Small Business Management Research Articles

Coupled open innovation and dynamic capabilities: Their effect on low-tech micro and small firms’ innovation

This study examines the impact of coupled open innovation and dynamic capabilities processes on innovation performance. A Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis on data from surveying a quota sample of 213 Tanzanian Micro and Small Furniture Industries (MSFIs) reveals that dynamic capabilities form sequential processes mediating the significantly positive effect of coupled open innovation on innovation performance. These findings underscore the synergy between dynamic capabilities and open innovation perspectives, emphasizing the importance for micro and small business managers and policymakers to cultivate complementary sets of dynamic capabilities for the effective realization of innovation performance

Exploring Contributions of J. G. Carrasco Ramirez

J.G.Carrasco Ramirez, an international lawyer specializing in Strategic Planning, AI, Information Architectures, and Machine Learning, has made notable contributions to academic research, particularly in management and small business domains. Based in the USA, Carrasco Ramirez's work has been featured in esteemed academic journals, with a recent focus on analyzing the CR model from a planning perspective. This paper aims to provide an extensive overview of Carrasco Ramirez's academic endeavors, with a primary emphasis on his latest research from 2023, offering insights into the impact of his work on strategic planning. Over the past five years, Carrasco Ramirez has published extensively in renowned international journals, covering topics such as Information Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and applications in various sectors, including healthcare and small business management. Carrasco Ramirez's diverse research interests demonstrate his commitment to exploring cutting-edge topics and their practical implications.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF MANAGEMENT IN SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Since the development of small business is approved as one of the strategic goals of the national economy of Republic of Uzbekistan, study of the small business management issues becomes relevant today. In this regard, our article aims to discuss the features of management specific for small businesses in order to study best practices that can enhance small business growth. The different works of various researchers and specialists are observed regarding the topic of the study. management methods for running of small entities are reviewed. During the study, both advantages and disadvantages of small business management are observed in detail. And the series of modern software products are offered for small businesses which aim at facilitating business processes.

Modern approaches to registration and simplified system of taxation of natural persons-entrepreneurs.

Modern challenges in the conditions of war and pandemic require a quick response in the economic sphere, since it is the foundation that holds the military front. And therefore, stopping the economy will "bleed" the already extremely depleted budget. The task of the state is to prevent enterprises from stopping, as well as to stimulate small business, which has always been a powerful source of filling the state treasury.
 The purpose of the study is to simplify the registration, management and taxation of small businesses, including construction, as much as possible.
 The article analyzes the new changes in the Tax Code of Ukraine (Tax Code of Ukraine) taking into account the simplified system of taxation of individual entrepreneurs. The main advantages of legal business conduct are identified, various options for its registration (including remote) are shown, new possible options for generating an electronic signature are presented, the issue of business legalization without registration of a sole proprietorship and those who can take advantage of such an opportunity is considered, and what changes are subject to sole proprietorship payers 1-3 groups of the unified tax in 2023, the peculiarities of their document flow and taxation during the period of martial law, given specific advice on filling out declarations by entrepreneurs; a number of errors for which FPOs deprive the payer of the single tax, as well as typical errors of self-registration of FPOs, are defined; an alternative approach to the preferential taxation system for the construction business has been revealed, which will make it possible to take advantage of the simplified taxation system. Several points have been highlighted to improve the requirements for taxpayers of the 1-3 groups of the single tax by the state (in particular, adequate consideration of the inflation factor), a number of encouraging steps have been revealed from power structures to starting your own business.
 The issue of digitization and development of modern electronic services for taxpayers was also on the agenda. Today, digitization is considered a necessary factor for the functioning of public enterprises. This procedure should become simple, understandable, convenient, easy and familiar in application for any average citizen of Ukraine. And such a transformation is possible thanks to the implementation of the e-cabinet in the taxpayer's profile.

Practice of Business Intelligence System in Nepalese Small and Medium Enterprises

Everywhere, competition has increased in the digital age. Modern technology makes small business management difficult as well. Customers are aware of the international market. The most recent advancement in management is business intelligence. A data-driven decision to address the challenge encountered by any corporate organization is the current dilemma in management, as opposed to an intuitive or constrained logical decision. Any corporate organization should be concerned with decoding the message from data via scientific analysis. The analysis in this study included 504 Nepalese SEMs. We questioned companies in the manufacturing, service, wholesale, and retail industries on how they used business intelligence in their operations. The survey found that Nepalese SMEs are only just beginning to use business intelligence. For Nepalese businessmen, technological literacy is of the utmost importance. The major worry of Nepalese SMEs is the fear of losing sensitive data.

