Business Support Organizations Research Articles

A Study of the Relationship between Social Media Marketing through Influencer Marketing and SMEs: Applied on the Egyptian Small and Medium Enterprises

This paper explores the multidimensional influence of social media marketing on Egypt’s Small and Medium Enterprises. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, integrating surveys, interviews, and case studies to give a thorough analysis. The study begins by assessing the amount of social media marketing adoption among Egyptian SMEs and identifying the most regularly used platforms. It evaluates the frequency and characteristics of social media interactions among SMEs, including consumer engagement and collaborations. Furthermore, the study assesses the problems associated with resource limits, digital literacy, and cultural issues in incorporating social media into SME operations. In addition, the study explores the impact of content created by users and online reviews on brand impression and consumer loyalty. The study also examines whether having an active social media presence corresponds with increasing revenue, market share expansion, and globalization activities. It investigates the role of social media marketing in promoting SMEs’ access to finance and collaborations. In conclusion, this thesis contributes to the existing literature by conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of social media marketing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt. It highlights the immense potential of social media and identifies various challenges SMEs face. The research recommends how policymakers, business support organizations, and SME owners can leverage social media marketing to enhance competitiveness and sustainability in the Egyptian business environment. Keywords: Social Media Marketing – Marketing – SMEs – Egypt.

Business development in Ukraine with the support of employers' organizations and their associations

Introduction. In developing countries, state support for the development of entrepreneurship is of crucial importance, at the same time, civil society organizations play an important role in achieving business success of micro-entrepreneurs by providing various services, consultations, defending the interests of the business community in interaction with the authorities. Non-governmental business support organizations contribute to the development not only of their members, because by providing business support and acting on behalf of the business community to improve the conditions for conducting economic activity, such organizations as a result ensure the development of the country's economy as a whole. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the possibilities of employers' organizations and their associations in promoting business development in Ukraine. Results. Employers' organizations and their associations play an important role in the formation and implementation of state economic policy, regulation of labor, social, and economic relations. The activities of employers' organizations contribute to the establishment of effective cooperation between the business community and the authorities, including through the participation of such organizations in social dialogue. Today, the largest association of employers' organizations of Ukraine - the Federation of Employers of Ukraine takes an active part in the processes of liberalization of business conditions and implements effective support for business development, including through: lobbying business interests in the state authorities of Ukraine (local and central); support at the legislative level of various business initiatives of employers; providing opportunities for legislative and business intelligence; establishment of cooperation with foreign partners; attracting business to a wide range of events, meetings and conferences at various levels - local, national and international. The Employers' Federation of Ukraine, being a full member of the International Organization of Employers, actively promotes the interests of its members also in the international arena, in particular, regarding trade and access to foreign markets, including through participation in trade forums. Conclusions. Employers' organizations and their associations are today's important business associations that have the right to conduct collective bargaining at a certain national, sectoral, and territorial level on behalf of their members. As independent institutions, employers' organizations can influence public policy, thanks to their involvement in the processes of public policy discussion, monitoring of legislative initiatives and cooperation with the government sector. Such organizations provide specialized business resources, including professional advice and services, to assist with current issues of running and supporting business development.

The Effect of Legal Awareness, Access to Justice, and Social Support on Legal Compliance Behavior in MSMEs in Jakarta

This research investigates the influence of legal awareness, access to justice, and social support on legal compliance behavior within Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Jakarta. Utilizing a quantitative approach with a sample of 150 businesses, the study employs Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) to analyze the relationships between the key constructs. The results reveal significant positive associations between legal awareness, access to justice, social support, and legal compliance behavior. The findings emphasize the importance of legal education, improved access to justice, and supportive networks in fostering a culture of compliance among MSMEs. The study contributes to the understanding of factors influencing legal behavior in the context of small businesses and provides practical implications for policymakers, business support organizations, and MSME stakeholders.

