Antonio García-Tabuenca

ICT policies for SMEs and regional disparities. The Spanish case

The effective incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in business is not something that takes place homogeneously or always with the same speed, particularly in the case of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). Obviously, the adaptation process of these technologies by the firms affects, and at the same time is conditioned by, the economic dynamics of the regions. The European Union and the national and regional governments have designed programmes and policies oriented towards strengthening the effective development and application of the ICT in small and medium-sized firms. This paper deals with these subjects taking the Spanish case as a point of reference. First, significant data are presented to show the situation in different regions. Second, a more detailed analysis is made of the promotion policies applied in three regions taken as a case study. From this, certain conclusions are drawn and some critical comments are made.

Do gender-related differences exist in Spanish entrepreneurial activities?

Purpose – Academic research has endeavoured to understand womens behaviours in entrepreneurial activity, identifying the differences when compared to men. The main topics analysed show similar findings in relation to characteristics and motivations, leadership style, strategic choice, obstacles and results. This paper delves further into these differences by examining the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs, the motivation to enter the activity and the performance of their enterprises. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors study Spanish entrepreneurial activity using a survey carried out in 2009 of 608 randomly selected entrepreneurs. The main methods used are descriptive analyses and logistic estimations. Findings – There were two groups of entrepreneurial women with different profiles and results: the first group comprises a variety of sectors reflecting the economys average; and the second mainly operates in those sectors traditionally considered as f...

MOSIPS Agent-Based Model for Predicting and Simulating the Impact of Public Policies on SMEs

This paper presents MOSIPS (MOdel of Simulation of Impacts of Public Policies on SMEs), a multi-agent model of an open economy. It is part of a user-friendly object-oriented interactive intelligent policy simulation system allowing forecasting and visualizing the socio-economic potential impact of public policies for supporting SMEs. MOSIPS model specifies the characteristics of every agent, and its particular feature is that it locates accurately agents in the space, using this information to precisely determine the interaction network. It represents the dynamic behaviour of people and enterprises, analysing their decisions and interactions in the social networks. It can be used to model macro-economic features of a system and permits focusing on a specific part of the economy, both at sector and spatial level.