Performance Of Micro Firms Research Articles

Unlocking the double-dividend: Evaluating the impact of SO₂ emissions trading scheme on firm's environmental and economic performance

The optimal design of environmental instruments demands a balance between environmental enhancement and economic growth. Utilizing microdata from the China Environmental Statistics Database and the China Industrial Firm Database, this study employs the difference-in-differences (DD) methodology to explore the dual effects of the SO₂ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on the environmental and economic performance of micro-firms. The findings suggest that: (1) The SO₂ ETS not only induces emission reduction effects among firms in pilot areas but also improves their industrial added value. (2) The SO₂ ETS exhibits heterogeneous impacts across firms of diverse ownership, export status, and size. (3) While the SO₂ ETS prompts firms to advance technologically, boosting desulfurization capacities and subsequently enhancing total factor productivity, it also inadvertently results in companies offsetting some environmental compliance costs by curtailing employee wages.

Family Support, Managerial Self-Efficacy, and Performance of Micro-Firms in Tourism Destinations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The high performance of micro-firms in tourism destinations is strongly associated with the quality of tourist experience and regional tourism development. Thus, improving micro-firms’ performance is an important research issue for promoting the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Existing business and management literature in hospitality and tourism focuses on managers’ personal characteristics, strategic management perspectives, and business environment to understand the performance determinants of micro-firms. Taking a sociological perspective and considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study highlights the role of family support on micro-firms’ performance. It investigates not only the direct influence of family support on performance but also the mediation effect of managerial self-efficacy in the relationship. Based on survey data from 205 micro-firms in Jeongseon-gun County in South Korea, this study performed a partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the hypotheses. This study showed that both instrumental and emotional family support has a positive effect on perceived performance. Furthermore, to elucidate the crucial path by which family support leads to performance, this study also shows that managerial self-efficacy mediates the relationships between different family supports and business performance.

관광지 소기업의 사회적 자본이 경영성과에 미치는 직접효과와 경영자의 자기효능감이 가지는 매개효과 분석 : 강원도 정선지역 상권을 중심으로

Development of tourism destinations is a critical driver of regional and national economic growth. The performance of micro-firms in tourism destinations is deeply associated with service quality perceived by tourists, strongly influencing the competitiveness of tourism destination and promoting tourist loyalty to the destination. To understand the performance of micro-firms, exiting literature in tourism and hospitality has adopted various business and management perspectives, such as personal characteristics of managers, organizational resources and capabilities, and business environment. Despite the theoretical diversity, the previous studies have relied heavily on theories in business and management studies. To overcome the limitation, this study adopts sociological perspective to predict the performance of micro-firms in tourism destination. This study proposes a structural equation model in which micro-firms’ social capital has a positive effect on performance and the managers’ self-efficacy mediates the relationship between social capital and performance. For an empirical analysis, this study performed a survey of 205 micro-firms in Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do Province in South Korea and carried out hypothesis tests. The analysis results found that the social capital has a positive and significant impact on the performance. Furthermore, this research shows that the self-efficacy of managers has a full mediation effect on the relationship, suggesting that the managers’ self-efficacy is the critical path that connects micro-firms’ social capital and performance.

Natural events and performance of micro firms: the impact of floods on shops in Uganda

The impact of natural events on local economy is a key issue on the agenda of policymakers around the world and particularly in developing countries. This paper discusses the impact of floods on micro businesses development. We provide evidence on how the frequency of events is correlated with shops business performance in Uganda. We exploit a unique dataset from a direct survey on micro retail shops within a project launched by the Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development. Data come from a survey on 13 cities and villages where floods occur regularly and are a major problem for population. After controlling for both shop manager and business characteristics, expectedly we find that floods impact negatively on business performance. However business performance is likely to decrease less when events occur with more frequency. This may indicate a sort of adaptation behaviour by shop managers when floods occur regularly. Also, the significance of shop manager’s individual characteristics suggests that policies for boosting micro business should improve human capital, with peculiar attention to women and young people. Our findings also suggest that encouraging some forms of network economies may positively impact business performance.

