Assessing Factors Influencing Solar Energy Adoption among Small and Medium Enterprises in Mzuzu City, Malawi

One of the many renewable energy sources that offer advantages is solar energy, which also lowers energy prices and promotes environmental sustainability and energy security. Despite these advantages, various barriers, such as installation costs, have prevented small and medium-sized enterprises from investigating this invention. Malawi has a significant energy shortfall such that most businesses have been hindered from their profit maximization goals. The “Photovoltaic systems” (PV) that transform sunlight into electricity are the subject of this study. This type of solar energy system is situated on the building’s roof and generally produces electricity for businesses and even homes. Solar energy offers a great impact to small and medium enterprises in Mzuzu city with a cost-effective and dependable alternative to energy that has the potential to change the game. Therefore the aim of the study was to identify factors that encourage the adoption of solar energy among small medium enterprises in the city of Mzuzu city. And to identify some of barriers faced when adopting solar energy among small and medium enterprises in the city of Mzuzu. The research approach employed in the study was a survey. A survey is a type of research methodology in which primary data is gathered from a sample using a questionnaire. When information is to be gathered from a wider sample, a survey is employed. A bigger sample size was needed in this study in order to facilitate hypothesis testing. It is advised to apply a logical approach while using the survey. The survey utilized a five-point Likert scale. The study used convenience sampling to select study participants. The sample size in this study was determined using Cochran’s sample size formula. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel were used for statistical analysis. About 97.2% of the participants were aware of solar as a source of energy compared to 2.8 % who were unaware. The majority of participants use solar energy for lighting only, seconded by those who use electricity. The least number of participants use solar energy for cooling only. The majority of participants 21.5% indicated partnership and collaboration as the most motivating factor for the adoption of solar energy. This was followed by technical expertise 19.1 % the least number of participants 10.8% expressed that policy and regulatory frameworks were associated with the adoption of solar energy. This study found that there are no statistically significant factors influencing barriers to the adoption of solar energy. The price of solar energy adoption was identified as the least factor associated with the acceptance or rejection of solar energy. Nonetheless, the reasons given by the homes that had embraced solar technology aligned with the findings of other studies. This survey also found that although the public was aware of solar energy, and technology, there were still a number of factors that mattered, especially for non-adopters.

Commercial Banks Responses toward Small and Medium Enterprises Survival in the Context of the COVID-19 in Africa

The African government has implemented measures to sustain an investable economic downturn as it navigates the fiscal effect of the viral spread of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).Consequently,commercial banks in Africa have come hand in hand toward support of SMEs activities by increasing their borrowing power and reducing interest rates.Despite all these measures the general performance of small and medium enterprises(SMEs)across Africa as pertains to revenues and profits has gone down.This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the measures undertaken by commercial banks to ensure proper running and continuity of activities in the SMEs sector in Africa.The research is founded on the theories of innovation diffusion and resource-based theory.This study will use a mixed research design,which will include descriptive and explanatory research.The proposed target population will be Africa’s thriving commercial banks.The primary and secondary data will be used from commercial bank reports and the central bureau of statistics reports across Africa.The data will be analyzed using a multiple linear regression model.The finding indicated that commercial banks in Africa have brought in solutions and measures to adapt to the crisis being implicated on the SMEs by the COVID-19 pandemic.Based on the findings of the desktop reviews,the study concludes that commercial banks have a significant influence on SMEs during this period of COVID-19,and with the assistance of the government,they have implemented more policies to support the activities of SMEs.