The Effect of Organizational Culture, Job Satisfaction on Entrepreneurship and Innovativeness in SMEs in Bogor City

This study looks into the connections between innovation, entrepreneurship, work happiness, and organizational culture in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) located in Bogor City. This study looks at the link between these factors utilizing a quantitative method in which SPSS is used. The results validate the hypotheses (H1 and H2) by demonstrating the strong influence of corporate culture on entrepreneurship and innovativeness. Furthermore, entrepreneurship and innovativeness are significantly positively impacted by job satisfaction, supporting hypotheses (H3 and H4). Moreover, H5 was supported by the finding that entrepreneurship was a major predictor of innovativeness. These results highlight the critical roles that job happiness and company culture play in encouraging entrepreneurial endeavors, which in turn boost SMEs' capacity for innovation. The study's conclusions offer useful advice to Bogor City's small business owners and managers, offering methods for enhancing worker happiness, creating a supportive workplace culture, and eventually encouraging innovation in SMEs.

A qualitative study of factors that managers in small companies consider important for their wellbeing

ABSTRACT Purpose Given the importance of small businesses for society, and the significance of managers’ wellbeing for employee health, leadership, and business performance, more knowledge is needed on the sources of managers’ wellbeing. This study explored factors within the small business context that were perceived by managers to hinder or enable their wellbeing. Methods Data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with 20 managers from 12 small companies, and analysed with content analysis. Results The factors that these managers in small businesses experienced as enhancing or hindering their personal wellbeing covered five categories: demands and resources in the daily managerial work, achievement of results, social factors, organizational factors, and individual factors. Conclusions The specific context of managerial work in small companies encompasses unique factors. For instance, the small company managers’ wellbeing was affected by vulnerability due to the smallness of the business and the absence of available resources. Simultaneously, a small company context provided a strong social climate and close relationships with employees and customers that strengthened the managers’ wellbeing. The findings suggest that the availability of financial, personnel, and organizational resources varies between small companies of different size, which may have implications for small business managers’ work and wellbeing.

Key innovation abilities on capability and the performance of women entrepreneurs: the role of entrepreneurial education and proactive personality

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to ascertain the influence of innovation conviction, innovation mindset and innovation creed on the performance of women entrepreneurs in South African small and medium enterprises and their capacity for innovation. The study also examined how proactive personality and entrepreneurial education moderate the relationship between innovative capability and women entrepreneurs' performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a quantitative research design and administered a questionnaire to collect data from participants. Since there was no sampling frame available, purposive sampling, a non-probability sampling technique, was used to select suitable respondents who were identified as entrepreneurial women. Data were collected from 304 women entrepreneurs in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The data were analyzed using smart partial least squares.FindingsThe findings demonstrated that innovation conviction, innovation mindset and innovation creed have a positive impact on innovation capability. It was also discovered that innovation capability, proactive personality and entrepreneurial education all positively and significantly impact women entrepreneurs' performance. Furthermore, the results showed that entrepreneurial education and proactive personality had a positive and significant moderating effect on the nexus between innovation capability and the performance of women entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThis study will add to the body of knowledge on women's small business management and entrepreneurship in Africa, two topics that are typically ignored by academics in developing nations.

