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Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are highly important for producing highvalue-added innovative and intermediary goods and play a crucial role in being suppliers of large enterprises, their financial restraints cause them to encounter problems regarding their internationalization process and financial performance. As a dynamic capability of Resourcebased View theory (RBV), the usage of marketing communication tools (MCTs) by SMEs, such as social media (SM), websites, telemarketing, direct mail, SMS campaigns, and Google Adwords, increases the competitiveness of SMEs and might enable them to reduce their financial performance and export concerns. However, the usage of these tools can differ depending on the firm's country of origin since countries have various socio-economic and cultural conditions that affect the competitiveness of firms and their marketing communication approaches to their export and financial performance. In this regard, this paper aims to find international differences in the impact of the usage of MCTs on export and financial performance. This paper examines 1221 SMEs from Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary for this aim. The researchers created an online questionnaire to collect data from randomly selected respondents in the research sample. The researchers also ran Binary Logistic Regression analyses for analysis purposes. Although this paper confirms international differences in the impact of MCTs on the export of SMEs, the effect of SM usage on the financial performance of SMEs does not differ depending on the SMEs' country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide are fragile and endangered in facing financial problems due to a lack of financial resources. To overcome these issues, their capabilities based on a Resource-based View (RBV), such as innovativeness and competitiveness, might enable them to reduce their major financial issues related to their financial risk management. In this regard, this paper aims to examine the impacts of SMEs’ innovative and competitive attitudes on their financial risk management. Moreover, this paper examines whether those impacts differ depending on firm size. In line with those purposes, this paper analyzes 1221 Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian SMEs randomly selected from various databases. The researchers employ an online survey to collect the research data from the survey respondents, who are the executives of the analyzed SMEs. Concerning the data analysis, the researchers run Ordinal Logistic Regression Test. According to the results, while innovativeness negatively affects the financial risk management of SMEs, competitiveness does not. On the other hand, the results regarding firm size indicate that more competitive and less innovative microenterprises perform better in financial risk management compared to their less competitive and more innovative counterparts. However, competitiveness and innovativeness do not play determining roles in the financial risk management of small and medium-sized firms. The costs of R&D activities that firms face, the sectors that firms operate, and the educational status of the executives of SMEs might be strong arguments to explain the result of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Competitiveness has published its first special issue on "Sustainability and Competitiveness." The issue includes articles on various topics such as the role of marketing tools in SMEs' internationalization, the impact of intellectual capital on Vietnamese firm performance, innovation cooperation in Central and North-Eastern Europe, financial reporting quality and investment efficiency in emerging markets, and more. The articles cover a range of countries including Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, China, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Taiwan. The journal aims to provide multidisciplinary perspectives and contribute to the existing literature on competitiveness. [Extracted from the article]

Business performance management (BPM) is an instrument that allows the fulfillment of business objectives and the improvement of competitiveness in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). When BPM is implemented and measured, it can improve the sustainability and competitiveness of the enterprise. Despite its potential benefits, the possibilities of BPM in SMEs are often underestimated due to the lack of resources (mainly personal or financial). The goal of this paper is to introduce a framework for the implementation of BPM in Slovak SMEs based on research on transportation SMEs. To this end, certain steps that support the efficient introduction and use of BPM in these SMEs will be proposed. Our proposal regarding the performance of BPM is based on the findings of previous research studies along with the results of own questionnaire surveys and personal meetings/interviews with owners/managers of transportation SMEs. The results of this research shows that SMEs are generally not familiar with BPM and how the system is used. Essential elements to implement BPM are lacking in SMEs, and although the BPM system might help these firms improve their competitiveness, SMEs remain uniformed about the advantages of BPM. The proposed framework of BPM implementation in this paper can be used to inform SMEs and to assist them in their decisionmaking processes regarding the application of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether bank finance is a substitute or complementary to trade credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region of the Visegrad Group - the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic. This paper uses the data set provided by the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey that was conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank during the period from 2012 to 2014. Using a sample of 1,140 firms, it was discovered that firms having an overdraft facility from banks use more trade credit, and this supports the complementary theory of bank credit and trade credit. Moreover, the results suggest that companies that are younger, innovative, risky, with a concentrated ownership structure and operated by an experienced manager use more trade credit to purchase their material inputs and services. However, the results also show that service-oriented firms use less trade credit than manufacturing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of company size on the application of human resources (HR) investments. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 610 SMEs in the Czech Republic. Properly completed questionnaires were obtained from 581 enterprises. The data were evaluated using the Chi-square test of independence, Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and analysis of variance. Research questions were divided into four groups. The first group examined the application of HR investments as a reward, and the second group as a tool for increasing the interest in employment with the company. Another group focused on human capital management (HCM) and its impact on corporate financial performance. The last group dealt with HCM to improve the competitive advantage and the market position of the company. The results show that company size has a significant impact on the application of HC investments. In all groups, large enterprises (150+ employees) make investments to a greater extent than smaller companies. As for sector, the highest rating was recorded for companies operating in logistics and transport. The overall evaluation shows that large companies use the items more often, and no significant differences were recorded between different sectors. The findings may help large enterprises to realize that investment in human capital is long-term, increases competitiveness, and generates indirect returns. Small enterprises can also make investments in human capital, although to a limited extent, and it is not advisable to totally avoid such investments. The limitations are in the selected research method, the number of questions and respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issues of risk management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been analysed and discussed for a long time. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to concentrate on this field, especially in the Slovak Republic. SMEs are very sensitive to changes in the business environment which are always reflected in the quantitative characteristics of this sector in a certain time interval. According to various global surveys and studies, risk management represents a significant contribution to the increasing competitiveness of enterprises in changes of the business environment. The aim of this paper is to statistically assess the dependence of perceived key business risks of SMEs on their size in Slovakia based on own empirical research carried out in 2017. The contribution also includes an assessment of key risk sources and an evaluation of the survey results compared to the results of surveys taken last year. Based on the results, market, financial, economic and personnel risks comprise the four most important risks that negatively affect the business environment of SMEs. Dependence perceived by the SME entrepreneurs was found among market factors, personnel risks, and business size. No dependence was found among the financial, economic and business risks. The overall results of the empirical research point to the need and importance of addressing the assessment of key risks and their resources in SMEs in Slovakia. The goal of the paper is to highlight through a relevant study the need to apply risk management in the SMEs and to bring the results of the research in Slovakia closer to world trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present the influence of the management to the SMEs in the markets facing problems of economy consolidation. This paper seeks to explore how a particular manufacturing SME in Kosovo organizes its processes on the daily basis and the challenges that currently faces in a fragile competition. This research embraces a qualitative single case study methodology in the context of manufacturing SMEs. The data collection comprises fourteen interviews. We also conducted observation within the organization supplemented by analysing different documents in order to have triangulation that could increase validity and reliability. This study helps theorists to emphasize more upon the criticality of manufacturing SMEs in building a strong case for future frameworks in order to demystify the overwhelming ideas that only managerial levels should be involved in the research domain for the case analysis especially in the manufacturing industry. Particularly in Kosovo where SMEs in the manufacturing sector are still struggling to recover and create a solid infrastructure for growth where the need for a broader integration in the analysis is indispensable in understanding the challenges and future alternatives of this sector. We intend helping managers, employees and wider practitioners to understand the importance of mutual task responsibilities; developing an integrated cooperation process; emphasizing the criticality of avoiding the orthodox approach of a managerial leading style, and transforming it into a new orthopraxy of ensuring that an internal employee involvement and participation is the key to articulating the necessary efforts of organizational success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether or not an entrepreneur develops the enterprise successfully and increases competitiveness depends on many factors. All businesses, however, are inherently connected with the business environment which significantly influences their performance. In this regard, the state is among the most important factors. It also performs many other roles through which it may be either helpful or harmful in the eyes of a business