The Importance of Cultural Intelligence for Leader to Communicate Effectively: Case Study in Micro Small Medium Enterprises

Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia play huge part of national economic development because MSMEs can reduce unemployment rate. But, it is not easy to manage MSMEs well so it can be sustainable. There are some reasons why MSMEs are difficult to sustain, i.e., good management people by communicate effectively. Authors believe that one of important ability that owners, as a leader, must have in order to communicate effectively is cultural intelligence. Even in MSMEs, cultural intelligence plays important part because employees in MSMEs are diverse. They come from different region (mean having different tradition) and have different level of education. Methodology that is used in this article is qualitative method, and techniques of data collection are interview and observation. Technique of choosing informant is purposive and convenience while data analysis is using content analysis. The result of this study shows that leaders in MSMEs already have cultural intelligence to communicate with their employee. Leaders who have cultural intelligence can choose right method to communicate effectively with their employee.

Data Mining for Small and Medium Enterprises: A Conceptual Model for Adaptation

The following paper explored data mining issues in Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs), firstly exploring the relationship between data mining and economic development. With SME’s contributing most employment prospects and output within any emerging economy such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Adopting technology will improve SME’s potential for effective decision making and efficient operations. Hence, it is important that SMEs have access to data mining techniques and implement the most suited into their business to improve their business intelligence (BI). The paper is aimed to critically review the existing literature on data mining in the field of SME to provide a theoretical underpinning for any future work. It has been found data mining to be complicated and fragmented with a multitude of options available for businesses from quite basic systems implemented within Excel or Access to more sophisticated cloud-based systems. For any business, data mining is trade-off between the need for data analysis, and intelligence against the cost and resource-use of the system put in place. Multiple challenges have been identified to data mining, most notably the resource-intensive nature of systems (both in terms of labor and capital) and the security issues of data collection, analysis and storage;with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) a key focus for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia businesses. With these challenges the paper suggests that any SME starts small with an internal data mining exercise to digitalize and analyze their customer data, scaling up over time as the business grows and acquires the resources needed to properly manage any system.

ICT Service Platform Promotes Small and Medium Enterprise Informatization

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service platform,combined with information technology,communication technology and corresponding applications,is essential for small and medium enterprises to realize their informatization. The broadband business platform put out by China Netcom provides new generation of integrated ICT services which focus on service and would be rented to customers. Broadband business platform could satisfy varieties of informatization demands made by small and medium enterprises such as low investment,fast reaction,individuation and security. It could effectively assist small and medium enterprises to achieve informatization.

The Importance of Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Efficient Global Market Environment

Small and medium enterprises(SMEs)play an important role in the world economy.Modern trends in the development of small and medium enterprises imply a constant increase in their role in the total income of an economy.For such an approach,it is important to achieve quality organizational and managerial concepts of planning strategy development.In many countries,small businesses dominate in the production of a number of smaller products,higher consumption,and high quality of these products.The concept of a small economy consists of a group of companies that stand out in terms of their characteristics in relation to large companies.In relation to large companies as business systems,SMEs differ based on the concept of their own organization’s business,the volume of business,and the availability of resources.Research data show that the main obstacle to efficient continuous business of SMEs in the world is the procurement and maintenance of business resources.Ensuring continuity in production is often a problem of lack of resources,which primarily characterizes them in relation to large companies.Small business and entrepreneurship are the main backbone of today’s economic development,viewed globally.The purpose of the development of small and medium enterprises in the world is to enable the development of a successful and flexible entrepreneurial climate as an important organizational determinant,which is a prerequisite for progress in the modern world economy.The feature of SME development is the innovation of employees that needs to be constantly developed.In that way,conditions are provided for technological development,formation of flexible organizations,and new employment.In practice,small and medium enterprises are the engine of economic development.It is a sector that promotes private property and entrepreneurial skills.According to experts on economic issues,SMEs are today and in the future,not only in Serbia,the Region,but also in the world,a synonym for the private sector-for entrepreneurship.Comparative analysis shows the advantage of SMEs,especially in flexible business,where they can quickly adapt to change and can fully meet market demands.