Scenarios as collaborative tool empowering the policymaking process. The case of MedTech sector in Europe

In the paper, we analyse trends that impact the transition of the MedTech clusters in Europe to formulate growth scenarios and propose associated policy measures addressing the MedTech ecosystems while on their way to supporting Sustainable Development Goals. The study directly builds on the lessons learned within the S3martMed alliance, grouping the renowned European cluster organisations in MedTech. The research-oriented objectives of the paper are (i) to present the scenario method as a collaborative, knowledge-enabling tool for clusters and cluster policies and (ii) to identify contemporary scenarios for the MedTech sector willing to add value to transition paths of Regional Innovation Systems. Thus, the presented method and the paper itself are not retrospective but future-oriented to envisage new opportunities for SMEs, business support organisations, RTOs, and the users of MedTech products and services. The paper posits that sustainable ecosystems can be fostered by collaborative achievements of MedTech stakeholders on the condition that they keep on foreseeing the external driving forces to help policymakers to converge them into evidence-based policies.

Social Exchange Between Racial Minority Small Businesses and Small Business Support Organizations

Social Exchange Between Racial Minority Small Businesses and Small Business Support Organizations

ПРОБЛЕМА РАЗВИТИЯ ИНФРАСТРУКТУРЫ ПОДДЕРЖКИ МАЛОГО ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЬСТВА В КЕМЕРОВСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ В ПОСТСОВЕТСКИЙ ПЕРИОД

The purpose of the article is to show the regional features of the formation and development of the infrastructure to support small businesses in the Kemerovo region in the post-Soviet period. Objectives: to identify the reasons for the lag in the development of small business in the region; assess the role of various small business support organizations; to analyze other factors that influenced the development of infrastructure to support small businesses. The object of the study is infrastructural support for small businesses in the Kemerovo region in the post-Soviet period. Territorial framework — Kemerovo region. The main research method is comparative-historical. The main researchers involved in this issue: Kislyuk M.B., Surnin V.S., Novoseltsev N.R. The main reasons for the lag in the development of small business are the underdevelopment of infrastructure support; the authorities could not solve these problems in the 1990s. The Kuzbass Chamber of Commerce and Industry played a special role in supporting small business. Especially in the 1990s. The number of members gradually increased. Other bodies were also created to help entrepreneurs: the Kuzbass Technopark, a business incubator, and municipal funds to support small businesses. Also, laws and regulations were important both at the federal and regional levels.

The Role of Enterprise Europe Network in Export Activities of the Western Balkan SMEs

The Western Balkan region (WB) small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lag behind the EU-28 counterparts in their export activities. The positive influence of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) on local business support organisations and the local businesses is identified as a contributing factor to that improvement. To investigate the EEN's role in the export of the WB SMEs in the period 2014–2017, the authors used available statistical data on export from the WB countries. The survey was conducted in three phases, with the samples of 1,463, 222, and 12 companies. Analysed results of the EEN activities in the WB show that EEN had a positive influence on the firms’ performance and their international activities; 67% of supported firms increased their turnover, 62% increased their market share, and the EEN services had a positive impact on the jobs in 52% of the examined firms. The survey results about the expected and actual impact of the EEN services proved a positive impact of the Network on the five indicators: market improvement, cost savings, job creation or maintenance, quality improvement, and innovation. The paper contains important practical implications for the policymakers and the SME managers alike, and the implications mentioned above are generalisable.

