Search Results (248)

The objective of the review is to examine the role of Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises in the South African economy. Several studies have indicated that Small, Medium, and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) are crucial to South Africa’s economic development; nevertheless, their full potential is hindered by structural and operational obstacles. This critique evaluates the impact of SMMEs on the South African economy, utilising secondary data from recent national reports, surveys, and policy documents. Data reveals that formal small enterprises accounted for almost 19% of GDP and 33% of national employment in 2023, but the informal sector contributed nearly 5% of GDP and 17% of employment, underscoring its significance as both an economic and social stabiliser. This review, through a comprehensive evaluation of the existing literature and secondary datasets, highlights structural inefficiencies—such as elevated formalisation costs, insufficient access to funding, and uneven policy execution—as primary impediments to SMME performance. The findings underscore that although SMMEs are crucial for job creation, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth, their developmental efficacy is compromised by systemic difficulties necessitating concerted policy intervention. The study concludes by advocating for enhanced support mechanisms, increased regulatory coherence, and focused development initiatives to bolster the resilience and sustainability of South Africa’s SMME sector. Full article

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) subsidies have become an important policy instrument for improving energy affordability, reducing energy poverty, and supporting economic activities among vulnerable populations in Indonesia. However, the long-term sustainability of LPG subsidy policies remains a subject of debate due to concerns regarding fiscal burdens, governance challenges, and environmental impacts. This study aims to assess the sustainability of LPG subsidy policies through a case study in Cirebon City, West Java, Indonesia, using the Triple Bottom Line framework that integrates social, economic, and environmental dimensions. A qualitative case study approach was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), field observations, and document analysis involving key stakeholders, including government agencies, Pertamina, LPG distributors, micro-enterprises, and household beneficiaries. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that LPG subsidies contribute positively to social sustainability by improving energy access, reducing household energy expenditures, and enhancing social welfare. The policy also supports economic sustainability through increased purchasing power, improved productivity of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and local economic resilience. From an environmental perspective, LPG subsidies help reduce dependence on traditional fuels such as firewood and kerosene, thereby contributing to cleaner household energy use and indirectly supporting forest conservation. The study identifies significant challenges related to mistargeting, distribution leakages, fiscal pressures, and continued dependence on fossil fuels, which may hinder long-term sustainability and energy transition efforts. The findings suggest that LPG should be positioned as a transition fuel rather than a permanent energy solution. Strengthening subsidy-targeting mechanisms, improving digital governance systems, enhancing fiscal efficiency, and gradually promoting renewable energy adoption are essential to support sustainable energy governance and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study contributes to the literature by providing an integrated sustainability assessment of LPG subsidy policies within the context of developing countries. Full article

Innovation through digital technologies, or digital innovation adoption (DIA), is of great importance to the success of family-owned micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in today’s rapidly changing digitally driven business environment. These digital changes, which impact markets and business models, as well as products and services, are becoming increasingly frequent and highlight the technological influences on family businesses. Given the need to understand these influences on DIA in the context of family businesses, this study investigated the relationships between several technological factors and DIA among Kenyan family-owned MSMEs, as well as the relationship between DIA and the financial performance of these businesses. An online survey was administered, and a structured measuring instrument was used for data collection. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses, based on 355 usable questionnaires. The findings highlighted that the technological factors, particularly compatibility and cost, were related to DIA, and that DIA, in turn, was related to the perceived financial performance of Kenyan family-owned MSMEs. The study expanded family business research to non-Western contexts and responded to calls to investigate both digital innovation and the external factors that influence innovation adoption in the context of family businesses. These findings provide valuable insights to researchers, practitioners and policymakers working with smaller family businesses in Kenya that have relatively low levels of digital maturity, particularly regarding technological factors associated with DIA, and the MSMEs’ ability to compete in an increasingly digital global environment. Full article