owner, e.g. it determines the legislative framework of entrepreneurship, sets conditions for starting a business and regulates competition. The way the role of the state is perceived by small and medium-sized enterprises was researched in 2015 as a part of a project at Tomas Bata University in Zlín. The research analysed data from 1,141 respondents from all regions of the Czech Republic and included, among others, the question of the state's role in the business environment. The presented paper covers three selected areas of the state's influence on the business environment: creating favourable conditions for the business environment, governmental financial support of entrepreneurs, and administrative burden on entrepreneurs. These areas were also examined with the emphasis on the analysis of differences between the perception of entrepreneurs from different industries and entrepreneurs with different sizes of their businesses. It was revealed that entrepreneurs were very critical to the state's role in the business environment; in particular, 60% of respondents disagree with the fact that the state creates favourable conditions for business in the Czech Republic. It was proved that the line of business of enterprises correlates with perception of the state's role within the business environment. The research into perception of a governmental financial support was proved to be dependent on a company size which may signal the support of certain company sizes and influencing their competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young entrepreneurs and start-up founders are considered to be a drivers of innovation which is an important element of knowledge economy and competitiveness of each country. But their early age could be perceived as a factor causing the increasing impact of the credit risk because young entrepreneurs usually have a short company history, weak capital power and a lack of the guarantees. The main objective of this paper is to bring scientific evidence that the age of the entrepreneur should be considered as a factor with the significant impact on one part of the credit risk of a company- the risk of a change of the interest rate. The research was carried out among 438 Slovak companies in 2016. Based on Pearson's chi-square analysis of the results of our research, we bring statistical evidence that age has a significant impact on the ability of the company to protect the firm against the change of the interest rate. We also found out that there is dependence between the age of the owner and the opinion that SMEs in the other EU countries have better loan conditions, especially lower interest rates, than Slovak SMEs. Research findings indicate that young entrepreneurs have problems with obtaining capital and increasing interest rates and collaterals because of their higher risk profile. But effective state support of young and innovative companies through venture financing can lead to increasing global competitiveness of the Slovak Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several research studies concur with the claim that the government, through its measures and active instruments, should influence the business environment, the innovation activity of enterprises and thus their competitiveness. It is the creation of motivating conditions and the elimination of some barriers that are the main area of government involvement in the innovative performance and competitiveness of the economy. The article analyzes the achievement of the goals set in the particular innovation policies of the Slovak Republic from 2008 to the present. The paper also identifies barriers which have been affecting innovation activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Slovakia for the last six years. Secondary data from the research of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency are supported by data from empirical research performed in 2014 and repeated in 2017 in Slovakia. The authors use methods of analysis, comparison, deduction, as well as mathematical methods for processing the data collected. The representativeness of the samples was examined using Fisher's exact test. The research questions were answered by the non-parametric Friedman's test of variance analysis by ranks along with McNemar's test of marginal homogeneity among the barriers. The results confirmed that there was a significant difference among the innovation barriers to SMEs as well as in the importance of barriers to the particular size classes of respondents. Similarly, there was a shift in the rank of the most important barriers over the period of 2012 - 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms strive to grow and survive. The survival chances can be fostered by a list of business strategies, such as strategic alliances. Different types of strategic alliances exist. This study groups the typology into manufacturing and non-manufacturing alliances. Little research has been done on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), particularly Medium-Sized Enterprises (MEs), from the manufacturing industry in the least developed countries such as Tanzania in relation to the alliance typology and partnering firms' survival chances that can be explained by an ability to accumulate resources and reduce both costs and risks. A cross-sectional survey design and multistage probability sampling technique enabled the participation of 398 CEOs from three zones of Tanzania whose options were collected through questionnaires. In the context of this paper, both the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) are applied to explain the two main alliance types and how they predict firms' survival chances respectively. To a great extent, we find that there exists a relationship between alliance typology and both the reduction of costs and risks, as well as resource accessibility. However, we argue that partners could adopt alliance types that concurrently reduce the costs and risks; but at the same time enabling them to acquire resources