Small Technology Companies Research Articles

Value Creation Models of the Collaboration between MSMEs and Financial Technology Companies towards Innovation and Revenue Growth (A Study on Culinary MSMEs in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Medan - Indonesia)

This research examines the relationship and impact of value creation models from the collaboration between Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Financial Technology (Fintech) companies on innovation and revenue growth within MSMEs. Fintech revolutionizes the financial sector with digital solutions for various business processes, benefiting MSMEs by addressing financing, electronic payments, cash management challenges and other business matters. This study focus on value creations through MSME-fintech collaboration and their effects on innovation and revenue growth in MSME, while previous studies highlight fintech's advantages. The research questions include: (1) What value creations arise from the collaboration? (2) How do these value creations impact innovation and revenue growth in MSMEs? A structural equation model (SEM) using partial least square (PLS) methodology analyses the relationships and impacts of the value creation models. Data were collected from 178 culinary sector MSMEs in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Medan, Indonesia. Three of the five identified value creation models—new customer base, new value chain efficiency, and new customer value—significantly influence incremental innovation from MSME-fintech collaboration. Incremental innovation significantly boosts MSME revenue growth. Multi-group analysis shows micro enterprises have the highest revenue growth impact at 54.8%, compared to 47.0% for small enterprises, 51.5% for medium enterprises, and 50.5% for the overall MSME group. Specific value creation models foster incremental innovation, enhancing MSME revenue growth. This study provides insights into optimizing fintech collaborations for MSME financial outcomes and contributes to understanding the fintech-MSME dynamic, offering a foundation for future research.

Stimulating the processes of attracting investments in industry of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation

<p>The current conditions of the world economy development are characterized by the aggravation of the struggle between countries for technological leadership in the transition to a new technological mode on the basis of Industry 5.0, and the negative impact of barriers in international trade in goods and technologies due to sanctions against Russia, which creates windows of opportunity in the field of ensuring technological sovereignty on its own industrial base. One of the most important factors for the successful implementation of the windows of opportunity for the development of domestic production of high-tech products is the stimulation of the processes of attracting private investments in industrial enterprises of large, medium and small-sized business, including through the formation of an effective system of state support tools. The aim of the article is to improve the processes of attracting industrial investments, specifically in the context of identifying factors that can have a negative impact on the investment activities of Russian enterprises of various size groups by analyzing and adjusting the existing tools of state support for industrial enterprises, including small technology companies, in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and developing areas for their improvement in order to ensure technological security under the conditions of sanctions. The article studies the features of the investment industrial infrastructure as exemplified by the most industrially developed regions of the Volga and Ural Federal Districts. The insufficient level of investment of small industrial enterprises in comparison to large and medium-sized business has been revealed. It has been found that the sanctions did not affect small and medium-sized business in comparison to large enterprises due to their insufficient role in the production of gross regional product and exports. The efficiency of investment resource utilization in the regions under consideration has been assessed using the data envelopment analysis model oriented on maximization of the result. According to the modeling results, the Republic of Tatarstan and the Sverdlovsk Region have been identified as efficient regions. The experience of the best practice of these regions has been analyzed, and the tools of key federal and regional development institutions has been considered, including those cofinanced by them as part of joint development projects. Promising directions for stimulating investment processes in the Republic of Bashkortostan and other regions of Russia on the basis of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their investment industrial infrastructure for the timely implementation of the windows of opportunity to achieve technological leadership have been proposed.</p>

Study on the identification of risk paths for financing small and medium-sized technology enterprises based on ISM-MICMAC model

To reduce the financial risk of small and medium-sized technology companies and to identify the risk surface. This paper constructs a system of 12 indicators affecting the financing risk of small and medium-sized enterprises from 3 aspects, secondly, ISM (explanatory structural model) and MICMACM (cross-influence matrix multiplication method) models are constructed respectively; the hierarchy is carried out by ISM and the MICMAC model is used to carry out the influence and dependence relationship between factors. The results show that: the influencing factors of financing risk path of small and medium-sized technology enterprises are divided into dependent factors, linkage factors and independent factors; no influencing factors exist in the quadrant of spontaneous factors; the operation of financial institutions, profitability level and internal accumulation level are dependent factors with high dependence and low driving force, which are the key factors directly affecting the financing risk of small and medium-sized technology enterprises; the legal system, construction of financial institutions, circulation of monetary funds, Independent factors include only government policies, which have a high driving force and will affect the whole body when they occur, and are the key factors to reduce the financing risks of small and medium-sized technology enterprises. They should be carefully considered when making decisions.