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) increasingly adopt digital technologies, yet converting this exposure into enterprise performance (ENP) requires multidimensional readiness capabilities. Evaluating these capabilities remains complex as existing studies often separate expert judgement, measurement validation, linear association, and explainable prediction. This study therefore develops an integrated analytical framework comprising two sequential phases. First, 22 experts contextualised the seven capability domains through a three-round Delphi process, followed by fuzzy TOPSIS to derive priorities under linguistic uncertainty. Second, cross-sectional survey data from a non-probability convenience sample of 610 eligible MSME respondents in Thailand underwent Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the measurement structure, followed by hierarchical regression to establish a conventional baseline of adjusted linear associations. Within the second phase, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were subsequently applied for internal out-of-sample evaluation and model interpretation. The findings show that experts assigned the highest priorities to digital financial services and digital financial access. The XGBoost model achieved a test $R^2$ of 0.6303, compared with 0.6282 for the OLS benchmark, indicating only a modest predictive improvement. Test-set SHAP identified social media use (mean |SHAP| = 0.2027), adaptive financial resilience, and financial management practice as the leading group of capability-level predictive contributors. The evidence is observational and does not support causal inference. This study contributes an integrated, measurement-validated, explainable framework for capability assessment. Expert-based priorities and SHAP-based predictive contributions provide complementary rather than equivalent forms of evidence. Full article

Blockchain technology (BCT) is often discussed as digital support for timber traceability in the context of the EU Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR), which requires operators and traders to demonstrate legality, deforestation-free production, geolocation at the forest parcel level, and verifiable supply chain documentation from 30 December 2026, with an extended timeline for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) until 30 June 2027. This study assesses where BCT can realistically add value in timber supply chains under operational forestry conditions and identifies the necessary technical, organizational, and legal prerequisites. A combination of a targeted literature review and empirical input from experts in the forestry and timber industry, including guided expert web-conferencing interviews (n = 41), an online survey (n = 69 completed responses), and a transdisciplinary workshop (n = 18) was utilized to obtain a comprehensive overview of industry perspectives. Qualitative data from interviews and workshop sessions were analyzed using structured qualitative content analysis, while survey data were evaluated using descriptive statistics. The expected benefits are associated with the introduction of tamper-proof timber harvesting practices and cross-organizational verification mechanisms. To address the discrepancy between biological uncertainty and digital rigidity, the study proposes a dynamic allocation model adapted from the energy sector that distinguishes between fixed and variable wood capacities to automate logistical planning via smart contracts. However, respondents emphasize that practical obstacles, such as limited digital maturity in forestry, fragmented data infrastructures across the supply chain, and unresolved issues of data sovereignty hinder the implementation of BCT. BCT alone is unable to resolve the problem of weak physical-digital identity continuity, a phenomenon widely known as the oracle problem; however, coupling the ledger with physical or biological anchors (e.g., photo-optical, automated inkjet marking identification) can re-establish this physical–digital continuity and thereby resolve the oracle problem. The results demonstrate that blockchain acts most plausibly as a supporting component within hybrid traceability architectures that prioritize event-based authentication, off-chain data processing where appropriate, and integration with existing certification systems. The study highlights the necessity of defining distinct organizational roles and responsibilities while integrating user-centric digital solutions tailored specifically to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Full article

Despite increased investment in information and communication technologies (ICT), many micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) struggle to translate digital adoption into improved business performance, particularly in post-pandemic contexts. This study addresses this gap by examining the mediating role of knowledge management (KM) in the relationship between ICT integration and business performance in MSMEs in Michoacán, Mexico. A quantitative, construct associate research framework was employed using survey data from 200 randomly selected MSMEs. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypothesized relationships. The results reveal that ICT integration does not have a direct significant effect on business performance. However, it significantly enhances KM processes, which in turn positively influence performance outcomes. Furthermore, KM fully mediates the relationship between ICT integration and business performance, indicating that the value of ICT is realized through effective knowledge processes rather than technology alone. These findings underscore the importance of aligning ICT investments with KM strategies to achieve superior performance. The study contributes to the integration of the resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV), offering empirical evidence from an emerging economy context. Full article