if they would carefully study and establish the link between costs, risks and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with small and medium enterprises in relation to the attitudes perceived by business owners in their immediate neighbourhood, society, in relation to banks and the government. The key question is the difference between entrepreneurs who started their businesses voluntarily and those who entered the business out of necessity. The majority of governmental policies, including Czech policies, focus more on the questions of financial support, however the support of entrepreneurs can be broader and may include the efforts to influence perception of an individual and the society so that they have a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurial activities. The attitudes in the Czech Republic are so far rather negative and such a change may be positively reflected in the level of the entrepreneurial activity which strongly affects economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economy of Ghana has attained a middle-income status and is seeking to advance; hence, an analysis of the economy based on the supply chain management of energy is significant to provide the quantitative results and comprehensive information about how and where the energy use affects economic growth and development. This information is necessary to enable the government to respond promptly with measures that will improve the supply of energy to ensure the profitability and competitiveness of firms. The objective of this paper is to analyse the effect of electric power fluctuations on the profitability and competitiveness of SMEs, using SMEs operating within the Accra business district of Ghana as a case study. This research is a crosssectional survey and it adopted a mixed method approach. A sample of 70 Ghanaian SMEs was selected using a systematic sampling approach. Inclusion criterion for the selection of the SMEs was their location within the business district of Accra as well as their use of electricity in their main business operation. Data was collected with an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire which focused on the effect of power fluctuation on the operations of SMEs, especially on the profitability and its resulting effect on the firms' competitiveness. The SPSS statistical package was used to group and analyse the data. The study is a single-factor analysis of the exogenous problems facing the Small and Medium Enterprise sector. The study found that without reliable energy supply, SMEs are unable to produce in increased quantities and quality leading to poor sales hence low levels of profitability. It is established that low profitability negatively affects Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Investment (ROI) of SMEs. Consequently, if the level of profitability is high, it is expected that ROA and ROI will be high and vice versa. With high profits, SMEs are able to increase their competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring enterprise performance plays an important role in maximizing business efficiency. A modern business performance measurement tool is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) method. This method helps assess not only the financial situation of the enterprise, but also indicators, and evaluates non-financial indicators, which is important for achieving the maximum competitiveness of the enterprise. This paper points out the importance of non-financial indicators in small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovakia, using the BSC method as a strategic management tool. Three hypotheses were established and then verified using the method of proportionality of the given phenomenon in the population and the chi-square test of independence. Apartial objective of the study was to find out the existence of a statistically significant link between the use of the BSC method and the importance of non-financial indicators in small and mediumsized enterprises in Slovakia, as the BSC method attaches the same importance to both financial and non-financial indicators. It has been shown that these two variables are related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to define and quantify significant factors that shape the quality of the business environment in the SME segment and to create the business environment quality index. A part of this aim was a comparison of defined factors in the Czech Republic (CR) and the Slovak Republic (SR). In regards to the aim defined, a survey-based research was conducted with enterprises operating in the SME segment. 312 enterprises in CR and 329 enterprises in SR were approached during this research. To verify the defined scientific hypotheses, a custom Business Environment Quality Index was created that was quantified separately for CR and SR. The research results brought interesting findings. The aggregated Business Environment Quality Index in the Slovak Republic reached the value of 0.460, which was higher than that of the Czech Republic (0.418). Slovak entrepreneurs gave the economic factors a higher rating than Czech entrepreneurs. Similarly, Slovak entrepreneurs rated the importance of the Central Bank in establishing a stable business environment and the role of commercial banks in financing business needs more positively. The evaluation of political factors is relatively negative in both countries. Slovak entrepreneurs evaluated more positively the judicial system in the area of commercial law, the state's influence on the business environment, and the administrative burden on enterprises. Czech entrepreneurs had a minor issue with the state bureaucracy's impact on the business environment. The evaluation of technological factors is relatively negative in both countries, as the value of this index is slightly below 0.250. Slovak entrepreneurs better assessed the situation on the job market and the cooperation of the public sector with the business environment. On the contrary, Czech