Investigating the investment value of Elmo company based on SWOT analysis

Startups face huge challenges in all aspects, and corporate finance is an essential part of surviving in a very competitive industry environment. Corporate finance determines the possibility of business development, and the capital chain is an important factor for the company's survival. In order to assess the value of an investment in universal startups and to determine the appropriate channels for obtaining investment, the small industrial technology company Elmo, Inc. was selected as a representative. In this paper, we analyze the investment value of Elmo, a start-up company, using SWOT analysis, which is commonly used in business analysis, to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and treats of the company, and the results show that Elmo has high investment value. The analysis of the investment value of the company will serve as investment advice for investment institutions and create more financing opportunities for startups, thus promoting the development of startups. The company's investment value analysis can also help the company to clarify its development direction and investment requirements, find suitable financing methods and stabilize its capital chain.

Skill-biased acquisitions? Human capital and employee mobility in small technology firms

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between acquisitions and mobility of knowledge workers and managers in small technology companies and how individual skills and capabilities moderate this relationship. Relying on the matched employer–employee data of the Swedish high-tech sectors from 2007 to 2015, we find that acquisitions increase the likelihood of employee departures, mainly in the form of switching to another employer, but that these acquisition effects are weaker for employees with technological competences. By contrast, the acquisition effects are found to be weaker for employees with managerial competences only when acquirers have a strong employee retention motive. When acquirers do not have a strong retention motive, managers, compared to other employees, are more likely to exit the (national) labor market after acquisitions. Our results suggest that the retention motive is a critical condition to explain post-acquisition employee turnover. Both technological and managerial competences are the types of human capital valued by acquirers when they have a strong retention motive.

Опыт подготовки студентов и аспирантов наукоемких технологий в наукоградах России

We analyze the domestic experience of training students and Post-Graduates of high technologies on the example of the leading universities of science cities of Russia: Biysk Technological Institute (branch of the Polzunov Altai State Technical University) (Biysk), Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna), Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering – branch of National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI” (Obninsk), Pushchino State Natural Science Institute (Pushchino). We consider educational programs, the main directions of research activity, interac-tion with enterprises, Research Institutes, Scientific Production Centers, interaction technologies. As a result, conceptual approaches to the successful development of the leading universities of science cities in Russia are identified: support for new companies (“startups”) the founders of which are usually enterprises, research institutes or universities; promotion of entrepreneurial in-dependence of students and employees of higher educational institutions and research institutions; integration of large and small technology companies into innovative clusters; conducting student internships and performing research work in the laboratories of science cities; assistance from state, regional and local authorities, grant assistance.

Зарубежный опыт подготовки специалистов для наукоемких технологий

We analyze the foreign experience of training specialists for science and high technologies on the example of leading universities in China: Hong Kong Polytechnic University (China), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (China). We study educational programs, features of their development management in the context of innovation and promotion of advanced technologies. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that as a result of generalization of scientific and pedagogical experience, for the first time, conceptual approaches to the development of the science city university as an innovative scientific and educational platform – professional self-determination of future scholars will be identified and substantiated. As a result, conceptual ap-proaches to the successful development of science cities are identified: the university should have its own base for research, a high level of technical development; training is focused on internation-al programs, norms, requirements; student research is supervised by academic and industry ex-perts; internship and approbation in industries, the possibility of training in foreign educational in-stitutions; participation in exchange programs, mentoring, student competitions; support from federal, regional and local authorities, grant support; consolidation of large and small technology companies into clusters. The practical significance lies in the fact that technologies and methods of training young researchers for breakthrough technologies will be built on the basis of the identified conceptual approaches.

