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Background: The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) should be a culture of a workplace, and deeply rooted in worker behavior and attitude during their practice. According to the recent studies only 64% of the workers use PPE properly. The present study aims to investigate the utilization of PPE among workers in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and its relationship with knowledge, attitude, performance, and safety culture among workers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out using a questionnaire tool across SMEs in Kashan city in year 2023. The used tool included three questionnaires: demographic, safety culture, and knowledge, attitude and performance. Study papulation was 529 SMEs. Totally, the sample size was 369 persons and questionnaires were distributed among the workers of SMEs. Finally, SPSS software was used for statistical analysis and structural equation modeling. Various statistical tests including T-Test, ANOVA, RMSEA, CFI, TLI, and the chi-square ratio were employed. Results: The mean values (standard deviation) of age and work experience were 35.19 (12.33), and 15.60 (1.69) years, respectively. Among the 369 participants, 267 participants (72.4%) indicated that they use some PPE, although not all types. However, 102 individuals (27.7%) do not employ any PPE. The lowest score for safety culture dimension was attributed to safety training at 1.58. The results of the final model indicate that the assumed relationships between variables, as outlined in the study objectives, were well established, with all connections proving statistically significant. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the missing of inadequate legal supervision for small industries exists. Therefore, it can be inferred that if supervision and regulation are enhanced for safety training and implementation that may lead to increased usage of PPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural and creative sectors (CCSs) in Germany from March to the end of July 2020. It reviews the responses by Germany (federal, state and city level), grouped into three phases. The country has made explicit reference to the importance of arts and culture in the crisis. Germany has a high level of arts and culture funding, but in the last years the cultural and creative scene has changed. The article looks at these changes and reviews state responses as well as new initiatives from the cultural sector itself. Against this background, some tentative conclusions, with an eye on the near future, are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims to study the determinants of Huambo province SME’s capital structure, assessing the relevance and validity of the key attributes suggested by the literature as determinants of capital structure and test the explanatory power of each of those in the corporate debt ratios. To achieve this objective, financial information of 35 companies based in Huambo province - Angola were empirically analyzed. Companies were classified into four sectors according to the NACE Rev1, for the period between 2012 and 2016. Based on the application of a multiple linear regression model of random effect, our results indicate that for Huambo companies the following prevail: (i) company growth does not influences debt; (ii) regarding to the company size, overall, the greater the company, higher will be company debt; (iii) asset structure positively influences the debt levels its low significance; (iv) in terms of income, it was concluded that it does not determine firm debt, given that they prefer self-financing; (v) as profit variability, contrary to what was expected, it determines the medium and long term and total debt; (vi) with respect to the business sector, it was noted that it has a significant influence on average debt level of Huambo companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human resource management practices compose the relationships between the employees, who are the most important, and nearly non-substitute resources of businesses, and the employers. Human resource management (HRM) is both a field of practice and a field of academic study. The HRM practices of the manufacturing SMEs is examined in this study on the Eskişehir sample. The aim of the study is exposing the HRM practices of the manufacturing SMEs in Eskişehir. For achieving our purpose, we have conducted a multiple-case study on 19 companies which had been chosen through maximum variation sampling. The structured and semi-structured questions are used during the interviews with the HRM managers/specialists and the top managers of the SMEs. According to results, the size and age of the company, the power of customers, and the sectoral regulations can be related on adopting the HRM practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to analyze the opportunities and the challenges associated with the adoption of Information technology in the Indian SMEs. The significant usage of Information Technology in the SME sector and the factors that influence the business are discussed. SME industry in India has shown substantial growth over the past few years. The implementation of new technologies tends to offer better opportunities to the companies particularly for SME sector in India. However, there are a few challenges associated with technology adaptation that needs attention. This research is focused on improved business quality and responsiveness towards market opportunities while using the latest technologies available. This study is based on a review of research journals and articles including news magazines concerning current SME market situation in India. The current market scenario of Indian SMEs, as well as several policy interventions and new trends in the market were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an opportune moment to an extended literature review of lean implementation in SMEs given the recent serious research attention. Therefore, this paper presents an extensive review of more than 100 published papers on lean in SMEs. A classification scheme is then suggested. Accordingly, the reviewed papers