entrepreneurs gave the infrastructure level in the area of research and development a better rating. The evaluation of social factors is relatively positive in both countries. Entrepreneurs in the Slovak Republic perceive a more positive attitude of the society towards entrepreneurs and a more intense influence of the family on entrepreneurship, and positively evaluate media's activities in regards to the business environment. The evaluation of the competitive environment is more positive in Slovakia. When evaluating the narrower competitive environment, it was discovered that Slovak entrepreneurs think that customers, suppliers, and employees play a positive role in their business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study observes Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) digital internationalization and determines of online comments influences customer purchase behavior, whether different product types (utilitarian and hedonic products) would moderate the relationships among online comments and customer purchase behavior. Objective data collected by Amazon platforms and SMEs transactions of 1,366 customer orders from 2019 to 2022. We collect online ratings and open-ended comments, adopting Python package of Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) for Natural language processing (NLP) to define a score of each comment based on a database of natural human language. Regression results reveal that customer purchasing behavior was influenced by both title and content of others' comments, the negative content has a greater negative effect than the negative title. Product types play a moderate role. Specifically, the negative contents of utilitarian goods have a stronger negative effect on customer purchase behavior. For theoretical contributions, we found that the negative comments of utilitarian products are viewed as the most influencing cues for customers purchase behavior. Furthermore, the neutral score of both title and content has a tendency to express negative emotion and attitude. The neutral comments and ratings are valuable for exploring more in future works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of grants received by companies on the formation of a business model. The study covered micro, small and medium-sized enterprises based in rural areas, which received support in the form of investment grants within the Regional Operational Programmes 2007-2013 for northern Poland. The research was done using a direct survey method, and covered a total of 155 companies. The results of the study indicate that the grant obtained affected implicitly the modification of the business model elements that are placed on the left side of the template of the Business Model Canvas. However, the tendency of enterprises to undertake an innovative activity usually means changes in their business model both on the left and right side. The greatest strength of the dependence was observed in the case of relationship between the size of the company and changes in the model elements. Mediumsized enterprises were the most active in this respect, when compared to comparison to micro and small businesses, and changed the largest number of elements of the business model due to the obtained grant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current big data era, digital technologies play a vital role for firms to improve their business and economic growth. Considering the firm type and the firm size, this study explores how digital technologies impact their performance in the financial and employment perspectives. The performance variables are presented at the capital, profit, debt-paying, and development levels from Total Economy Database TM and the Amadeus database for European companies from 2008 and 2019, in a panel data analysis. In this study, the sample only consists of good companies that generate profit. The results demonstrate that digital technologies positively affect shareholders' funds to a greater degree for non-family firms and non-SMEs. They make a positively larger impact on the return on capital employed by non-family and non-SMEs. Digital technologies would increase the solvency ratio for firms, except for SMEs. Finally, they make a positively larger impact on the operating revenue for firms that are nonfamily and non-SMEs, while the opposite is true for family firms and SMEs. Scientific research on digital technologies has significant managerial importance and competitiveness connecting family firms and SMEs. The research makes contributions for the relevant literature on digital technologies and offers four perspectives affecting performances. The findings benefit scholars, managers, and policymakers of family firms and SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The export orientation of small and medium enterprises represents an important attribute of the enterprises' competitive ability. In this context, the area of export financing becomes a very important field of company management. The aim of this study is to define and quantify relevant approaches of entrepreneurs to the export activities and export financing, with regard to the impact of the selected socio-economic factors (gender, level of education and age). The study is based on the research of Slovak business environment carried out in 2016, which was evaluated by the tools of descriptive statistics, including percentages and averages, pivot tables, the methods of comparison and deduction, Pearson's chi-square statistics at 5% significance level. Our results suggest that Slovak entrepreneurs primarily supply their products and services on the domestic market, while their export potential is limited. The assessment of the state support of export activities is rather negative. An alarming finding is that Slovak entrepreneurs in the SME segment do not use even basic tools of financial risk reduction to a higher extent, and that the usage of services of the state export bank Eximbank is negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their