Improving antenna gain estimations in non-ideal test sites with auto-tunable filters

• Antenna calibration in non-ideal OATS is investigated. • Time gating can fail in low SNR conditions and other correction techniques can require many test runs. • We propose an auto-tunable signal processing structure based on adaptive filtering and time gating. • We propose a new fitness function for the PSO-based tuning mechanism. • Results show a reduction of the test duration and good performances in low SNR environments. Estimating the gain of an antenna prototype is an important step during both design and validation phases. Nevertheless, many small technology companies and universities are not provided with adequate infrastructure to run this type of test. In this paper, we propose a computational tool to deal with undesirable contributions coming from non-ideal test conditions over electromagnetic measurements. It is based on auto-tunable filters and therefore it allows a lab technician to run the test without a major knowledge on signal processing. After a series of evaluations based on lab measurements, the proposed tool gives results as good as those provided by two other approaches but with a reduction of the total number of experimental runs. Furthermore, it is more efficient than the traditional time gating approach for low signal-to-noise ratio environments. Finally, a validation with different antennas and test sites confirmes its robustness.

The Impact of Merger and Acquisition on the Financial Performance of the Nasdaq Listed Small Size Technology Companies

Merger and acquisition is a management strategy for corporate restructuring in which consolidation of companies can result in rapid business growth. The paper aims to analyze the impact of merger and acquisition on the financial performance of the business organizations in the technology sector. Therefore, the nine NASDAQ listed technology companies have been selected for this study. The financial data has been collected from the SEC, NASDAQ, and annual reports of the companies. The total study period comprises of twenty-two years ranging from 1996 to 2017. The statistical tool, Independent sample t-test, is applied on the fourteen financial ratios for four years before the merger and four years after the merger. The results of the paper show, that there is an improvement in liquidity, efficiency, and profitability, whereas the leverage ratio has deteriorated during post-acquisition. The study further examines that the profitability ratios are found to be accompanied by a more significant increase than a significant decrease in profitability ratios, and liquidity ratios found to decrease significantly more than significantly increased liquidity ratios. The cash flow has only increased significantly, whereas the leverage ratio has decreased significantly. However, the significant increase and decrease has remained equal in efficiency ratios during the post-acquisition period. In conclusion, the merger and acquisition has improved the overall financial performance. However, profitability and cash flow significantly increased, and leverage and liquidity ratios significantly declined.

Mergers and acquisitions: Impact on the real estate technology revolution

As venture capital fundraising has become increasingly competitive due to the acceleration of the number of PropTech assets in the market, small and mid-sized technology company start-ups are combining to build more valuable and attractive real estate technology platforms. Similar consolidation transactions are occurring between real estate and technology companies in the PropTech industry. This paper examines the trends, challenges and benefits to the wave of consolidation in the PropTech industry today and forecasts the continued pace of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Strategic importance of after-sales measures for small and medium-sized medical technology companies in Germany: Empirical evidence

ABSTRACT After-sales services form an important consideration for customers when buying a product, and play a major role for companies in the field of customer retention. With regard to the capital goods segment of the medical technology industry (medtech), however, the status of research on after-sales services is limited. Methods: A largely standardized questionnaire was developed, focussing on the forms and significance of various after-sales services. The questionnaire was sent to small and medium-sized medtech companies in Germany which include durable capital goods in their portfolio. During the 2016/17 assessment period, n = 327 questionnaires were returned. The data was subjected to descriptive and multivariate analyses. Results: The medtech companies regard after-sales services as being of high importance. A multivariate factor analysis underscored a content-related structure after providing active after-sales services rather than a tendency towards interactive after-sales services. Conclusions: The empirical results confirmed that the large majority of medtech companies attach a high level of importance to after-sales services, and indicate that the level of importance and the content-related structure for each service may differ. The results can possibly be generalized to cover medtech companies outside of Germany, as well as other businesses working in the field of healthcare.