On the road to Industry 4.0 in manufacturing clusters: the role of business support organisations

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the role of business support organisations (BSO) in overcoming barriers to the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, especially in disseminating knowledge on such technologies among cluster firms.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 with representatives of BSO in three manufacturing clusters (furniture, metal and automotive) in the Wielkopolska region in Poland.FindingsCompanies in clusters face important barriers impeding the adoption of I4.0 technologies, in particular, the unawareness of the characteristics and potential of those technologies. BSO might be particularly helpful in overcoming this barrier by supporting knowledge dissemination among companies. This study’s analyses suggest they can do so in three roles: as knowledge gatekeepers, as brokers of purposeful knowledge transfer and as facilitators of spontaneous knowledge diffusion. Evidence suggests that different types of organisations are more likely to be associated with each of these three roles, despite such a combination of the three often being in one place: public agencies are gatekeeping, selecting and passing on certain knowledge on I4.0; research-oriented organisations (such as technology parks) play a knowledge transfer brokerage role; industry associations and cluster initiatives are actively facilitating spontaneous knowledge diffusion.Originality/valueThis paper is a contribution to the emerging literature on digital transformations of clusters by investigating the difficulties preventing firms from adopting I4.0 technologies and the roles BSO can take on to support overcoming them.

The Scope of the Activity Carried out by Business Support Organizations in Poland

The Scope of the Activity Carried out by Business Support Organizations in Poland

Flexing the Leadership Muscle: An International Study of Entrepreneurial Resilience in Rural Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 global crisis and the ensuing lockdown of large parts of society and economic life has been an exogenous shock to society (Kuckertz et al., 2020). It is predicted the impact on the small business sector is likely to be severe (Fairlie, 2020). The findings of this international qualitative study offer a first-hand and real-time account of the adversity encountered by small rural businesses during the first lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic and insight into how their leaders exercised resilience. Drawing upon the evidence from 38 small business entrepreneurs and four business support organizations, the data pointed out three main challenges in terms of adversity relating to business model change, information flow and sense-making, and weak strategy. The study also brings new insight into five leadership practices and behaviors that help exercise entrepreneurial resiliency: personal and business experience of crises, positive mindset, personal faith, learning and leading, and relationships.

Factors impacting patent applications in European countries

AbstractThe paper investigates the gap in the number of patent applications by European countries in the period 2010–2018. During the observed period, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) received an average of 1.9 applications per million inhabitants per year from the countries of the Western Balkans (WB‐5), which is as much as 98% less than the average for the whole of Europe. The purpose of the paper is to create a model for increasing the number of patent applications in developing countries, which should lead to a higher number of granted patents. The author analyses variables that have an impact on the number of the patent applications (functional literacy, human development index, university/industry research collaboration, and gross domestic spending on R&D) in the developed (EU‐28) and developing (WB‐5) countries. The WB‐5 firms, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), do not use of the opportunities offered by intellectual property (IP) protection. They find the system too costly, complex, and difficult to manage. Based on the results of statistical analyses and conclusions from recent literature that tackles the usage of IP, the author builds a model for increasing the number of patent applications among European SMEs that is based on the support of international business support organizations (BSOs). Moreover, the author recognizes the positive impact of international IP support programmes (such as EU IPR Helpdesk ambassador scheme) on the work of local BSOs that deal with IP rights.

The institutional support for an innovation cooperation in industry: the case of Poland

Research background: Innovative economy and the business environment are important factors in the socio-economic development of a country. In a knowledge-based society, economic processes (especially innovation activity) require a specific stimulus. This stimulus can be provided by business support organization, which have been present in the Polish economy since the 1990s.
 Purpose of the article: The main goal of the article is to assess the system impact of business support organizations on cooperation in the area of new solutions (product and process innovations) in industry in Poland.
 Methods: The research method which was used in the analysis was logit modelling. Cooperation in the area of new solutions with the supplier, recipient and competitor was established as a dependent variable and business support organizations as independent variable. The analysis using logistic regression was based on comparison two groups of enterprises: those that were service recipients of support organizations and those that did not belong to this group. In this way, it was possible to determine if the use of BSO services increased the chances for innovative cooperation in industry. The survey was conducted in 2013?2017 among 6284 industrial enterprises.
 Findings & Value added: The survey showed that business support organizations significantly and systematically influence the establishment of innovative cooperation. Recipients of support organizations twice more often cooperated with suppliers and recipients than entities that did not. Stimulation of cooperation with competitors by BSO was weaker than it was in the case of suppliers and recipients. The conducted study provided information on the level of development of the national innovation system in catching-up countries on the example of Poland. It was pointed out that in economically weak territories, one should focus on stimulating innovative activity as such, while in the developed ones should be transferred to more advanced forms, i.e. innovative cooperation.