significant impact on most economies and their role as a measure of innovation and the development of a country's economic stability, startup firms' failure rates remain high. To maintain survival and improve competitive performance, startup firms must utilize both internal and external resources. Previous studies have examined the factors that improve the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or large companies, but few studies have examined the influence of dynamic capability on startup competitive performance. Thus, this study examined the effect of dynamic talent management capabilities on the competitive performance of startup companies. It considered the importance of dynamic marketing capability as a mediating variable in the relationship between dynamic talent management capability and competitive performance. The study's sample comprised of 170 startups registered with the National Innovation Agency (a public agency) of Thailand's Ministry of Science and Technology. The findings revealed that dynamic talent management capability had a positive impact on performance. Startup firms with talent management strategies could enhance their competitive performance. Furthermore, dynamic marketing capability mediated the relationship between dynamic talent management capability and performance. These results suggested that human capital with dynamic talent management capabilities in combination with dynamic marketing capabilities can support startup firms to improve competitive finance, market, and innovation performance to meet the needs of talented employees, customers, and investors. This study contributes to the knowledge management, marketing, competitiveness, and innovation literature and supports existing findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated Supply Chain Management (SCM) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand, Slovakia, and Poland and compared the SCM practices among the three countries. The sole purpose was to first determine the various factors that influence SCM operations and SCM practices in each of the countries and then find out whether there is a difference among the three countries in terms of SCM operations and practices. The study was conducted using primary data collected from SME management personnel from the three countries. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data using a 5-point Likert scale. The data was analyzed using multi-group Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of the study indicated that supply chain management practices and operations adopted by the small and medium enterprises in Thailand, Slovakia, and Poland were invariant. The environmental sustainability elements in SCM and the social aspects of sustainability in SCM have positively influenced SCM practices in all countries. The study recommended that SMEs in the countries should consider adopting the factors that support SCM, operationalizing the SCM through enhancing the capabilities of the end-user, and vitally taking into consideration the environmental sustainability elements in SCM, such as environmentally-friendly production processes, taking action towards waste management, and adopting production processes that inhibit the emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere by encouraging the implementation of policies that foster the use of renewable energy sources in production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the default of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) using the hazard model approach represents an area relatively neglected by mainstream literature. On the one hand, SMEs are regarded as the backbone of the economy; on the other hand, their specific features pose a challenge to the modelling process. This issue is further complicated by the fact that many modern structural approaches to default modelling are simply unsuitable for SMEs due to their limited size. Therefore, researchers only rely on accounting, non-financial, or macroeconomic data. The gap is especially noticeable in several studies on SME default prediction that employ the hazard model approach, which models the probability of default with respect to the time factor. A better understanding of the factors driving SMEs' default might help in adopting policies that strengthen their competitiveness. The aim of this study is to introduce a hazard model for EU-28 SMEs and analyse the contribution of macroeconomic indicators and proxies of external financial obstacle factors. This model was derived using the Cox semiparametric proportional model, leaving the baseline hazard unspecified and employing macroeconomic variables as explanatory variables. By analysing a sample of 202,209 European SMEs over the period 2014-2019, the results indicated that factors of employment rate, personal cost per employee, and interest rate play significant roles in determining the survival of SMEs. Adding these macroeconomic variables significantly increased the area under curve values compared to the situation where only accounting variables were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well-documented in literature that one major challenge facing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is resource constraints. This affects SMEs' potential for innovation, as innovation is resource-intensive. To survive the competition, it is expedient that SMEs find more creative and innovative ways to operate. This present study sought to ascertain how SMEs could adopt a bricolage strategy to achieve a competitive advantage. The study also sought to determine the mediating role of new product creativity in this relationship, which formed a key contribution. Data was gathered from 334 SMEs using a simple random sampling technique. The data was analyzed using the covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) approach in Amos (v.23). Various validity and reliability tests were run before testing the significance of the various hypotheses of the study. It