The contribution of purchasing to the development and growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the overall performance of supply chain has been neither rigorously examined nor empirically substantiated. This paper provides empirical evidence on how purchasing variables (relationship, …

On the basis of empirical research, a competence-based model of the internationalization process of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is developed. The model focuses on so-called International Market-Entry Core Competencies (IMECC), which are global management competences considered crucial during …

This article studies the innovation management of 105 creative SMEs in Flanders and the Netherlands. This region appears to have an innovative climate and stimulating life style, well developed infrastructure and proximity of logistics and suppliers. However, we identified many restricting legislations …

The in-depth assessment of the situation of the European textile and clothing sector is composed by six independent reports with a close focus on key aspects useful to understand the dynamics and the development of the textile and clothing industry, drivers of change – most notably the impact of the …

Much research effort is invested in developing enzymatic treatments of textiles by focusing on the performance of enzymes at the laboratory scale. Despite all of this work, upgrading these developments from the laboratory scale to an industrial scale has not been very successful.Nowadays,companies are …

Internationalisation is the expansion of a firms operations to foreign markets and includes not only import and export but also foreign direct investments and international cooperation. Today’s globalising economy has resulted in a growing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) undertaking international …

Presentation for Trade Mission Bangladeshi IT companies, Bolsward, on June 23, 2011.

This document presents the investigation of the costs of investing in a new transformer compared to the maintenance of an existing one. A detailed research of the different technical possibilities to maintain transformers has been conducted. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) technology had …

From the article : "In this paper the implications of different research approaches and methods are illustrated by using two projects of the authors. Both projects take place in the same context: exploring participatory innovation within Small-to-Medium sized Enterprizes (SMEs). The main aspects coming …

In the paper, the risk and risk management issues are discussed. We try to offer different definitions and characteristics of business risk together with categorisation of risk connected with the entrepreneurship. Specific risks in the SMEs sector are emphasized and some solutions for process-oriented …