A Novel Cloud Platform for Service Robots

With the development of computer technology and artificial intelligence (AI), service robots are widely used in our daily life. While the manufacturing cost of the robots is too expensive for most small technology companies. The biggest technical limitations are the design of the robot service and the resources sharing of the robot groups. As far as we know, there is no complete and open-source service robot cloud service platform. To solve the above problems, in this paper, a novel robot cloud platform called cloud robotics intelligent cloud platform (CRICP) is designed, which consists of gateway layer, an interface layer, service pool, and algorithm layer. Gateway layer mainly solves the problem of robot access control and service invocation requests scheduling. In addition, a standardized access method is proposed to overcome the problem that heterogeneous service robots cannot access the cloud platform. Interface layer is responsible for protocol injection, including motoring protocol, a management protocol, and other algorithms invocation protocol or service invocation interfaces protocol. Service Pool consists of different kinds of robot services which could scale based on the historical data analysis. In Algorithm layer, we can implement machine learning (ML) algorithm, deep learning (DL) algorithm, distributed algorithm, and so on. Finally, voice recognition service invocation experiment and cloud service dynamic scaling test are taken as an example to verify the availability and accuracy of our platform. Moreover, the compared results with a local framework and SOA also verifies the superiority of our platform.

The Change about Labor Use in Small and Medium-sized Civil Engineering and Construction Company which Newly Entered Agricultural Sector

The Change about Labor Use in Small and Medium-sized Civil Engineering and Construction Company which Newly Entered Agricultural Sector

A Suitability Analysis Method for Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Small and Medium-Sized Companies

Additive manufacturing is a key technology which applies the ideas of Industry 4.0 in order to enable the production of personalized and highly customized products economically. Especially small and medium sized companies often lack the competence and experience to evaluate objectively and profoundly the potential of additive manufacturing technologies. This paper presents a systematic and user-oriented method for a suitability analysis for the application of additive manufacturing technologies in small and medium sized companies. Furthermore, the method has been validated in a small medical technology company evaluating the additive manufacturing potential of an existing surgery tool.

Simulation model of load balancing in distributed computing systems

The availability of high-performance computing, high speed data transfer over the network and widespread of software for the design and pre-production in mechanical engineering have led to the fact that at the present time the large industrial enterprises and small engineering companies implement complex computer systems for efficient solutions of production and management tasks. Such computer systems are generally built on the basis of distributed heterogeneous computer systems. The analytical problems solved by such systems are the key models of research, but the system-wide problems of efficient distribution (balancing) of the computational load and accommodation input, intermediate and output databases are no less important. The main tasks of this balancing system are load and condition monitoring of compute nodes, and the selection of a node for transition of the user’s request in accordance with a predetermined algorithm. The load balancing is one of the most used methods of increasing productivity of distributed computing systems through the optimal allocation of tasks between the computer system nodes. Therefore, the development of methods and algorithms for computing optimal scheduling in a distributed system, dynamically changing its infrastructure, is an important task.

Como pequenas empresas de tecnologia constroem sua base de conhecimento para o desenvolvimento de produtos inovadores

É a partir da base de conhecimento de uma organização que a criatividade e as ideias para novos produtos fluirão. Essa base de conhecimento dá suporte para a capacidade de inovação da empresa. Mas, de que forma pequenas empresas de tecnologia iniciam suas atividades, constrói sua base de conhecimento e se inovam? Responder a estes questionamentos é o principal objetivo desta pesquisa, de caráter exploratório descritivo, realizada em três pequenas empresas de tecnologia que passaram pelo processo de incubação. Na análise e interpretação dos dados foi usada a técnica de análise de conteúdo a partir das respostas obtidas através de entrevistas semiestruturadas, junto aos empresários idealizadores das empresas. Os resultados evidenciaram que à construção da base de conhecimento das três empresas, tiveram influência do modelo de transferência utilizado em parques tecnológicos, onde cientistas acadêmicos concebem ideias de laboratório através de P&D e os desenvolvem em produtos reais.