was concluded that bricolage had a direct positive effect on SMEs' competitive advantage. Bricolage further had a direct positive impact on new product creativity, whiles new product creativity had a direct positive effect on SMEs' competitive advantage. It was also realized that creativity had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between bricolage and SMEs' competitive advantage. Although this study did not directly assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on business operations, the data for the study was gathered during the pandemic period, as such, the results of this present study could offer some practical clues on how firms could achieve competitive advantage during the outbreak of pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research examined the effect of international business on SMEs growth in a competitive environment, particularly Nigeria. The secondary data were gathered from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) annual report. This study adopted ordinary least square method of data analyses. The finding revealed that trade openness as a measure of competitiveness and FDI has no significant effect on SMEs growth in Nigeria. It was also revealed that the exchange rate has a significant effect on SMEs growth in Nigeria, and the level at which exchange rate affects SMEs growth is relatively high. It was further showed that the exchange rate has a negative coefficient indicating that, as the exchange rate reduces SMEs growth increases. It is concluded that trade competitiveness had no significant effect on SMEs growth in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that government should formulate policies, which will encourage the reduction of exchange rate in the country in order to enhance competition and improve business activities across the country, and improve the growth of SMEs across the country, as well as encouraging entrepreneurship spirit in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, sources of competitive advantage and economic development are sought in the sphere of innovation. They are at the centre of interest of representatives of the world of politics, science, and business. Moreover, they have been incorporated into governmental and international strategic development programmes. This article attempts to characterize and evaluate cooperation in creating innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland. Empirical research, a fragment of which is presented in this article, was conducted at the turn of March and April 2015 on a representative sample of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises. The subject of the analysis was business innovation expressed through the indicators of innovation and frequency of cooperation with different entities from the business environment to create new solutions, as well as forms of business innovation. The evaluation of the existing dependence was performed on the basis of the estimation results of the logit model. The objective of this study was to identify key factors related to cooperation and their impact on the innovativeness of Polish companies, using the tools of econometric analysis. The article presents a contemporary approach to managing innovative activity - open innovation, which is both widely reported and reflected in the results of research conducted. The logit model that was developed also indicates that companies that are open to cooperation with customers and academic institutions of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and are members of clusters are more likely to implement innovations of a radical nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among micro, small, and medium-sized firms located in Hungary, I conducted a survey examining the effects of entrepreneurial and learning orientations, and that of perceived environment on firm performance. I studied the perceptions of environmental turbulence and environmental hostility. Three dimensions were examined both in the case of entrepreneurial orientation (i.e., innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking) and in the case of learning orientation (i.e., commitment to learning, shared visions, and open-mindedness). The effects of such dimensions on firm performance were analyzed with the path analysis (PLS-SEM) method. In the course of the research, firm performance was divided into three dimensions: efficiency, growth, and profit. The possible effect of available financial resources was also taken into consideration. Results show that the availability of financial resources is relatively important, although it is connected only to the growth dimension of performance. Strategic orientations should be interpreted as multi-dimensional, and they have an effect on different performance dimensions. The research was cross-sectional and has implications for long-term strategic decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article defines and quantifies important factors of the quality of the business environment for small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in the Czech Republic. To do so, itcompares the attitudes of entrepreneurs categorized by gender, education, age and firm size. A study of the business environment was conducted in 2015 from a sample of 1,141 respondents (the owners of companies), and the results were analyzed. It was found that only 10% of the entrepreneurs positively evaluated the applicable forms of state financial support. The study also demonstrated no statistically-significant response differences among the designated social groups. 64% of Czech entrepreneurs feel the support of their surroundings while doing business,45% think that SMEs have restricted access to external sources of financing, and over half note the intensive influence of market risk. It was also determined that there are statistically-significant differences in the pattern of responses between men and women and between micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]