Research on the Influence Degree and Effect of Support on Innovation Incentives for R&D Personnel in Micro and Small Enterprises:An Empirical Study based on the China Micro and Small Enterprise Survey(CMES)

In this study,the influence degree and effect of support on innovation incentives for research and development(R&D)personnel in micro and small enterprises(MSEs)were explored based on the CMES data.We found that government support will increase the R&D wage and widen the gap between R&D wage and staff wage,especially for small,non-high-tech enterprises with strict financing constraints.Furthermore,taking the wage gap as a mediator,we concluded that support would widen the wage gap and increase management innovation rather than technological innovation in MSEs because the wage premium of R&D personnel is the main driver for the increase of management innovation.The findings of this study provide useful enlightenment for China to implement an innovation-driven strategy and build an innovative country.

A Study on Improving the Financing Environment of Small and Micro Enterprises-Based on Taizhou Model

China’s small and micro enterprises have always had the typical characteristics of“five,six,seven,eight,nine,”which are important supports to expand employment and improve people’s livelihood.However,the current proportion of these enterprises in obtaining bank loans does not commensurate with the proportion of small,medium,and micro enterprises in the total economic aggregate.The financing dilemma of small and micro enterprises still exists.In consideration of the financing status of small and micro enterprises,this study analyzes the constraints of small and micro enterprises in financing,such as the difficulty in mortgage,difficulty in obtaining loans,and difficulty in guaranteeing.This study sorts out Taizhou’s practical experience and links its operation mechanism of“two platforms,one fund,and one index.”Finally,by learning from its successful experience,how to utilize the environment and the trend of big data will be further discussed,so as to form a scalable and sustainable financing method and path.This will provide a reference for improving the financing environment of small and micro enterprises.

Empirical Research on the Credit Demand and Credit Behavior of Small and Micro Enterprises

This article uses discriminant sampling method to select 1062 small and micro enterprises from 25 provinces in China. Researches were conducted on their credit demand and credit behavior, with the Probit model to carry out metrologic tests on influential factors of these enterprises' credit demand and credit behavior.The metrologic analysis shows: Literacy level of leader, asset size, annual revenue of the enterprises have significantly positive effects on the credit demand of these small and micro enterprises. Annual revenue has significantly negative influence on overall credit behavior and the occurrence of informal financial behavior, but significantly positive influence on the occurrence of formal financial behavior. Literacy level of staff and asset size of enterprises have significantly positive influence on the occurrence of the overall credit behavior of small and micro enterprises.

A Novel Lifecycle Model for Web-based Application Development in Small and Medium Enterprises

Software engineering＇s lifecycle models havc proven to be very important for traditional software development. However, can these models be applied to the development of Web-based applications as well？ In recent years, Web-based applications have become more and more complicated and a lot of efforts have been placed on introducing new technologies such as J2EE, PhP, and .NET, etc., which have been universally accepted as the development technologies for Web-based applications. However, there is no universally accepted process model for the development of Web-based applications. Moreover, shaping the process model for small medium-sized enterprises （SMEs）, which have limited resources, has been relatively neglected. Based on our previous work, this paper presents an expanded lifecycle process model for the development of Web-based applications in SMEs. It consists of three sets of processes, i.e., requirement processes, development processes, and evolution processes. Particularly, the post-delivery evolution processes are important to SMEs to develop and maintain quality web applications with limited resources and time.

Analysis of Core Competency Required for the Managerial Work Force of Small and Medium Enterprises in Taiwan

This study aims to probe into the core competencies, as should be possessed by the managerial work forces of firms, from the perspective of employers’ in small and medium enterprises. The findings can serve as references for planning core courses of employee training and labor employment. Based on the research purposes, this study adopted revised DACUM, conducted literature review, and applied a questionnaire survey. The subjects were the members of SMEs Honor Instructor Association of Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, and the Society of Management Science. Random sampling was used, with the number of employees as the units. The valid return rate was 24.2%. After testing goodness of fit of K-S single samples, this study found that a corporate management work force should have 11 items of core competencies, and 35 items of secondary competency.