Small and medium-sized enterprises account for 99% of EU firms, making their engagement with circular economy (CE) practices indispensable to any economy-wide transition, yet the firm-level business case for voluntary adoption remains empirically contested, and existing evidence geographically narrow. This study examines, at the EU27 scale, the firm- and country-level determinants of CE adoption and whether adoption yields measurable economic returns. A two-level (firm and country), cross-sectional design combines micro-data from Flash Eurobarometer 549 (13,124 SMEs, June 2024) with Eurostat institutional indicators, applying hierarchical regression, K-Means clustering, and crosstabulation with post-stratification weights. Adoption is associated with resource-efficiency investment (β = 0.119), climate-strategy formalisation (β = 0.093), and national circular material use rate (β = 0.108, partially supported), while firm size shows no independent effect; the barrier index is the strongest predictor (β = 0.333), an unexpected positive association tentatively interpreted as a commitment effect whereby firms already active in CE better recognise obstacles. CE adoption shows no economically meaningful short-term association with performance (β = 0.025, negligible), with a small provisional exception in the industrial sector. Cluster analysis identifies three descriptive profiles: Efficiency Investors (13.7%), Strategic Green (32.0%), Passive (54.3%). CE adoption reflects strategic intent rather than firm size; economic benefits appear indirect and long-term, and more than half of European SMEs remain passive, requiring differentiated support at the national level. Full article

Financial development can influence carbon emissions through capital allocation, technological support, and policy transmission. To investigate the inherent association between grassroots inclusive financial institutions and territorial green transformation, this study establishes a city-level panel dataset of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration covering the period from 2010 to 2022. Within the analytical framework of the Spatial Durbin Model, this research decomposes the baseline effect, functional transmission pathways, and cross-sectional heterogeneity of the impact of the development of small loan company (SLC) providers on urban carbon intensity. The results show that SLC expansion significantly increases local carbon emission intensity and produces spatial spillover effects across neighboring cities. Mechanism analysis indicates that SLCs increase emissions mainly by supporting the expansion of small- and micro-sized enterprises in energy-intensive manufacturing sectors, while their role in promoting green technological innovation remains limited. Further analysis shows that local government willingness to pursue green transition weakens the carbon-increasing effect of SLCs, whereas digital inclusive finance strengthens it. The effect also varies by location and regulatory environment, with stronger effects in medium-distance cities and under lower regulatory intensity. These findings reveal how grassroots inclusive financial institutions affect regional carbon outcomes and offer policy implications for aligning inclusive finance with green transition goals. This paper innovatively transcends the conventional low-carbon research paradigm focusing on macro-finance and large formal financial institutions, and instead takes SLCs, a typical micro-level inclusive finance entity, to explore their unique paths affecting regional carbon emissions, and clarifies their action boundaries from multiple dimensions including government governance and digital finance empowerment, which enriches interdisciplinary research literature integrating inclusive finance and low-carbon economy. But this study has limitations: its sample is limited to the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, so the universality of the conclusion needs further verification. This research provides theoretical support and policy reference for regulating the sustainable development of the small loan industry, promoting the integration of inclusive finance and green low-carbon transformation, and advancing high-quality regional low-carbon development. Full article

The post-pandemic acceleration of digital tools has reshaped how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America compete, yet the resulting maturity gains remain poorly understood in individual emerging-market economies. Ecuador exemplifies this gap: SMEs account for over ninety per cent of the formal business register but appear in few econometric studies, most based on convenience samples. This study asks how strongly digital adoption is associated with the digital maturity of Ecuadorian SMEs and which tools best predict e-commerce engagement. The analysis draws on the National Digital Skills Survey (ENHD, Encuesta Nacional de Habilidades Digitales), administered by Ecuador’s Ministry of Telecommunications (MINTEL), covering 847 SMEs in 2021. A ten-indicator Digital Adoption Index (DAI) is related to the ENHD maturity score through least squares regression with robust standard errors, and a binary logit model with multicollinearity diagnostics identifies the tools that predict e-commerce adoption. The DAI explains over half of the variance in digital maturity, robust to firm-size and sector controls. Website presence exerts the largest marginal effect on e-commerce adoption, followed by cloud services. Top adopters score twice as high as non-adopters, consistent with cumulative advantage. Policy implications include subsidised digital-foundations bundles for laggard micro-enterprises. Full article