Creating a culture for radical innovation in a small mature business

This article describes an approach in organizational development to develop an innovation culture for radical product development in a small mature engineering company. The research took place in a business based in the United Kingdom that designed and manufactured instrumentation and specialized packing machines. An initial study within the company’s new product development team identified key aspects that influenced a radical innovation culture. Nine key themes were found to be pertinent, following an iterative process with the development team. These themes were triangulated using the established Organization Culture Assessment Instrument and the Creative Climate Assessment Tool. A third assessment was developed that gauged the development team culture proximity to an ideal position. Seven interventions were developed in conjunction with the company development team, senior managers, the analysis of previous empirical case research and dialogue with UK companies that promote discontinuous innovation. The results of the interventions were evaluated 4 years after implementation. The culture was re-assessed using the same assessment tools and the changes were identified. The outcomes are described and they indicate the success of the company’s attempt to embed a sustainable radical innovation culture into the product development area.

Aging and Working in the New Economy: Changing Career Structures in Small IT Firms

Contents: 1. Introduction: Aging and Working in the New Economy Julie Ann McMullin and Victor W. Marshall 2. Making a Life in IT: Jobs and Careers in Small and Medium-sized Information Technology Companies Victor W. Marshall, Jennifer Craft Morgan and Sara B. Haviland 3. New Careers in the New Economy: Redefining Career Development in a Post-internal Labor Market Industry Sara B. Haviland, Jennifer Craft Morgan and Victor W. Marshall 4. Shifting Down or Gearing Up? A Comparative Study of Career Transitions Among Men in Information Technology Employment Gillian Ranson 5. Employment Relations and the Wage: How Gender and Age Influence the Negotiating Power of IT Workers Elizabeth Brooke 6. Knowledge Workers in the New Economy: Skill, Flexibility and Credentials Tracey L. Adams and Erin I. Demaiter 7. Formal Training, Older Workers, and the IT Industry Neil Charness and Mark C. Fox 8. The Structure of IT Work and its Effect on Worker Health: Job Stress and Burnout Across the Life Course Kim M. Shuey and Heather Spiegel 9. Flexibility/Security Policies and the Labor Market Trajectories of IT Workers Martin Cooke and Kerry Platman 10. Work and the Life Course in a New Economy Field Victor W. Marshall and Julie Ann McMullin Index

Targeted Consumer Involvement: An Integral Part of Successful New Product Development

OVERVIEW:The use of targeted focus groups early in the design process allows new-product developers to refine specific design functions and features for a new product with direct input from the product's targeted users. Down range in the product development process, these same end users are reconvened to review functional prototypes of the product prior to its initial production run. An effective approach to new product development or product refinement allows consumers to provide the “what”—consumer wants, needs, and expectations for the new product—while product designers provide the “how,” defining how the product will fill those wants and needs. This process has been employed successfully in conjunction with a university-based partner organization, with the data obtained from the targeted focus groups resulting in the successful development and transfer of new technologies into the marketplace. This paper presents a case study demonstrating how a small technology company employed the process to develop a product that was well received by its target market.

Application of Systems Engineering to USAF Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

The US Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a vital element of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) portfolio. The SBIR program funds early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies that support a US Department of Defense (DoD) need and have the potential for commercialization in private sector and/or military markets. We report on research measuring the application of Systems Engineering (SE) and the degree of Systems Engineering applied in SBIR projects through analysis of subject-matter expert (SME) interviews. SMEs were sampled from AFRL as well as other USAF organizations. The research methodology assessed the current application of SE in SBIR as well the SE expectations government offices have for SBIR projects. The research specifically examined current US DoD and US Air Force Systems Engineering Policy and found that it does not adequately address SBIR projects. SE processes are not well documented within the community. We then identified applicable SE tasks found in Air Force SE policy and suggest a tailored Systems Engineering approach for SBIR projects. We present a SBIR SE checklist recommended for use by SBIR program managers tailored according to the phase and scope of any SBIR project.