Editorial: 38–4 and future special issues on inclusive entrepreneurship and on small and medium-sized enterprises: talent, entrepreneurship and competitiveness in Latin America

Research background. The need for an in-time, efficient and effective adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the technical, economic, social and environmental conditions of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0 is a current problem caused by the introduction of new information and communication technologies, cyber-physical systems and artificial intelligence into all economic industries and areas of human life. The advent of new technologies is changing the entire value chains of Industry 4.0 - Labor 4.0 - Education 4.0 - Thinking 4.0, creating conditions for new business models but also pressure on flexibility and personalization of services or triggering new requirements for cyber security and the interdisciplinarity of access of small and medium-sized enterprises - providers and users of services. The current global COVID-19 health pandemic (2020-2021), with its economic and social impacts on all economic industries, has accelerated the use of disruptive technologies, principles, procedures, methods and tools of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0 and the need for the support of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector in adapting to changes in the business environment. Purpose of the article. The main objective of the research is to validate, evaluate and discuss the functionality and content of the created methodology of adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the implementation of the principles, procedures, methods and tools of Society 4.0 and its applicability in business practice, specifically focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises in the area of knowledge-intensive services. An integral part of the research is to assess selected negative and positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business processes in the context of issues being tackled. Methodology. The methodological procedure to validate the functionality and content of the created methodology of the adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the conditions of Society 4.0 is based on the strategy of mixed research. An explorative sequence design was used as a key design of mixed dynamically oriented research, during which quantitative data collection, analysis and evaluation formed the basis for qualitative analysis and evaluation, which resulted in the interpretation and discussion of the research results and, at the end of the paper, the formulation of the issues that will be the next area of scientific research activity of the author’s team. In the quantitative part of the research, Fisher’s exact test was used for the verification of difference statistics in data obtained from testing a sample of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and from external project application sponsors providing services to this category of enterprises. In the qualitative part of the research, the Atlas.ti software was used for the evaluation of information obtained with respect to the methodology of adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises for encoding, processing and interpretation of qualitative data and semantic networks were created for the individual sub-categories of evaluation. Findings & Value Added. The research result proved that the adequacy of the content and functionality of the checked methodology of adaptation of SMEs strongly corresponds to the needs and requirements of micro and small enterprises in particular that conduct business in the area of knowledge-intensive services. Barriers, limits, needs and potential in individual categories of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises were identified which are related to the use of technologies and tools of Society 4.0, to new requirements for knowledge and skills qualifications of labor and to the relation of SMEs to innovations in business processes. The results of validation of the methodology of adaptation of SMEs in the knowledge-intensive service sector confirmed that the created methodology of adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises is applicable to the implementation of the principles, procedures, methods and tools of Society 4.0. in the real conditions of business practice.

Research On Credit Guarantee Problems In Small And Micro Enterprises’ Credit Financing

Nowadays, more and more enterprises begin to take the financial management as one of the core management of an enterprise, especially the small and medium-sized enterprises in China.They play an increasing role in the process of economic development and reform.In the face of new market development prospects, the correct reasonable implementation of financial strategy will provide great support technology and the management idea for small and medium enterprises.This paper analyzes the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises and reveals its financial strategy problems, and put forward the reasonable measures by case study of Jiangsu Yunyi Electric Limited by Share Ltd.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are an important part of China's national economy. They play an irreplaceable role in the national economy and social development by constructing the main body of China's market economy, promoting economic development, promoting social employment and promoting social stability. At present, small and medium-sized scientific and technological enterprises, as the group with the greatest development potential and innovation vitality, play an important role in the process of building an innovative country in China. However, the short average life span is a common problem in China's small and medium-sized scientific and technological enterprises. After the financial crisis, due to the worldwide economic recession and the changes of China's macro-control policies, small and medium-sized enterprises are facing the problem of financing difficulties. At the same time, China's small and medium-sized enterprises generally have a big gap compared with domestic large enterprises and multinational companies in terms of technology, internal and external system construction and perfection. The sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises lies not only in the improvement of technical ability, but also in the establishment of internal and external systems.