Innovation Activity in Industry and Business Support Organizations in Poland in 2013–2017

Innovation Activity in Industry and Business Support Organizations in Poland in 2013–2017

The micro-foundations of global business incubation: Stakeholder engagement and strategic entrepreneurial partnerships

This paper explores the micro-foundations of global business incubation by examining how stakeholders influence the development of technology business incubation platforms and entrepreneurial activities in the context of strategic entrepreneurial partnerships. By drawing from stakeholder theory, we propose a conceptual framework that articulates how stakeholder engagement—including local governments, universities, and business support organizations—varies over time by engaging with entrepreneurs in the form of collaborative partnerships. This paper investigates two technology business incubators in China and the UK through a comparative lens and offers empirical evidence to support its theoretical argumentation. From a temporal perspective, we found that different types of stakeholders play different roles in deploying three distinctive mechanisms—namely, initiating, orchestrating and partaking—during the developmental trajectory involved in the launch and development of entrepreneurial ventures. Importantly, from a micro-foundational perspective, we highlight the agency-orientated activities championed by entrepreneurial organizations situated in global strategic partnership contexts.

The stakeholder ecosystem of women entrepreneurs in South African townships

ABSTRACT The literature on women entrepreneurs indicates that they have a positive influence on national economic growth and employment levels, yet the lived experience of women business owners in the highly constrained setting of South African townships has not been reported in academic literature. This study thus explored the role of the various stakeholders by conducting semi-structured interviews with 40 women entrepreneurs in eight townships, as well as leaders of five small business support organisations. The research provides a unique insight into the contextual complexities faced by these female business owners, offers a model of their stakeholder relationships, and identifies inhibiting and enabling factors in these relationships.

Support of innovation activity in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Greater Poland Voivodeship

Motivation: Small and medium-sized enterprises, due to their large number, play an important role in the development of the Polish economy. Therefore, the focus should be on creating the right frameworks for their functioning — they should allow them to develop and stimulate the implementation of innovative solutions. Business support organizations (BSOs) are one of the entities that can facilitate development ant stimulation. The main types of BSOs in Poland are: technological parks and incubators, academic business incubators, centers for technology transfer, business angels networks, local/regional load funds, credit guarantee funds, and training and consulting centers. These entities should contribute to the implementation of new solutions in the surveyed enterprises and improve their competitive position. Aim: The aim of the article is to identify impact of business support organization on the innovation activity in industrial enterprises in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The research hypothesis is the claim that BSOs increase the odds of implementation of new products and process in enterprises, but their impact will be different. The hypothesis will be validated on a sample of 442 small and medium-sized, manufacturing companies, which are located in Greater Poland Voivodeship. To carry out the study a multi-factor logit regression method will be used. Results: The research hypothesis is confirmed — BSOs increase the chances on innovation activity but their influence is different. Most effective are training and consulting centers and financing organizations, but this institution stimulate the implementation of new products and processes on the scale of the enterprise and innovation centers (technology parks, academic business incubators and technology transfer offices) of the country.