were classified first according to their research content to six categories: Literature survey, Impact on performance, Critical Success factors, Implementation Framework, Status of implementation, Measurement. Afterwards, research methodologies employed in previous studies were categorized into conceptual, descriptive, comparative, empirical, exploratory cross‐sectional and exploratory longitudinal approaches. Consequently, various emerging issues in this topic were identified, namely, status of lean implementation in SMEs in developing countries, integration of lean in SMEs with green manufacturing, critical success factors of lean implementation in SMEs, suitability of lean tools for SMEs, framework of implementation of lean in SMEs and measurement system of lean change in SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In international scientific literature, it is argued that the adoption of ISO14001 certification is symbolic, aiming to improve the enterprise's public image. Various empirical researches have indeed shown that ISO14001 does not have substantial favorable ecological impacts. This paper contributes to the scientific literature by arguing that previous research has neglected possible mediators through which ISO14001 may have a positive indirect influence on ecological outcomes. More specifically, we conjecture that ISO14001 certification stimulates participation in external environmental networks, and that such networks generate favorable effects on the ecological performance of their participants. This mediation channel seems particularly relevant for small and medium sized enterprises. They often lack knowledge of how to handle the increasingly complex issue of ecological performance and can receive guidance about managing these processes from other parties in the network. A second contribution is that the paper uses structural equation modelling to test the indirect effect of ISO14001 certification on ecological outcomes involving a large sample of 3633 small and medium sized enterprises from twelve European countries. The findings confirm that participation in networks—through cooperation in the supply chain, or partnerships with training institutes or local organizations—mediate the impact of ISO14001 on the ecological outcomes of small and medium sized enterprises. Based on these results, it can be concluded that promotion of ISO14001 certification among small and medium sized enterprises is particularly useful if is combined with participation in external networks that facilitate its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) take up over 98% of the structure of economies and are consequently the biggest creators of new jobs, innovations, economic activity, and greater social inclusion in the European Union. One of the biggest issues that SMEs face is collection of accounts receivable. Late payments in commercial transactions are made not only by private but also public sector, and that public sector entities, i.e. state institutions, are even larger generators of illiquidity compared to private companies. SMEs in BiH have certain, although insufficient, legal solutions available in combating late payment in commercial transactions. However, the fear of losing business partners overcomes their willingness to exercise their rights as creditors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 21st century, CSR along with other social issues (such as corporate philanthropy and social enterprise) has become one of the key business trends all over the world. Companies have begun to realize certain commitment to society and its values, and have understood the importance of their contribution into social, environmental and economic issues. Globally, CSR is considered as narrower part of international business ethics and with regard to accession of multinational companies as well as small and medium sized enterprises, and its importance is increasing. Many of those companies perceive CSR as the factor increasing their competitiveness in the business environment. From this point of view, we stated the main goal of submitted article like the evaluation how can we see the corporate social responsibility within its application in business practice. For the evaluation, we used the material, which consists from primary data and secondary data. All data were elaborated by the statistical methods. The main part of this article includes the description of the questionnaire evaluation including tables, graphs and statistical evaluation of our three set research hypotheses. In conclusion, we evaluate the overall results of our practical research and propose recommendations for the future. The research results show how the interviewed people in the company have been evaluated according to the characteristics, benefits, reasons and consideration of CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of grants received by companies on the formation of a business model. The study covered micro, small and medium-sized enterprises based in rural areas, which received support in the form of investment grants within the Regional Operational Programmes 2007-2013 for northern Poland. The research was done using a direct survey method, and covered a total of 155 companies. The results of the study indicate that the grant obtained affected implicitly the modification of the business model elements that are placed on the left side of the template of the Business Model Canvas. However, the tendency of enterprises to undertake an innovative activity usually means changes in their business model both on the left and right side. The greatest strength of the dependence was observed in the case of relationship between the size of the company and changes in the model elements. Mediumsized enterprises were the most active in this respect, when compared to comparison to micro and small businesses, and changed the largest number of elements of the business model due to the obtained grant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The important role played by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in the economic development of central and eastern European countries has attracted the recent attention of policymakers but remains relatively unexplored. Research has suggested that enterprise growth is determined not only by the traditional characteristics of size and age, but also by other enterprise - specific factors such as indebtedness, future growth opportunities, process and product innovation, and organizational changes. The success of any enterprise can be measured in different ways. Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPI, are quantifiable measurement that helps decision makers define and measure progress toward organizational goals. KPI vary from one industry to the next. To measure the performance of the enterprise is, therefore, necessary to know which and also how subsystems of its internal structure contribute to the overall performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers in many industries face worldwide competitive pressures. These manufacturers must provide high-quality products with leading-edge performance capabilities to survive, much less prosper. There is intense pressure to produce high-performance at minimum-costs. The customer is the principal judge of quality. Perceptions of value and satisfaction are influenced by many factors throughout the customer's overall purchase, ownership, and service experiences. To accomplish this task, an organization's efforts need to extend well beyond merely meeting specifications, reducing defects and errors, or resolving complaints. They must include both designing new products that truly delight the customer and responding rapidly to changing consumer and market demands. An organization that is close to its customer knows what the customer wants, how the customer uses its products, and anticipates needs that the customer may not even be able to express. It also continually develops new ways of enhancing customer relationships. The companies must use performance management and measurement systems derived from their strategies and capabilities. Performance measures should be linked to an organization's strategy in order to provide useful information for making effective decisions and shaping desirable employee behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium sized enterprises have a wide influence in many economic sectors. They provide a substantial part of the jobs and goods while at the same time emitting huge amounts of pollutants. Existing research could prove that there is a lot of emission reduction potential available, but at the same time show that most enterprises do not implement cleaner production measures. One major obstacle is the absence of tools that provide easy to understand decision support for sustainability decisions in conjunction with corporate environmental management information systems, which also fit the requirements of small and medium sized enterprises. This article presents a multi-criteria decision support system and its integration into a corporate environmental management information system to overcome this barrier. The decision support approach is based on reference points, which makes it relatively easy to understand. Reference points may be adjusted by the decision maker in form of saturation levels to match his/her preferences more closely. To increase user acceptance the final results will be investigated with sensitivity analyses and an explanation system. This will enable decision makers in small and medium sized enterprises who have only a limited amount of time and are not familiar with the concept of multi-criteria decision making to implement the concept of cleaner production and examine whether the use of renewable resources or a cascade utilization of materials is beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research sought to contribute to the understanding of how to configure the horizontal and vertical Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) relationships and which are the consequences for these firms in their insertion in supply chains. To this end, furniture companies data located in industrial district were used. This was a qualitative and quantitative research, developed through a comparative study of furniture companies located at Mirassol (São Paulo) and Ubá (Minas Gerais) poles. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with support entities and businesses. The survey revealed the difficulty of these firms in developing collaborative relationships, what mean a barrier to integration of the supply chain. Besides the low inclination to closer relationships, the research revealed absence of strategies defined as suppliers and customers, showing inclination to transactional practices. The SMEs market behavior and characteristics of governance practices create difficulties for the inclusion of these companies into supply chains as suppliers, thus leaving the positioning as final goods producers, as competitors of larger companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Artistic works and inventions are made by human spirit. These works make the human life worthy. Responsibility of the country is to protect art and inventions'212 This inscription shows the importance of the mental activity in improving and easing the entire life. Innovations have always been the key to success in big enterprises, but also in the small and medium sized enterprises and they remain to be the lifeblood of the economy based on knowledge, which is a challenge for every country. The effort for increasing the innovation of the companies and the SMEs appears as the only mechanism for resolving the big social challenges which many countries in the world face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers in many industries face worldwide competitive pressures. These manufacturers must provide high-quality products with leading-edge performance capabilities to survive, much less prosper. There is intense pressure to produce high - performance at minimum-costs. The customer is the principal judge of quality. Perceptions of value and satisfaction are influenced by many factors throughout the customer's overall purchase, ownership, and service experiences. To accomplish this task, an organization's efforts need to extend well beyond merely meeting specifications, reducing