Priorities of Small Business Management

The economic stabilization of a country in a market economytransition period significantly depends on the society's stability.Small businesses are the basis of today's Georgian economics,but because of unsuitable management, advantagesof this form of business organization are not completely realized.Mostly small entrepreneur structures are handled bytheir owners, but it is not always advisable. Mainly nonhierarchicalsmall business management structures do not giverise to formal relations, what not existence of suitable managingstyle stipulates inadequate organization behavior, butunorganized management becomes primitive. It is often thereason small business entrepreneurs fail. So, suitable managementfor small business is as necessary as initial capital,tangible assets and other factors of development. Because ofsmall business managements, un-development increased followingnegative events: diversification policy directingbecomes harder because of little opportunities to overcomethe difficulties of entering and leaving from one sector toanother, effective inventions attraction opportunities arereduced while groundless business-strategy conditions;bankrupt risk is large because of uncompetitive managerialdecisions; the quality of using business consulting is low andit is often used not to make optimal decisions but to documentingalready made decisions; business educations systemin Georgia can't satisfy the requirements of small business,because neither entrepreneurs have exact formulateddemand on managerial education, nor is the active staffersre-training system market adequate. It's clear that solving theaforesaid problems is impossible without concerning consensusachievement of stakeholders and strong will. Most managersand entrepreneurs pay less attention to strategicapproaches while managing small business structures.Managers of small structures are required to be flexiblethinkers and dynamic actors in the marketplace, while estimatingstrategic alternatives for elaborating the most preferablestrategy by observation of the environment without complexresearch. They provide SWOT analyze, estimate competitiveness,foresee opportunities of outsourcing, analyze valuechains, plan business operations and project organizationprocess and etc. All of this requires a special style of management,one which must provide small business advantagessuch as: high maneuvering, flexibility, effective informational-communicative connection, entrepreneur - innovativepotential and other. Time budgeting by a manager mustinclude equal expenses for work planning-organizing andcontrol, also motivation and support for employees.

Effect of Entrepreneurial Skills on the Performance of Women-Owned Enterprises in Makurdi Metropolis, Benue State

Women entrepreneurs play a fundamental role to the development of economies across the nations. The success of women-owned enterprises depends on the possession of different entrepreneurial skills. The research is carried out to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial skills on the performance of women-owned enterprises in Makurdi Metropolis. The study employed a survey research method and a questionnaire was distributed to 127 owner-managers of businesses owned by women in Makurdi Metropolis. Data retrieved from the participants were analysed and presented in tables. Regression was used as the technique of data analysis and test of hypotheses using SPSS version 23. The outcomes of the study revealed that accounting skills, marketing skills and human relations skills have a significant and positive effect on the performance of women-owned businesses. The study concludes that entrepreneurial skills are vital for business performance. It recommended amongst others that owners and managers of small scale businesses should improve their accounting skills for proper record keeping and marketing skills in identifying business opportunities.

Financial Management Strategies and the Sustainability of Small-Scale Business in River State Public Universities, Nigeria

The study examined financial management strategies and the sustainability of small-scale business in River State public universities, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised sixty-five (65) small-scale business operators that registered with the university management in the study area. A 20-item questionnaire titled “Financial Management Strategies and the Sustainability of Small-Scale Businesses (FMSSSSB)” tool was utilized for data collection. Fifteen (15) small-business owners from the University of Calabar were used to test the internal consistency that produced an overall reliability coefficient of 0.79. The study issues were addressed employing the mean (X) and standard deviations (SD), bar graph, line graph and an independent t-test was employed to assess the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Results show that records management techniques and inventory management control influence the Sustainability of Small-Scale Businesses in River State public universities. It was determined that records are crucial to the management of small businesses' sustainability and that they must be treated carefully throughout their creation, maintenance, and disposal. As records are the cornerstone and foundation upon which modern business exists, it was also advised, amid other things, that owners of small businesses try to get involved in the records management process.
 
 Received: 18 August 2023 / Accepted: 21 October 2023 / Published: 5 November 2023

THE MEDIATING AND MODERATING EFFECT ON SMES' PERFORMANCE: DOES RELIGIOSITY MATTER?

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are entities managed and controlled by the owners. The performance of the owners strongly reflects the business performance of the SMEs. That is also the way of looking into the study aiming at analyzing the performance of SMEs from an Islamic perspective, which can be viewed from the owners' religiosity and financial behaviour. This framework is still rarely found in shari'a economics literature. This also involves further consideration of the need for Islamic values on the performance of small businesses in countries with Muslim-majority. Using a survey research design, 238 small business owners and managers participated in responding to a self-registered questionnaire research instrument. Using PLS-SEM, the research instrument has been tested for its validity and reliability and the variable's influence. The result proves that religiosity does not directly affect the performance of SMEs but indirectly influences the performance through financial behaviour. It means that religiosity forms good financial behaviour, and then the financial behaviour increases business performance. This study also finds that gender moderates the effect of religiosity on the behaviour of SME owners or managers. Furthermore, business age reduces the effect of financial behaviour on performance. The results of this study warn that old businesses should not make SMEs owners feel comfortable and resistant to change unless they fail to gain good business performance.

