small businesses
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This study is designed to assess and identify the status of hospitality training needs, methods and potential challenges within the hospitality industry, in order to recognize gaps and develop training programmes that address and enhance the competitiveness of small businesses within it. A qualitative approach was employed, whereby face-to-face and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 owners and managers of small businesses in the hospitality industry. Using thematic analysis, the study concludes that communication skills, especially foreign languages, are the most the important training need at both managerial and operational levels. Moreover, the study found that on-the-job training is one of the most important training methods. Furthermore, a lack of training budgets is found to be the most critical challenge to training. The study provides empirical evidence and practical implications for decision-makers in the hospitality industry.

AbstractMainly this study was aimed at demonstrating the challenges of small businesses during the corona virus pandemic in developing countries, specifically in Ethiopia. Methodologically, the study deployed secondary data analysis following a descriptive research design. Furthermore, this study was conducted through both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The secondary data analysis result shows that many small and large businesses are suffering challenges and this unprecedented coronavirus crisis has caused destruction for many businesses in the globe and it is challenging to survive with reduced revenue, jobs lost and life slowing down and weak marketing performance even difficult to keep a calm head and their business alive. To support these businesses, the government should use different mechanisms by cooperating with wealthy peoples and other non-governmental organizations. Besides, small business owners should manage expectations and communicate with staff, suppliers, banks, and customers throughout this coronavirus frightening. Reduce expenses be open to their employees about their finances and keep marketing, use different alternatives to deliver their product, and recover from the crisis.

Sustainable marketing is the promotion of environmental and socially responsible products, practices, and brand values. The main objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting sustainable marketing on small business in the Northern-Iraq. The sample of the study includes all the workers in small businesses. The targeted sample size of the study is 400 workers who are selected randomly. A poll was planned and used to record data based on a Likert scale (five scores) incorporates the workers' characteristics regarding the sustainability factors. I evaluated the pre-prepared questions with the workers and managers of small business face-to-face. And also this questionnaire in the 2017 year collected. The data were analyzed with SPSS programs by utilizing methods containing descriptive statistics, Chi-square test. The outcomes demonstrated that the effective factors that sustainable marketing the workers in the small business are in accordance with the multidimensional structure of mental and sociological issues and perceiving every one of these undertakings and acing them and proposing and submitting arrangements make the errands and duties of the managers more difficult. Research included “Gender”, “Education”, “Extreme poverty “Attitudes and beliefs”, “Government intuition " and “Low”, a significant role insupportable promoting an independent company.

Purpose The authors wanted to find out if small businesses adopted strengths-based approaches and whether they were beneficial Design/methodology/approach The interviewees came from small businesses in Western Australia with between five and 19 employees in the motor vehicle industry where there are high-value products. There were 30 participants from 17 businesses, including owners, managers and employees, such as technicians, mechanics and tire fitters. Data was gathered using semi-structured face-to-face interviews of about 40 minutes. Findings The researchers found that the managers used an SBA to select employees during periods of temporary employment. But they did not use an SBA for employee selection during interviews, training or performance evaluations. Originality/value The authors said it was the first empirical study of the SBA in small businesses. It had practical lessons for businesses. First, the data suggested poor awareness of SBA by managers and many need practical guidance from small business advisors. Second, managers found it hard to assess strengths and relied on observations. Software tools could help. Finally, the characteristics of small businesses could help them adopt the new approach. These include lots of face-to-face interaction between managers and employees.

Abstract United States (US) cities of cool climate zone such as Chicago and Boston are witnessing a reduction in carbon emissions potentially due to focusing on public transportation, and alternative energy resources. It's difficult to validate or deny optimal practices and regulations due to a lack of reliable data on carbon emissions and urban comparative studies amongst metropolitan areas. Therefore, we have examined at the relationship between land use, walkability, socioeconomics variables and carbon dioxide emissions at the zip code level. The current study compares the carbon footprints of four metro regions in cool climatic zone 5 with a model of all US zip code, to generate a benchmarking predictive model for climate change across all US zip codes. Our research shows that increasing number of businesses within walkable distance in cool climate reduces CO2 emissions. This signifies that enhancing walkability in cities and remodeling of retail, art, entertainment, and recreation facilities in accordance with urban sustainability policies can greatly cut down CO2 emissions.

