Adli Abouzeedan

Information Technology (IT) and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Management

Globalization and e-globalization are terminologies of high significance when focusing on smaller firm mechanisms of survival and growth. Studying the way firms are using bridging tactics, including strategic alliances, to increase their chance of survival and growth is an important issue. This is certainly true for the smaller enterprises. There are different tools in literature that are used to analyse the strategic partnership within the international context. One of the new approaches to understand the interaction between the firms activity and its environment is the concept of the ‘Firm Impact Sphere’. In this article we have reviewed important existing knowledge about Information Technologys (IT) impact on the management and other functional aspects of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). We have re-introduced the concept of the ‘Firm Impact Sphere’ and have related that to the structure of strategic alliances, as an example of an effective bridging tactic used by firms to expand into global markets. The ‘Firm Impact Sphere’ concept was initially proposed by Abouzeedan and Busler (2002). According to this concept, there are three types of Firm Impact Spheres: Localized, Semi-globalized and Globalized. Firm performance has different distinct characteristics in each of these types. Using this differentiation, we have analysed the way the concept of ‘Firm Impact Sphere’ would be used in understanding bridging tactics between functionality, with a concentration on international strategic alliances structuring and building.

Internetization Management as a Facilitator for Managing Innovation in High-Technology Smaller Firms

Managing innovation in smaller firms imposes challenges of a specific nature. Such challenges include scarcity of resources for R&D and innovation activities, complexity of scientific fields, coordinating innovation activities with operational functions of the firm and availability of access to up-to-date scientific excellence. A question of importance should be raised as to how one can use the recent development in information and communication technologies (ICTs) to meet these challenges and to facilitate innovation activities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially high-technology smaller firms (HTSFs), as these use innovation as their major competitive edge. In this conceptual article we propose using a newly introduced management paradigm, namely, internetization management to achieve the said. In the article we discuss the different challenges of innovation in HTSFs and how these challenges can be met by adopting the internetization management paradigm. The article sheds light on the need for a coupling between management and innovation studies in relation to SMEs while taking into consideration the e-globalized nature of the modern economy. It addresses in a more particular way HTSFs’ need for that coupling.

Organization structure theories and open innovation paradigm

Purpose – The impact of the e-globalization combined with staggering costs for R & D across industries has resulted in the call for new approach to innovation where openness and interconnectivity is the role. This new approach is designated as “open innovation”. The new paradigm calls for the sharing of knowledge and resources in conducting innovation activities within and among organizations. As such, one needs to re-orient the structure of the organization to meet these new requirements. On the conceptual level, it becomes a significant undertake to try to grasp how our traditional understanding of the organization can be fitted within the requirements of the open innovation when the environment of the e-globalization is taken in consideration. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the question of how organization structure theories can be coupled to the open innovation paradigm. Out of that analysis the authors propose a new theoretical framework of organizational analysis that takes both the classic...

The Factorial Mirror (FAM) Concept of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the Firm Impact Sphere (FIP)

E-globalization is a terminology of high significance when focusing on smaller firm mechanisms of survival and growth in the new IT-based economy. One of the new approaches to understanding the interaction between the firms’ activities and their environments is the concept of the ‘Firm Impact Sphere’. The ‘Firm Impact Sphere’ (or FIP) concept was initially proposed by Abouzeedan and Busler (2002a, 2006a). The FIP concept facilitates better perception of the business environment of today. In relation to that, it is worth recalling that scholars made an effort to categorize a firm’s performance factors related to internal environments versus the ones related to the external environment of the firm, by arranging the various factors of impact into individual groups, such as the SPF classification system (see Abouzeedan 2002). In that paper, the equivalency between the sub-groups within the SPF-classification system was established. That work was developed further by a later paper by Abouzeedan (2003), where the author discussed how to relate equivalent groups of parameters. To do this, he introduced the concept of the mirror effect using the ‘Factorial Mirror’ concept (see Abouzeedan 2003). In this article, I try to illustrate how the ‘Factorial Mirror’ (or FAM) concept can be utilized to understand the relationship between the external and internal parameters incorporated in the firm performance models and relate that concept to the Firm Impact Sphere (FIP) framework of analysis. I then proceed to connect that analysis to bridging tactics and alliances’ formation. In the context of this discussion, I introduce the BFF Triangle as an abstract presentation to the said. By understanding how manipulating parameters of the external environment would alter the internal environment of the firm, scholars should be able to build a better perception of the dynamism behind the ability of firm bridging tactics to transfer themselves into workable alliances.

Innovation Balance Matrix: an application in the Arab countries

Economies have different levels of entrepreneurial activities depending on the availability of tangible as well as intangible resources. In their working paper, Abouzeedan and Busler (2004) established a new type of capital, adding up the components of the most important types of capital. These are the human capital, financial capital and the system capital. In that paper, the two researchers defined each of the components and explained what they meant with those terminologies. They called this new type of capital, innovation capital. The two researchers have argued that innovation capital can be used as an indicator for the degree of richness of the entrepreneurial environment in a region and thus the general character of the economy. They also introduced the Innovation Balance Matrix or IBAM as an analytical tool to classify economies based on their entrepreneurial conditions. In this extended work, they have used this analysis and tried to apply it to Arab countries using a general knowledge and deductive approach to the issue. They conclude the paper with some recommendations as how to enrich the innovation capital in that region.

Using scenario planning in regional development context: the challenges and opportunities

Purpose – Planning under conditions of uncertainty is more demanding than doing the same under less uncertain circumstances. Planning which is coupled to high level of uncertainty requires good strategic thinking by the planners. There are a number of methods used for planning under such circumstances. Among these methods is scenario planning. Scenario planning has been used for classical management to help organizations and firms in their decision‐making activities. One area where scenario planning has not been used intensively, according to the authors’ understanding, is in a regional development context and especially in relation to the innovation aspects and policy issues.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors discuss and exemplify the possible utilization of scenario planning to promote innovation in a regional development context. They look at the hidden potential of the method and discuss the challenges of its utilization. To run their analysis, they use a number of cases from the...

Implementing the SIV model on an intensively innovation‐oriented firm: the case of Autoadapt AB

Small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) evaluation models lack a clear coupling to innovation and its impact on firm performance. A model which can achieve this is the Survival Index Value (SIV) mod ...