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the majority of EU businesses and a disproportionate share of its environmental impact, yet longitudinal evidence on their resource efficiency behaviour remains scarce. This study examines whether SME adoption of resource efficiency practices increased between 2017 and 2024 and whether the size gradient changed across a period spanning several major and concurrent institutional and economic events: the European Green Deal (2019), the Circular Economy Action Plan (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic aftermath (2020–2021), the energy price shock that intensified in 2021 and was amplified by the Russia–Ukraine conflict in 2022, and the early implementation phase of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (2022–2024). These events overlapped substantially in time and cannot be disentangled with the present empirical design. Using microdata from three Flash Eurobarometer waves (N = 38,165; EU27), we construct a harmonised eight-item adoption index and estimate a weighted Poisson regression with cluster-robust standard errors and wave × firm-size interactions. Adoption increased substantially: SMEs reporting no resource efficiency action fell from 10.5% to 4.2%, and renewable energy use more than doubled (+15.3 pp). More substantively, the population-level gap in resource efficiency adoption between medium-sized enterprises (50–249 employees) and microenterprises (1–9 employees) narrowed by 81%, from +0.89 practices in 2017 (out of a maximum of 8) to a statistically non-significant +0.13 and +0.17 practices in 2021 and 2024 respectively (interaction IRR ≈ 0.81–0.82, p < 0.001 in both waves), robust to nine checks. The size gradient in environmental behaviour appears not to be structural but a dynamic feature of the institutional landscape, one that narrowed substantially over a period coinciding with intensifying regulatory ambition and energy price shock—though the present repeated cross-sectional design cannot establish which mechanisms drove this compression. Full article

The purpose of this study is to characterize, through an exploratory empirical diagnosis, the degree of development and preliminary association between circular economy capabilities and sustainability-oriented digital transformation capabilities in Chamber-affiliated SMEs in Lambayeque, Peru. Guided by three exploratory working hypotheses, the study expected intermediate levels of development, heterogeneous performance across dimensions, and a positive but non-confirmatory coupling between both capability families. A self-administered questionnaire with thirty Likert-type items measured four circular economy dimensions—circular design and eco-design, resource optimization, circular waste management, and circular business models—and four sustainability-oriented digital transformation dimensions—digital technology infrastructure, dynamic digital capabilities, sustainable digital strategy, and digital innovation culture. The initial database contained 111 complete Chamber-affiliated responses; however, seven large Chamber-affiliated firms were retained only as contextual comparators and were excluded from all statistical processing. Consequently, all descriptive, psychometric, and SEM results were calculated using the final analytical sample of 104 micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. The findings show intermediate development in both constructs, higher perceived performance in digital innovation culture and resource optimization, and lower performance in digital technology infrastructure, reverse logistics, platforms enabling circularity, and monetization of circular models. The latent association between the two higher-order constructs was very high (β = 0.985, p < 0.001); however, because global fit indices were below conventional thresholds, this coefficient is interpreted as preliminary evidence of empirical overlap and capability co-occurrence rather than confirmatory evidence of a validated structural model or causal integration. Full article