Goal. The use of big data technology can significantly improve the efficiency of enterprise management and strengthen its viability. The development of the Internet based on the use of big data technologies is an effective means to overcome the financial problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises. Service platforms using new information technologies such as the Internet, big data and the sharing economy have unique service advantages that can provide cost savings due to the scale and volume of services provided. Such platforms are of great practical importance for the healthy and rapid development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Tasks. Technology-based enterprise development is difficult to achieve on their own, and they require targeted and professional knowledge provided by internal knowledge service departments, intermediary service agencies and government agencies. The purpose of this knowledge is to improve the knowledge reserves of small and medium-sized technological enterprises and stimulate their development and innovation. This paper analyzes the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises and big data technologies, and raises issues related to awareness, technology, politics, and talent. In addition, appropriate strategies are proposed that can contribute to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Methodology. The authors used such research methods as statistical analysis, observation, generalization, description and graphical modeling. Results. In order to overcome these problems and promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of big data technologies, it is necessary to implement appropriate strategies. First, it is necessary to conduct information campaigns and educational programs aimed at raising awareness about the possibilities of using big data in business. Secondly, government agencies and regulatory organizations should develop policies and legislation that promote the use of big data technologies and ensure the protection of enterprise data. Thirdly, it is necessary to support the development of affordable and easy-to-use data analysis solutions that will be available to small and medium-sized enterprises. Finally, it is important to invest in the education and training of qualified specialists in the field of data analysis and big data technologies. Conclusions. The implementation of these strategies will help create a favorable environment for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises based on big data technologies. This, in turn, will lead to an increase in the efficiency of enterprise management, strengthen its viability and stimulate innovation, contributing to the economic development of the country as a whole.

The article substantiates the directions of investment activity of the small and medium enterprises of the agrarian sector of Ukraine. The role of the small and medium sized enterprises is well-grounded in modern economic conditions and the need to intensify their investment activities is shown. The current situation with the development of such enterprises is analyzed and the specific measures to stimulate the investment activity are indicated. It is proved that the investment activity of small and medium-sized agrarian enterprises should be intensified. It is obvious that the large agrarian enterprises possess more abilities in attracting investments in particular in implementing the new technologies. However, these are the small and medium sized agrarian enterprises able to reach both economic and social goals and serve as an elevator for the youth in the villages. Also the food security function is implemented by the small and medium-sized agrarian enterprises. The analysis of the data on the development of small and medium-sized agrarian enterprises in Ukraine shows the importance of them for the economic growth and the development of the national economy. Their development was unfortunately negatively affected by the fast spread of the corona virus in the world and the following quarantine restrictions. The data on the development of small and medium agrarian enterprises in Ukraine and in Germany has been presented in order to compare and to use the positive German experience in domestic conditions. In current conditions it is necessary to implement urgent measures to support the small and medium enterprises, i.e. to reduce the tax burden, to provide access to markets, in particular by stimulating the export activities of small and medium enterprises, to increase the level of digitalization of them. Presently there are public programs for support of the small and medium agrarian enterprises introduced by the Government. If these measures prove to be effective there are positive anticipations concerning the renewal and intensification of the development of small and medium enterprises in Ukraine.

Resource support of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises for space industry development in Russia

The Six Sigma methodology creates many possibilities for radically improving process and product quality. While Six Sigma was initially applied within large corporations, the interest of small and medium-sized enterprises in improvement initiatives is increasing. A decade ago, small and medium-sized enterprises became aware that they can enhance their capability, improve quality, and increase their profitability by using Six Sigma. One of the most critical success factors for the implementation of Six Sigma is a strong organizational infrastructure led by different Six Sigma belts. Thus, the aim of this article is to examine the Six Sigma belt system for small manufacturing companies based on a detailed literature review. The fact that few research papers have been published regarding this research field indicates the Six Sigma belt system for small and medium-sized enterprises has not yet been adequately studied and thus opens the door for future research. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the original Six Sigma belt roles used by large organizations cannot simply be transferred for the application in small enterprises, as there are too many differences between these two company types. This means an extensive organizational infrastructure like in large organizations is not needed in small enterprises. There are various expert opinions but almost no empirical evidence regarding the availability, proportion to the total workforce, working time, hierarchy, project executions, and cost savings of the various Six Sigma belts in small enterprises. For this reason, this paper highlights the need for a standardized approach of the Six Sigma belt system for manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises.