defects and errors, or resolving complaints. They must include both designing new products that truly delight the customer and responding rapidly to changing consumer and market demands. An organization that is c lose to its customer knows what the customer wants, how the customer uses its products, and anticipates needs that the customer may not even be able to express. It also continually develops new ways of enhancing customer relationships. The companies must use performance management and measurement systems derived from their strategies and capabilities (Kaplan and Norton, 1992). Performance measures should be linked to an organization's strategy in order to provide useful information for making effective decisions and shaping desirable employee behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation among firms can be analyzed from different theoretical perspectives. The objective of this paper is to analyze firm networks from the perspective of team theory and club theory. Even though these theories are not recent in economics, using them as a theoretical framework for the characterization of firm networks could be a novel contribution. We can infer that aspects of both theories could be combined to explain cases of cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] GAs are a very promising method in SMEs default prediction analysis. [•] GAs are capable of extracting rules that are easy to understand for users. [•] GAs give a better SMEs default prediction accuracy rate compared with SVM and LR. [•] GAs significantly reduce misclassification costs compared to SVM and LR. [•] The prediction accuracy rate of GAs is markedly higher for the smallest sized firms and in the firms operating in the north. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Information technology has brought significant contributions to enterprises in order to develop a new competitive and productive dynamics that allow accompanying changes in information society. The present research had the main purpose to check what were the key organizational factors that represented obstacles to the use of information technology for knowledge management in small and medium sized service enterprises (SMEs) at Região Metropolitana do Recife. To achieve that purpose a multiple case study was chosen and also a qualitative research method, in which data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed in an interpretative way using content analysis. The results showed three key organizational factors that represented obstacles to the effective use of IT in knowledge management at SMEs: strategies, processes and people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A radical revolution in manufacturing has started to take place owing to rapid prototyping (RP), which based on completely new additive techniques, produce fully functional parts directly from a three-dimensional computer aided design model without the use of tooling. This offers the potential to change the concept of prototyping, manufacturing, service and distribution, with opportunities for producing highly complex and customised products. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the global economy, extensively producing while making a significant and crucial contribution to the global economy. The latest status has boosted the importance of the SMEs in both developed and developing countries due to the increased reliance on international partners. However are these SMEs ready to take on this global challenge? This paper investigates the main barriers of deployment of RP in SMEs. These barriers are prioritised in an attempt to promote a new change management approach to improve the integration of RP technology into SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biopharmaceuticals can be described as medicines or medicinal products manufactured through biotechnological processes with links to biological sources especially those of live organisms or their active components. The biopharmaceutical industry is presently experiencing tremendous revenue growth rates projected at more than $167 billion worldwide in 2015. There are more than 500 biopharmaceutical products that have been approved with about 400 presently marketable in the United States and European markets. The full potential of biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, genomic, genetic and biogeneric compounds is best realized in small entrepreneurial firms which have the capacity for creativity, risk, flexibility and iteration that no large biopharmaceutical entity can match. Although there are challenges facing African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in biopharmaceutical industry, the prospects on the other hand can be lucrative taking into cognizance Africa's ever increasing population and the need for affordable health care. To facilitate the contribution of SMEs in Africa, this article presents a perspective on the prospects of African SMEs in biopharmaceutical innovations such as new products, processes and services. The roles of SMEs in the global biopharmaceutical industry are reviewed. Additionally, selected critical factors to accelerate the contribution of African SMEs in global biopharmaceutical innovation are described. Finally, the prospective areas for biopharmaceutical innovation in Africa include research and development, marketing, workforce development and contract manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the design of a three-stage consultation process, with eight major consultation items, in order to build an integrated model for improving occupational health by emphasizing the combination of inspection and consultation. Characteristic of the integrated consultation model is the cooperation between different government departments and collaboration with non-governmental, professional consulting organizations, as well as the building of a good partnership relationship with the Synthetic Leather Industrial Association. This model can help small- and medium-sized enterprises in the industry attain actual improvements in the workplace environment with minimal investment. Manufacturers that followed the consultation guidelines, showed a