This study aims to assess whether micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises in Ecuador’s Amazon region show evidence of sustained reorientation toward selected non-extractive activities under persistent extractive dependence. Guided by four empirical propositions concerning sectoral reorientation, differential firm viability, temporal discontinuity and limited reallocation, and territorial heterogeneity, the study uses a longitudinal administrative panel of 769,344 firm-year observations for 2006–2021, complemented by descriptive evidence for 2022–2024. The empirical strategy combines fixed-effects models, non-parametric trend and structural break tests, cohort analysis, survival analysis, and transition matrices. The results indicate an emerging but constrained diversification pattern. New-economy firms increased their relative participation after the 2015–2016 commodity downturn and showed higher survival rates and stronger formal employment generation than extractive firms. However, intersectoral mobility remained limited, and the evidence does not support the interpretation of a completed structural transformation. Provincial heterogeneity further shows that extractive expansion continues to influence local entrepreneurial dynamics, especially in mining-frontier territories. The main limitation is that the analysis captures formally registered firms and does not directly measure informal-sector activity, productivity upgrading, or full regional structural transformation. The study contributes to debates on regional development, sustainability, and firm-level transformation by showing that non-extractive reorientation may emerge in peripheral resource-dependent regions without fully displacing extractive dependence. Full article

As micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) compete with limited resources, lightweight systems are needed to secure their digital assets. Fuzzy vaults (FVs) are useful for protecting secrets and, when applied to biometric systems, provide error-tolerance and privacy to enrolled biometric features. Combining multiple biometric traits also improves performance against attacks like spoofing in multimodal (MM) authentication systems. However, the design of the FV and the biometric-fusion method applied can limit the system’s effectiveness. This study systematically evaluates recent studies on FVs and MM systems and presents an up-to-date review to identify gaps, give directions for future studies, and, ultimately, improve the design of these systems. The research targeting MSMEs was carried out in two parts, with the first search focused on MM systems and the second on FVs, following the PRISMA guidelines. The main findings include the need to optimise the resource intensity of FV systems for the authentication of large numbers of individuals. It also found the need to make the model compatible with other biometric modalities as greater focus is on minutiae features. By reviewing these systems, we aim to foster the development of lightweight MM FV models to provide privacy and security in MSMEs. Full article

This study examines how Ukrainian enterprises of different size classes adapted their trade activity under the compounded shocks of COVID-19 and the full-scale war. The article addresses national economic resilience and sustainable recovery by examining how export and import dynamics changed among micro-, small-, medium-, and large-sized firms during 2015–2023. The methodology combines the logarithmic decomposition of intensive and extensive trade margins with a strategic positioning matrix based on labour productivity and the net-export coefficient. The results reveal marked size-based differences in aggregate trade-adaptation patterns. During the pandemic, microbusinesses shifted toward a quantity-led compensatory pattern, whereas during the war, medium-sized and large enterprises showed a stronger efficiency-led export pattern. Micro- and small firms displayed characteristics associated with technology-oriented adaptation, combining rapid labour productivity growth with negative trade balances, whereas large enterprises were positioned closer to the niche-exporter profile, supporting the balance of payments but showing signs of slower productivity growth. Medium-sized firms occupied a transformation zone, indicating unresolved adjustment pressure and continued dependence on trade restructuring. These findings suggest that enterprise-size heterogeneity can serve as an analytical basis for differentiated recovery policy. The results are relevant for trade-dependent sectors, including agri-food and food-processing systems, where recovery depends on technological upgrading, export capacity building, and the more effective conversion of imports into future export potential. Full article

The shifting business landscape globally and within Saudi Arabia toward environmental sustainability requires a significant transformation in the business models of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to achieve long-term sustainable performance. This study investigates the factors that enhance firms’ sustainable business model innovation (SBMI), particularly in achieving sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) within the context of MSMEs in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from more than 440 MSMEs using structured, web-based, closed-ended questionnaires and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities view and network theory, the findings indicate that entrepreneurial networks (ENs) are positively associated with dynamic capabilities, providing firms with the information and knowledge required to transform their capabilities toward greater sustainability. ENs are also positively associated with opportunity recognition, suggesting that MSMEs with favorable network positions are better able to identify and seize sustainable innovation-oriented opportunities. This, in turn, enables SBMI, which serves as a critical conduit between ENs, dynamic capabilities, opportunity recognition, and SCA. The findings suggest that managers should prioritize strengthening internal capabilities alongside ENs to better identify and capitalize on opportunities. Full article