of the usefulness of SMAT, level of adoption, and outcomes among SMEs operating in the food processing industry with a sample size consist of four companies and limited to participants’ in particular geographic regions of Nigeria; therefore, provided information may not be valid for other areas and markets. This fact limits the global generalizability of our findings.

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Ramdani, Boumediene. "Technological, organisational and environmental factors influencing SMEs adoption of Enterprise Systems : a study in the Northwest of England." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.516149.

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Lam, T. "A web-based Decision Support System (DSS) to assist SMEs to broker risks and rewards for BIM adoption." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2017. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/31978/.

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) usage in the UK’s construction industry has recorded a significant increase over the last few years. However, available evidence suggests that BIM adoption amongst larger construction firms and innovators seems be dominant, while the uptake of BIM by Small and Medium Sized enterprises (SMEs) remains relatively poor. Consequently, SMEs are currently lagging behind and are losing out in winning publicly funded projects. SMEs have not fully recognised the benefits of using BIM in project delivery. Guidance and frameworks to assist SMEs to make an informed decision about BIM adoption are currently lacking. It appears that SMEs are yet to be convinced that BIM is beneficial to them, and remain concerned about the potential risks to their business. Guidance and frameworks to assist SMEs in making an informed decision about BIM adoption are currently lacking. This study seeks to bridge this gap and provide a decision-support system (DSS) to assist in the analysis of the risks and rewards of adopting BIM by SMEs, in project delivery. As a result, a conceptual framework was developed to give a theoretical foundation to the study of brokering risks and rewards in the adoption of BIM for project delivery. This framework is comprehensive and includes trading off risks and rewards associated with several criteria, such as stage of involvement, project value, funding, and the procurement route chosen. The approach was validated by a representative sample of BIM users. The results of the validation of the framework provided an informed basis for the development of the DSS. The latter was validated by a sample of SMEs, according to several criteria such as ease of use of the Graphical user interface (GUI), quality of information, level of information presented, trading off risks and rewards of adoption of BIM in project delivery. The findings of the framework validation revealed that early design stage, project size between £5m and £50m, private funding, and integrated project delivery procurement are the best opportunities that enable SMEs to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks, when adopting BIM. Regarding the DSS validation, most participants reported that they had found the DSS easy to use, especially the GUI. They were also positive about the level and quality of information and knowledge provided by the DSS. In particular, they found the DSS informative to broker risks and rewards for BIM adoption.

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James, Lowellyne. "Perceptions of context, contribution, challenges and critical success factors in the adoption of sustainability footprints by Scottish SMEs." Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University, 2015. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/455062.

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This research explores perceptions of the context, contribution, challenges and critical success factors in the adoption of sustainability footprint strategy amongst Scottish SMEs. Critics of sustainability footprint measurement insist that by nature it records historical impact and does not incorporate the views of future generations and are a luxury for most firms except those achieving near monopolistic profits. Recent UK greenhouse gas policy initiatives are specifically targeted at large organisations and do not provide the institutional support required to assist SME's in greenhouse gas emissions reporting. Despite overwhelming evidence as to the benefits of sustainability footprint tools such as carbon footprints very few companies set emissions targets. Surprisingly still there is limited research conducted as to the benefits of sustainability footprint tools to SMEs and their perceptions as to its contribution to business success. Interviewees highlight that case study Scottish SMEs are driven to implement sustainability footprints to pre-empt future GHG legislation, process improvement, cost reduction, senior management commitment, emissions reduction, CSR and waste reduction. However the emphasis on GHG emissions has contributed to “carbon myopia” an exclusive focus on carbon footprint measurement. This research supports the view of senior management commitment as critical to the success of sustainability footprint measurement initiatives but policymakers also have an enabling role by ensuring fair competition, access to grants, mandatory guidelines for SMEs, tax incentives, fines, legislation, emissions league table and carbon reporting as a pre-qualification criteria for government tenders. Scottish SME interviewees adopt a sustainability negative perceptual orientation suggesting barriers to placing sustainability on the agenda such as implementation cost, lack of knowledge, sustainability competing with other issues on the agenda, time constraints, the transience of sustainability, inability to recoup carbon footprint costs, failure to recognise benefits, generational issues and communication Scottish SME case studies however reveal an ambivalent “love hate” relationship amongst interviewees with sustainability which varies depending on the proximity of the individual to the economic, social or environmental issue. Thereby underlining the importance of management's ability to influence stakeholders to remain sustainability positive in orientation through training, instruction and supervision that promotes sustainable behaviour. The Sustainable Strategic Growth Framework is proposed as a solution to the Sustainability/CSR Dilemma and to align employee behaviour with sustainability objectives.

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Topping, Colin. "The role of awareness in adoption of government cyber security initiatives : A study of SMEs in the U.K." Thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för system- och rymdteknik, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-64870.

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Awareness is a key component of any information security programme. This study sets out to establish whether SMEs are using the government cyber security initiatives and finds that only 4.3% of respondents are utilising the resource that is freely available from the newly formed National Cyber Security Centre. The principal reason for this is a lack of awareness, although the survey also reveals that respondents would use this service if they had knowledge of it. Furthermore, 72.3% are keen for the government to deliver a public cyber security awareness campaign from funds available to the National Cyber Security Strategy. The association of the NCSC with GCHQ is seen to increase the trust in the service the NCSC delivers, whilst incentivising SMEs to enhance their security is popular amongst the 46 respondents. Survey responses suggest that small and micro businesses believe that they are too small to attract cyber-attacks, under the misguided assumption that “security through obscurity” is a viable control to mitigate the cyber risk. This underlines the lack of awareness of the randomness of threats such as ransomware and supports the need for greater user knowledge.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Adoption of CPC SMEs'

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