Openness and Sensing Capacity: The Case of Micro and Small Furniture Industries in Tanzania

Mainstream open innovation (openness) research has directly linked it to innovation performance, leaving intermediary processes such as innovation opportunity recognition (sensing capacity) not fully explained. This study examined the relationship between openness (inbound and coupled openness) and sensing capacity. The study surveyed a quota sample of 213 micro and small furniture industries (MSFIs) in Tanzania’s cities of Arusha, Mbeya, and Dar es-salaam and applied a close-ended questionnaire to collect data from owners (managers) of the micro and small furniture industries. Subsequently, the study used partial least square structural modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data and found that inbound openness positively affects sensing capacity directly and indirectly through coupled openness. Coupled openness partially mediates the effect of inbound openness on sensing capacity. Also, coupled openness positively affects sensing capacity. Openness and dynamic capabilities views are complementary; small business managers embracing inbound and coupled openness enhance their sensing capacity.

Knowledge Retention Strategy and Performance of Small And Medium Enterprises in Ado-Ekiti Metropolis

The study looked at the performance of small and medium-sized businesses in Ado-Ekiti Metropolis and their knowledge retention strategy. The study took the form of a descriptive survey research design. The study’s participants were 11,663 owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses in the Ado-Ekiti Metropolitan Area. Yamane was used to collect 387 samples (1967). The study’s primary data was collected via a standardised questionnaire. Regression was used to examine the data collected. The findings show that all of the explanatory factors’ constructs have a significant impact on the performance of small and medium-sized businesses in Ado-Ekiti Metropolis.

Leveraging corporate sustainability through responsible innovation: Capacity building with exploration and exploitation

The growing literature on corporate sustainability suggests its positive implications for organizations and stakeholders. Based on the social identity approach, the current study aims to investigate whether responsible innovation can leverage these sustainability advantages of companies to improve organizational commitment and competitiveness. Responsible innovation has been integrated into an original model as a construct that translates corporate sustainability into organizational outcomes to meet stakeholders' needs and to frame and solve the sustainability‐related tensions in an ethical way. The study also attempts to examine the mediating impacts of exploration and exploitation orientations on the proposed link between corporate sustainability and responsible innovation. The model was validated by using the partial least squares structural equation modelling method on a sample of 196 middle managers in small businesses in Turkey. The findings reveal that responsible innovation has a significant mediation effect on the proposed links, and both exploration and exploitation elicit the innovation capacity in sustainability practices. The study also supports the argument on the positive impact of exploitation on exploration.

Psychological features of business managers' decision-making in a situation of uncertainty

Introduction. The long-term global upheavals (economic crises, pandemics, wars) require a review of decision-making strategies by the management of business organizations. Aim. To identify the leading decision-making styles used by managers of small and medium-sized business in stressful situations and the styles’ impact on managers' job adaptation in war conditions. Methods. The study was conducted on a sample of 109 business managers and entrepreneurs using the Melbourne Decision-Making Questionnaire and the General Decision-Making Style Questionnaire. The individual psychological characteristics of business managers and levels of their adaptation were explored using S. Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) (adapted by O. Veldbrecht and N. I. Tavrovetska), N. Carleton Intolerance to Uncertainty Scale (IUS-12)(adapted by G. Gromova), General Self-Efficacy Scale (adapted by I. Galetska), Life Orientation Test (dispositional optimism) (LOT-R) (adapted by S. Lukova), and a specially designed questionnaire (I. Syngayivska, H. Gura). Results. The leading business managers' decision-making styles during the first year of a full-scale war included mainly the rational, intuitive and spontaneous styles. The formation of managerial competence was accompanied by managers' readiness to make important decisions, which is manifested in managers' reluctance to use defensive reactions: avoidance, postponement, transfer of responsibility, and impulsivity. Maladaptive styles formed a symptom complex based on personal traits and tendencies rather than on cognitive characteristics. A comparative analysis of groups with different levels of adaptability (successful, problematic and super-successful) demonstrated the impact of different decision-making styles on job adaptation. In situations of uncertainty, the traditionally successful decision-making style, which was based on a thorough analysis of information, lost its adaptive value. Conclusions. The obtained results may be helpful for effective responding to challenges and sustainable functioning of business in crisis conditions.