In 2013, the Polish enterprise sector generated 73,5% of GDP, of which small and medium-sized enterprises generated 50,1% of GDP – i.e. every second zloty of this value. Among all groups of enterprises according to their sizes, the largest share in generating GDP had microenterprises – approx. 30,8%. The aim of the study was to analyze the degree of changes and tendencies in the development of newly created enterprises – according to the length of years of operation and size classes – micro, small, medium-sized and large enterprises in Poland. The analysis of enterprises was based on CSO data included in the study entitled “Non-financial enterprises established in the years 2012-2016”. The analysis covered enterprises that were established in the years 2012-2016 and actively performed their business activity until the last examined year. The following conclusions were drawn: In the structure of enterprises in the years 2012-2016, microenterprises were dominant. Together with the increase in the number of years of running business, the number and share of small, medium and large enterprises increased at the expense of microenterprises. The survival rate of enterprises established in the years 2012-2016 is the highest for large, medium-sized and small enterprises. In the analyzed period, the highest number of employees was in microenterprises, but the number of employees was constantly fluctuating over the years. The number of people working in small and medium-sized enterprises has constantly increased along with the length of business activity. The highest remunerations were observed in enterprises (successively) – large, medium-sized, small and micro- enterprises. In microenterprises, there is the largest disparity in the amount of salaries.

As the basic force to promote the development of national economy, small and medium-sized enterprises face many difficulties in their development process. And big data technology can help them improve the efficiency of enterprise management and enhance the viability of enterprises. The rise of the Internet, relying on big data technology, effectively alleviates the financing problems of SMEs. At the same time, it has a great impact on the traditional credit business of commercial banks. The legal service platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, with the development of emerging information technologies such as Internet, big data and sharing economy, has unique service advantages, which can achieve economies of scale and scope in the process of legal services, and has important practical significance for the healthy and rapid development of small and medium-sized enterprises. However, the innovation and development of small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises are difficult to achieve only by themselves, and they need to be provided with targeted and professional knowledge services by internal knowledge service departments, intermediary service agencies, and government departments, so as to improve the knowledge reserves of small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises and promote their development and innovation. This paper analyzes the relationship between SMEs and big data technology, puts forward problems in terms of awareness, technology, policy and talent, and gives corresponding strategies to help SMEs develop.

Formation and evolution of enterprises’ competitive relationship are not independent with each other, so that enterprises have complex relationship such as mutual initiation, interference and transformation. This complex relationship appears as complex network relation. In order to study competitive relationship between enterprises, this paper selects some financial enterprises as samples and studies financial enterprise’s business type, business scale and structure property of network model, so as to study competitive relationship between financial enterprises. Introduction At present, domestic financial enterprises have uneven development, namely, large and medium-sized foreign enterprises and joint ventures with advanced technology provide high-level service and comprehensive financial management service for customers, while small private enterprises have poor technical equipment and backward management. With development of international economic integration, the market has higher requirements for financial enterprises. The following problems need to be urgently settled: how to regulate healthy development of China's financial market, how to adopt intensive and large-scale development way, and how to improve international competitiveness of financial enterprises. 1 Definition of Competitive Relations between Financial Enterprises In researching financial enterprise’s competitive relationship, niche overlap is an important concept to describe competitive relations between enterprises. Competitive relationship will appear when enterprises target at same market or customer. Niche overlap shows that two enterprises have mutual substitution effect in the market, so that their performance competition is mutual. Belonging to circulation service industry, financial enterprise provides products which serve finance and have characteristics of spatial distribution. Competitions between enterprises are mainly reflected in competitions of provided service’s business types and operation regional scope. If enterprises target at same market or customer in business types and regional scope, so that enterprises will have competitive relationship. In addition, due to different locations of different enterprises, competitions will show different degrees of intensity, and competition between enterprises in same area will be more intense than that between enterprises located in adjacent regions. This article defines competitive relationship between enterprises from two aspects of financial enterprise located in the same region and adjacent areas. 2 Sample Selection of Financial Relationship and Explanation of Computation Example Figure 1 is flow chart which describes construction process of network model in competitive relationship between financial enterprises in Kunming. ij e represents edge connecting two financial enterprises: when ij e =0, enterprise i and enterprise j have no competitive relationship; when ij e =X, enterprise i and enterprise j have competitive relationship. In BCRN model, the value of X is 1; in WCRN model, the value of X is edge weight, which is calculated according to formula (1). Taking International Industrial Informatics and Computer Engineering Conference (IIICEC 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 6 financial enterprise with node of no. 1 in 2009 as an example, table 2 provides basic information of financial enterprises. Step1: Determine whether two enterprises have same business type, if they have no same business type, ij e =0; otherwise, move on to step2. Step2: Classify financial enterprises by turnover referring to transportation enterprise’s classification standard in national Interim Provisions on Standards for Medium and Small Enterprises. Step3: according to enterprise’s latitude and longitude, calculate straight-line distance between enterprises by converting Gauss projection. Step4: Determine whether two financial enterprises are small enterprises. If both of them are small and medium enterprises with straight-line distance of less than 15 km, ij e X = ; otherwise, ij e =0. Step5: Calculate shortest distance between enterprises connected by road network using Floyd algorithm. Step6: (1) Determine whether two enterprises are not large enterprises. That is, two enterprises are medium-sized enterprises, or one of them is a medium-sized enterprises, and another is small businesses; (2) If two enterprises are not large enterprises with straight-line distance of less than 30 km, ij e X = , otherwise; (3) Determine whether distance between two enterprises along road network is less than 50 kilometers. If distance is less than 50 kilometers, ij e X = ,otherwise ij e =0. Step7: (1) Determine whether one of the two enterprises is a large enterprise; (2) If there is a large enterprise, and straight-line distance between two enterprises is less than 45 kilometers, ij e X = ,otherwise; (3) Determine whether distance along the road is less than 100 km, if distance is less than 100 kilometers, ij e X = , otherwise ij e =0.