decrease in the mean time-weighted average exposure level of N,N-dimethylformamide from 15.60 ± 16.49 to 5.41 ± 4.16 ppm (p < 0.01). The overall regulations compliance rate greatly increased from 34.1% to 89.7%. These results show that the operation of this consultation model, within Taiwan's synthetic leather manufacturing industry, is successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the creation of an export consortium among small and medium sized enterprises (SME) by the State. A hidden information principal agent model is introduced to explain the presence of SME export consortiums. The State (principal) can not observe the random realization of the firm's (agent) disutility from effort. We introduce a setting where the informational asymmetry is post-contractual. The contract specifies the subsidy and effort levels that result from different announcements of the state by the firm. By means of the subsidy payments, the revelation of firms' competitiveness can be achieved. The results obtained are that subsidies are ex post inefficient and they can constraint the participation of the less competitive firms to the export consortium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a comparison analysis of eco-efficiency in the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) of Venezuela. The research can be divided into three parts: the first part reviews similar studies in the literature on the level of eco-efficiency exhibited by the companies of Venezuela and other countries. In the second place, the findings of a survey conducted on Venezuelan SMEs allowed the definition of 54 eco-efficiency profiles. Thirdly, six national experts in cleaner production and eco-efficiency were interviewed. The interview was based on a questionnaire similar to that used in the survey of the Venezuelan SMEs. At a second meeting, the experts were asked to discuss on the similarities and differences between their answers and those of the company''s managers. The findings of the survey allow us to conclude that Venezuelan SMEs understand the legal environmental regulations that affect them but they do not perceive the influence of external driving forces like customers demand for green products or institutional incentives. The adoption of eco-efficiency practices is not perceived as an incentive to improve competitiveness so that the environmental strategies adopted generally aim at reducing costs or avoiding non-compliance sanctions and negative effects on the company image. Materials recycling and reuse, especially packaging materials, are common practices; however, other environmental tools or practices have not been implemented yet, e.g. environmental management systems (EMS), process, product and services design tools based on the product life cycle, renewable energy resources or green marketing. There are also differences among the eight industrial sectors analyzed, food and chemical industries having the higher index of eco-efficiency practices, and plastic and wood industries the lower. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Knowledge Management (KM) is a critical area for small business managers in today's competitive environment. However, there is a general consensus in relation to the fact that the benefits of KM have not been fully exploited by small firms. In fact, despite the wide literature on KM, there is an abundance of research describing how large companies are successfully practising KM, but little contributions on the critical success factors for KM adoption in SMEs. Indeed, empirical studies have been rarely conducted on this topic. The main aim of this paper is to shed light on the KM practices in small firms. To this purpose, the paper presents the preliminary results of an empirical investigation carried out in a cluster of 25 high-technology SMEs located in the eastern area of Naples City (Italy). The methodology adopted is based on the following two main stages: a) a literature review on knowledge management and its usage in small business has been carried out; b) a semi-structured questionnaire has been set up and validated in a number of focus group discussions. The questionnaire survey has been conducted through interviews with managers of small firms belonging to the cluster investigated. Survey findings highlight the following points: - the surveyed companies show significant KM needs, but they adopt mainly internal KMSs that involve relatively simple ICT tools; - knowledge exchanged is mainly tacit and it requires KM tools based on personal relationships and interactions such as work teams; - ENS firms express the need for both internal and external KMSs enabling collaborative relationships with other firms for developing common projects; - there are some relevant factors motivating the adoption of internal and external KMSs in firms investigated (such as innovation, operational management and market features) but also significant barriers (such as the protection of intellectual capital and cultural barriers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the corporate sponsorship literature, a model is developed that seeks to explain how externally directed corporate sponsorship can influence the behavior of the sponsor's employees. External sponsorship conveys a signal that can impact on employees' perceptions of their employer. The model seeks to explain the processes and types of possible impacts. Although the model requires confirmation, its conceptualization raises additional avenues to assess the benefits of corporate sponsorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies are obliged to change and institute its change prosesses to be able to accommodate fast changing environment, technology and customer preferences in global competition atmosphere. For this, they primarily form a global vision by collecting its principal values, mission and purposes and share them with its employees. Only a shared vision can collect top management and personel together around the spesific principles and purposes and they are determined as a route for the whole company. In this way all efforts come together and the motivation and efficiency of the personel increases. Under this