Professional management knowledge as a factor of accelerated development of Kazakhstan

The article describes the domestic experience of large-scale implementation of project management and the creation of a Management Knowledge Center at Satbayev University as a segment of a research hub of modern technologies and support for the development of competencies of managers of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The authors focus on the problem of inconsistency of the level of managerial knowledge of Kazakhstani small business managers with the current needs of the development of companies in the dynamics of market relations, its analysis and solution. The article proposes an approach to identifying the technological maturity of an enterprise in the field of management. Scientific methods such as bibliometric analysis, keyword analysis, generalization, comparison, analysis, synthesis, classification, expert evaluation, factor analysis, embedded observation method, etc. were used in the course of the study. When choosing and forming productive management models, one of the principles of the agile-approach is applied – simplicity is the art of maximizing the amount of work that does not need to be done. The concept of enterprise management based on the ideas and principles of Agile-technologies is proposed to increase the share of their contribution to the gross domestic product of the country (GDP), contributing to an increase in the level of professional managerial competencies of the head of the organization. The process of preparation of the domestic system of formation, transfer and assessment of knowledge of owners and managers of SMEs in Kazakhstan is reflected. The obtained results and recommendations of the study, with their large-scale implementation, will significantly increase the contribution of SMEs both to the country's GDP and to the development of innovative technologies, provided that the organization's team must continuously explore and analyze possible ways to improve the efficiency of its own work, constantly exchange information on the project, be motivated and have the resources for this.

Relevant factors for the management of small agrotourism businesses

The purpose of the article is to describe the relevant factors of agritourism management for small businesses, based on the benefits that this type of rural tourism has shown, especially in times of pandemic, as an excellent sustainable tourism option. For which the research was carried out through the deductive method, where various aspects were explored by analyzing several case studies of companies involved, supported by information from other scientific articles and literature for a broader understanding. Allowing us to establish the relevant factors for efficient and effective management of agritourism in small businesses, whose main pillars are value management, operations, sustainability and development. Constituting an innovative proposal that facilitates the agrotourism management of small businesses, since, based on global experiences, it systematically provides key elements that must be considered, if you want to benefit economically, reducing social impacts and minimizing environmental impact, pillars fundamentals of sustainability.

Human capital and business growth of the Startups: an approach to the state of the art

This document is a systematic and bibliometric review on the transitory characteristics and research trends in the last 7 years, on human capital and business growth in the field of startups. The exploration was carried out in the bibliographic database Scopus, obtaining 111 documents, including articles, book chapters, books, conferences and abstracts, in the areas of knowledge related to the topic. For this, the Biblioshiny web interface of the Bibliometrix package of the statistical program Rstudio was used, the file was processed in csv format downloaded from the Scopus metasearch engine. The results suggest a higher percentage of scientific articles (79 %), with a higher volume in 2021 (25 works), while the Journal of small business management stands out as having a great impact and one of the authors with the highest H index, was Frid C.J. with an indicator of 2 points, together with Gartner W.B., Nigam N. and Wyman D.M. Regarding the analysis of co-occurrences of words, the terms entrepreneuship and human capital are the most relevant and those that have the strongest relationship in the field of study.

Implementasi Data Mining Pada Sistem Informasi Menggunakan Fp-Growth

The use of technology in various fields in the current era is very helpful to be more efficient. One of them is in utilizing information systems to process data. This research aims to analyze transaction data that is useful for small and medium business managers. The data collection methods used in this research are interviews and observations. Website development using Visual Studio with Python programming language and MySQL database. The information system designed consists of several pages including dashboard, master data, data exploration and fp-growth analysis page. The results of this study are in the form of an Information System for analyzing the fp-growth algorithm using the flask library to facilitate users in obtaining information on the results of the analysis. The pages contained in the system are the login page, dashboard page, master data page, data exploration page and fp-growth page which contains analysis results.