Economic, political, and technological uncertainties require organizations to prepare adequately for new events that occur each day. Economic crisis, changes in the policies of each country and technological developments are classic examples of these changes in organizations. Seasonality is one of the economic phenomena that occur, and different forms of management are required. The seasonality that is described as a systematic and temporal imbalance of the tourist phenomenon that does not need to be regular, caused by the climate or by the vacation periods, and is based on the consumer behavior that can be expressed in terms of the number of visitors, traffic, highways, jobs, and tickets at attractions. Therefore, through a careful analysis of seasonality, it is possible that the losses are predicted, and the negative impact is not so grotesque on the company. For this, it is good that the manager uses the cost assessment methods to assume the seasonality of sales and thus be able to guard against the negative effects of the same. The objective of this research is to understand how owners of micro and small businesses in coastal cities consider themselves entrepreneurs or not and how they deal with obstacles such as seasonality through cost management. The methodology used was based on an exploratory and bibliographic research with a qualitative approach, seeking to analyze the triad: Entrepreneurship, Seasonality and Cost Management. The field research was applied through a semi-structured questionnaire to the sample of 100 Microentrepreneurs in the trade of goods and services in Caraguatatuba and São Sebastião, central cities of the North Coast of São Paulo. The main results show that most of the interviewed entrepreneurs perceive a certain impact caused by seasonality, understand the use of Cost Management to improve their processes and are adapted to one of the main costing methods highlighted by the bibliography.

Innovation is a fundamental strategy to generate and maintain a competitive position in the market, however, the companies’ ability to generate innovations is not an easy task, as there are different factors that influence it. Although several innovation models have been developed, no ad hoc models have been proposed to the conditions of micro and small enterprise, nor the structural conditions in developing countries. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify and analyze the most relevant management factors that drive innovation in Mexican micro and small business. To this end, 594 micro and small businesses from the Laja-Bajío region belonging to the commercial sector, service and manufacture, were surveyed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify their needs on innovation generation. The results show that technology management, marketing strategies and human resources management are the key elements to drive innovation in the MSEs (Micro and Small enterprises).

PurposeGiven the different manifestations of the unemployment crisis, the main purpose of this study was to identify what characteristics influence the participation of youth in key self-employment business options.Design/methodology/approachThe study has used both probability and nonprobability sampling techniques. Purposive sampling methods were used to identify target study areas (districts and Kebeles) while the systematic random sampling method was used to locate sample respondents. A total of 424 sample respondents were interviewed through interview scheduled questionnaires. Statistical data analysis was carried out using STATA 14 software.FindingsAgriculture, local value-added business activities, food-related services, petty trade and local transportation were common business choices where unemployed youths were engaged in. The findings of the study also showed that sex, loan size, loan repayment period and training gap were predictors of youth engagement in various self-employment career choices.Practical implicationsIncreasing loan size has a positive and significant influence on youth engagement in all self-employment business choices and has reminded us the need to revise or lift up loan size celling to assist youths in engaging in productive sectors. Similarly, the favourable correlation between female youths and value-added activities necessitates a well-designed female-specific intervention.Originality/valueAn understanding of the key determinants of youth preference to engage in specific self-employment career choices enables practitioners to intervene where necessary in supporting youth self-employment engagement. A combination of skill training, relaxed loan size and relaxed repayment is likely to gain sustainable business, which would benefit the local economy by transforming small businesses to a higher level and creating more job opportunities.

The article is an attempt to provide argument towards the need to rethink changes in the management framework of a business entity associated primarily with modern manifestations of competition and the lack of an effective competitive environment, as well as weak competitive edge and poor innovation capacity. Based on the Medigran company, the study explores key stages of competitiveness development in small businesses along with suggesting the following successive development phases: basic financial planning, forecast-based planning, planning focused on the external environment, strategic management, company internal monitoring. The hypothesis of the study is to offer insights and evaluate competitiveness development stages as well as efforts to its enhancing subject to the external and internal environment specifics. The purpose of the study is to explore the nature and assess the Medigran competitiveness, and to identify its core advantages to gain the company competitiveness in modern business settings. An in-depth analysis of management practices has enabled to identify an effective tool to manage the Medigran’s competitiveness based on the use of a situational approach. It is argued that successful implementation of administrative technologies in the context of strategic management of the company competitiveness, sales boosting policies, developing technical support, and creating competitive advantages will ultimately provide a synergistic effect. The findings demonstrate that to gain sustainable competitive advantages, it is critical to identify their priority sources, create promising opportunities, add value and build new fundamental competencies, as well as employ benchmarking, overcome organizational inertia, timely detect and update outdated knowledge, skills and processes.

For better export marketing strategies (EMS), companies mobilize their internal resources, which are managerial commitment, firm experience, and product uniqueness. However, Small businesses with constrained resources cannot be well explained with this view. So, more research on how small business come up with EMS have been called for. To explain how resource-restricted firms which rely heavely on entrepreneur, this study adopted the concept of dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs) and resource versatility to better explain small business exports. We analyzed small businesses in Mongolia with qualitative research methods, including interviews with entrepreneurs and support organizations, site visits, and group discussions. We suggest international dynamic marketing capabilities (IDMCs), which are entrepreneurial orientation, networking capability, and versatile dynamic capability for small business. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.