Numerous studies in the world of market economy show that the share of small and medium size enterprises is constantly increasing compared to large enterprises. This does not decrease the significance of large enterprises, but the dependence between them gets larger every day. National economies which manage to find the optimal combination between small, medium size and large enterprises are more successful than the others. Management of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in conceptual terms is similar to the process of management of large enterprises. An organization must be managed in order to function and this rule applies to small and medium size enterprises.

The small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises play an increasingly important role in accelerating the economic process in China, which also makes the governments increase the financing support for the small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises. The governments should give full play to their guiding role and encourage and support the orderly flow of the idle funds to small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises. At the same time, the governments should do a good job in supervising the development of the small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises, and standardize the development of the enterprises, so that they can contribute to the development of the national economy more healthily and faster. The small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises should consciously operate and develop in an orderly manner in accordance with the laws and regulations. Problems should be solved on the basis of the laws and regulations, to better solve the financing problem.

Driven by digital technology, China's digital economy is developing rapidly, and its position in the economy and society is getting higher and higher. As the main force of China's economy, employment and GDP, SMEs have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic. It is of great practical significance to study the digital transformation of SMEs for the relief and development of SMEs after the epidemic and to promote the development of China's digital economy. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the status quo, problems and policy appeals of China's small and medium-sized enterprises' digital transformation. The survey object was the principals of 925 small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. The survey questions included 11 issues such as difficulties faced by enterprises in business operation, application of digital technology, effectiveness of digital transformation, and driving factors of digital transformation. On this basis, the study was carried out. The survey results show that SMEs in China generally have problems such as lack of digital transformation thinking, weak digital foundation, and large obstacles to digital transformation. The vulnerability of SMEs themselves and the differences between different types of SMEs increase the difficulty of digital transformation. The classified statistics of SMEs based on different dimensions such as the development stage, location, and scale of enterprises show that there are significant differences between different types of SMEs and the total sample, as well as between different types of SMEs in terms of difficulties faced in operation, effectiveness of digital transformation, status quo of digital transformation, application of digital technology, driving factors of digital transformation, and policy appeals; Meeting market demand, improving production efficiency and significantly reducing costs are the driving factors for SMEs to carry out digital transformation, but there are differences between different types of SMEs. In order to effectively promote the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises in China, it is suggested to give full play to the guidance and policy support of government departments based on the policy demands of small and medium-sized enterprises for digital transformation, accelerate the construction of new infrastructure, and provide more solid digital transformation foundation for small and medium-sized enterprises; Take multiple measures to eliminate the shortage of digital talents, improve and innovate the talent training mechanism, and provide talent support for digital transformation; Build a digital platform and network, build a cross industry and cross link digital collaboration system, open up the digital transformation path of SMEs, and boost their digital transformation and development.

This article includes analysis of factors influencing economic mechanism for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the area of dairy farming. To accomplish the main task, the authors used economic parameters of the production results of small and medium-sized enterprises according to the financial statements of federal and regional government bodies, as well as official data from the Central Bank of Russia, the Territorial Authority of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Chelyabinsk Region and data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Federal Tax Service. The Chelyabinsk Region was chosen as a typical region for study. This research was conducted based on data from the register of small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on statistical data, small and medium-sized enterprises were divided into groups, economic parameters were calculated for each group of subjects, quantitative factors were defined that have the greatest impact on the efficiency of the economic mechanism for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.