The Effect of Brand Management and Product Quality on Firm Performance: The Italian Craft Brewing Sector

ABSTRACTThe article contributes to the limited literature on marketing strategies of microfirms operating in new niches within mature industries. The study explores the effect of brand management processes and product quality on performance of microfirms in the Italian brewing industry. Preliminary qualitative interviews with eight entrepreneurs were realized. Then 92 questionnaires were collected from the entire population of 335 microbreweries operating in Italy for quantitative analysis. Findings suggest intrinsic product quality being the most relevant determinants of firms’ performance, while the adoption of brand management processes exerts a significant, negative impact. The article takes into account the relationship between brand management, quality, and performance by focusing on a single industry. Future research may enhance the significance of our findings by including multiple sectors. Entrepreneurs and microbusiness leaders should carefully assess both external (industry life-cycle stage) and internal (resource availability) factors before engaging in any brand management activity. In mature firms, it may be more beneficial and effective focusing on enhancing product quality. The article addresses an important gap regarding the adoption of brand management practices in microfirms, adding to the emerging strategic marketing literature in the small business field.

Competence development and performance among Swedish micro firms

Purpose – This study examines the association between performance and competence development among Swedish micro firms, measured as number of hours per person a company allocates annually to competence development. Design/methodology/approach – A panel dataset consisting of around 395 firms will be analyzed using seemingly unrelated regression-model (SUR-model) for relationships between the hours allocated to competence development and various proxies for business performance, and the relationship between attending a business training program and various proxies for business performance. Findings – The empirical results are mixed showing a positive association between owners' attendance on a business training program and company performance merely with regard to four performance variables: better job satisfaction within a company, increased number of employees, organizational improvements and increased exports. However, the findings provide no evidence to suggest that there is a link between competence development and other performance variables. Practical implications – The present study provides a better understanding of the relationship between company performance and competence development. An investment in entrepreneur training and education could ensure the improvement of the performance of micro firms. This implication is especially relevant to firms in such industries as the service sectors, which are highly competitive. Originality/value – This study is based on a unique sample including many relevant variables, compared to previous researches. To the authors' best knowledge, this study is the one of the first empirical investigations focusing on this issue in the Swedish context.

The performance of micro firms in Kosova: size, age and educational implications

In this paper we aim to measure the performance of micro firms operating in trade sector in Kosova, and to analyse how a firm's size, its age and the entrepreneur's educational background influence the firm performance. In a two-stage analysis we first employ the Data Envelopment Analyses (DEA) technique and afterwards a censored Tobit regression. The results indicate that the firm size negatively influences the efficiency of the firms while the newer the firm is, the better it performs. As expected, the educational background of the entrepreneur positively affects the performance of the micro firm. Considering the results, several policy recommendations were given for entrepreneurs and policymakers.

The Behaviour and Performance of Young Micro Firms: Evidence from Businesses in Scotland

This paper is an empirical study, making appeal to firsthand evidence gathered by face-to-face interviews with the owner-managers of 150 small firms in Scotland. It investigates the performance of the micro firm in the early years of its life cycle, by reference to four key behavioural characteristics: (i) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis; (ii) the gathering of trade intelligence on the firm's rivals; (iii) the use of information technology (IT) in the business; and (iv) financial form and the owner-manager's preferences as regards the form of their equity stake holding. Seven propositions, based on the evidence accumulated, are formulated, and tested. These are illustrated by boxplots and cross-tabulations, and supported with chi-square statistics for testing measures of association. Taken together, the data provide an illuminating picture of the strategic behaviour of the young micro firm, and the subsequent effect that actions can have on firm performance. In particular, it is found that the use of IT in clusters of devices has a highly significant positive association with performance.