circumstances, for understanding the effect of possessing a vision which developed especially in last years with strategic management, transferring the vision succesfully and sharing it on organizational performance; vision as a concept, creating and sharing the vision and relationship between the vision and strategic management studied in order and effects of vision statement on company performance in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME's) are explanined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With all the cacophony of comment on China's rapid economic development and the emergence of its large firms, the important role of small businesses has received less attention. Therefore, this paper looks at the key area of small and medium sized enterprises in China. In particular, it provides an overview of such firms, detailing their emergence, development, and the opportunities and challenges facing them. Given the importance of employees and their management, we look at human resource management in light of whether practice transfers occur, resulting in some convergence of practice, versus reasons for continuing distinctiveness in the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Inter-organizational collaboration in networks and partnerships is supposed to promote the potential for learning and innovation needed for environmental transformation and sustainable development. This paper aims at exploring the roles of local authorities (LAs) in actor-networks related to regional sustainable development, and examining their potential in stimulating learning and innovation related to sustainable development. From empirical case studies it is suggested that LAs can act as ‘teachers’ or ‘tutors’ in the networks. From further analysis, drawing also from literature on partnerships, innovation management, socio-technical change, and educational science, it is proposed that in the short run both the ‘teacher’ and ‘tutor’ approach would promote incremental innovation rather than the radical system innovations needed for sustainable development. However, there is potential for stimulating more long-term, radical change if the LA takes on the role of a ‘teacher’. This approach may favour close collaboration in long-lived, multi-actor networks with potential to (i) serve as forum for continuous dialogue on sustainable development at a community level, (ii) stimulate experimentation and learning needed for system innovations, and (iii) provide a basis for strategic niche management for development and testing of new technologies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the mid to late 1980s, the rapid growth in computer networks and online services directed companies, including those in the agri-food industry, to use information and communication technologies (ICT). As a result of this progress, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need to change to remain competitive in the rapidly changing business environment of the twenty-first century through the use of Internet and Web sites. The use of ICT as communication and marketing platforms provides agri-food SMEs considerable advantage. The main aim of this article is to examine the impact of the Internet and Web sites on the marketing of Turkish agri-food SMEs and to obtain information about the uses of ICT by these firms. This is reported by a two-stage survey undertaken by the Turkish agri-food directorate (KOBI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the concept of organisational culture and shared values as a means of analysing the internal operating environment of four smaller firms, each of which has a family dimension to its ownership and management. The shared values of a sense of belonging, honesty, loyalty, trust and respect were pieced together from multiple data sources during a 12-month ethnographic study of firms in the fish processing industry in north-east Scotland. These shared values are collectively referred to as embodying a family culture. The family culture was found to be universal in only one of the firms studied. In the other three firms, the alignment to the values of the family culture served to differentiate between an inner team and peripheral employees. The criteria for membership of the inner team is through alignment to the shared values of the family culture and in this way the inner team in each of the three firms includes family members, some (but not all) supervisory staff, and friends of other members. The contribution of the article is to identify specifically the shared values that underpin the family culture. Further, the research reveals that a universal family culture should not automatically be associated with a family firm in that it may be a feature of organisational subcultures and potentially have relevance to non-family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, 95% of enterprises are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Social media has recently become a powerful marketing tool due to characteristics such as the ability to share digital information and interact with consumers instantly. In SMEs, limited budgets restrict the use of social media as marketing tools. Thus, complimentary use of social media may be an alternative method for SMEs to maximize their marketing strategies. This study identifies what marketing goals are important for SME growth and how complimentary social media are used for attaining marketing goals. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis was conducted to confirm the order of local weights and global weights for marketing goals and complimentary social media. We found that the order of local weights for marketing goals for SMEs in the growth phase is brand awareness > online purchase > sales potential. The order of global weights for complimentary social media to meet above marketing goals is Facebook > PIXNET > Twitter > Instagram > YouTube > LINE. Finally, we used an SME from Taiwan as a case study to ensure that the application of the above complimentary social media can meet above marketing goals and potentially increase the survival of SMEs at the growth phase in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]