Influence of business support organizations on innovation activity in manufacturing companies in the Masovian Voivodeship in Poland

Research background: The first business support organizations (BSO) appeared in Poland in the 90s of the last century. They were transferred from Western Europe and the United States, where they provided system solutions and played an important role in stimulating innovation activity. However, the latter regions are economically developed, while Poland is playing catch-up. The important question is whether business support organizations will significantly increase the innovative potential of Polish enterprises.
 Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to probe the impact of business support organizations on innovation activity in Polish industrial companies. It remains to be determined whether enterprises which use BSO services are more likely to engage in innovation activities than enterprises which do not use such services.
 Methods: To carry out the study, a multi-factor logit regression method was used. In this study, the method allows the determination of the odds ratio for the likely occurrence of innovation activity in companies that used the services of BSOs compared to enterprises that did not do so. The attributes of innovation activity have been singled out in accordance with the international standards of the Oslo methodology. The study was conducted in 2015 for the years 2012?2014 based on a sample of 951 manufacturing companies in the Masovian Voivodeship.
 Findings & Value added: In the Masovian Voivodeship it is the technological parks and training and consulting centres which have the most advanced degree of influence on the innovation activity of enterprises. The roles of technology incubators, and loan and guarantee funds are also significant. With regard to cooperation on innovation, there is a much better arrangement in sectoral systems, i.e., with suppliers, customers and competitors, than with scientific institutions.

SUPPORT OF INNOVATION ACTIVITY IN THE INDUSTRY IN 2014-2016 - CASE OF KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE VOIVODESHIP

Business support organisations are one of the tools of stimulate innovative activity of enterprises. The aim of the article was to assess their impact on the implementation of new solutions in industrial enterprises in the kujawsko-pomorskie Voivodeship. The research hypothesis was the claim that business support institutions increase the chances of implementing new products in enterprises, however due to their specificity (diversity of tasks undertaken, target groups of services recipients or necessary personnel competences) their impact will be different. The correctness of the research hypothesis was verified on a group of 322 industrial enterprises using the probability theory (logit modeling).As a result of the conducted analyzes, it can be concluded that the research hypothesis was confirmed – business support organizations increased the chances of conducting innovative activity in the surveyed enterprises, however, the most effective were technology parks and training and consulting centers. In addition, in the kujawsko-pomorskie voivodeship, few enterprises used the services of support institutions.

The impact of business support organizations on the innovative activity of Lubusz industrial enterprises

The impact of business support organizations on the innovative activity of Lubusz industrial enterprises Business support institutions are one of the institutional solutions that are aimed at stimulating innovation, and influenced by innovation policy. The aim of the article was to determine the impact of business support institutions on the innovative activity of enterprises that use their services in comparison to entities that do not. However, the research hypothesis was that institutions will increase the chances of running innovation activity and cooperation, but the impact will be diversified. 756 industrial enterprises from the Lubusz voivodeship took part in the survey. It was carried out in 2014 for the years of 2011-2013. The multifactorial logit modelling was used as the research model. As a result of the conducted analyses, it was established that technology parks and training and consulting centres are a strong link of supporting the innovation of industrial enterprises in the region. In addition, innovation centres, such as technology parks, technology incubators, technology transfer centres and business angel networks increase the chances of incurring expenditures on research and development activities. In the voivodeship, the institutions also initiate cooperation in the area of new solutions. Entrepreneurs are more likely to cooperate with each other than to transfer knowledge from the sphere of science to business.

A Framework for Integrating Ecosystem Services into China’s Circular Economy: The Case of Eco-Industrial Parks

Identified as critical for sustainable development, ecosystem services are increasingly being put on the policy agendas of governments and corporations. China is now facing serious environmental challenges caused by losses of ecosystem services and recently has recognized that the country is reaching its environmental capacity. The circular economy (CE) has been positioned as a key strategy for national economic and social development by the national government as a way to resolve problems of resource depletion and environmental pollution. It will be increasingly critical to link ecosystem services to the CE. This means that the CE needs to be expanded to include restoration and regeneration of ecosystem services. This paper proposes a framework comprised of components including policies, governance, techniques and technologies, business development, key actors and support organizations for incorporating ecosystem services into the CE and focuses on industrial ecosystems, specifically eco-industrial parks (EIPs), as microcosms of a CE. Taking China as an example, this paper explores whether this framework can be applied to EIPs. The paper concludes that there are many opportunities to apply the framework to China’s EIPs.