Στρατηγική οργάνωσης και διοίκησης των νέων τεχνολογιών στις μικρομεσαίες επιχειρήσεις

Abstract

The present doctoral thesis deals with the subject of Strategic Management of Technologies of Information technology and Communications (ICT) in Small to medium-sized Enterprises (SME), as well as the way in which the ICT influence actually the growth and the competitiveness of SME. The reason, we turned our inquiring interest in the SME lies in the common admission that small and medium sized enterprises decisively contribute to economic development, production, competitiveness, employment, as well as decentralization and social coherence. They also function as the seedbed of new enterprises, innovative products and applications, flexible business forms, servicing of local needs and a zoning plan for the distribution of employment and income. On the other hand, the existence necessity of a modern technological infrastructure is considered as an obvious value in the enterprising environment, as contributes to the increase of productivity and the competitiveness of enterprise. At the same time, new technological inventions give the necessary flexibility to SME for adapting themselves rapidly to the altering conditions of markets. PhD combines a significant literature review of relevant journal publications with primary data collected from the various SMEs. A joint methodology of fully-structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews was selected as the primary research instrument in order to gain as broad a view as possible of the issues surrounding application of ICT. A total of 100 companies was selected and letters were sent out requesting an interview, while follow-up telephone calls by the researchers negotiated access to each business. Fifty-four SMEs were positive responded. A stratified random sample of SMEs was drawn among a spectrum of SMEs in the Prefectures of Attica, Thessaloniki, Achaia and Heraclion. The empirical analysis brought out important statistical elements in the use of ICT for the various categories of SME in the four sectors of economic activity. Also, important statistical hypotheses were tested for the verification of the relationship-dependence between the ICTs and SMEs. The classification of ICT and the creation of new organizational forms (ICT-organizational forms, which have been come from the type of ICT that have been adopted by the SME) offered us the opportunity for further statistical tests as well as the capability for the creation of three models. The first model examines the probability of small firm’s development through the effective-efficient use of ICT (The potential for development of the SMEs was evaluated through a model of binomial logistic regression). The second model examines the influence of ICT-Organizational Forms and Industry Sectors on ICT-Investments, and, the third model tests the influence of ICT-Organizational Forms & ICT-Strategy (SMEs, which have set up a specific strategy for the adoption and use of ICTs) on ICT-Investments in SME sector. (The influence of ICT-Organizational Forms was evaluated through a model of a two-way Analysis of Variance-ANOVA).