A Study on Business Succession in Small and Medium-Sized Chinese Enterprises

The survival and development of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) is an important issue for the Chinese economy. In particular, business succession in SMEs is a persistent issue. Business succession involves selection of a successor, asset inheritance, transfer of management rights, accumulation of business connections and technology succession, and soforth. This all requires smooth execution of a business succession plan. However, many SMEs do not have a business succession plan, nor are they preparing one. Our task is to explore the reasons these preparations are not being made. Here, the purpose of our research is to get a picture of the status of preparations for business succession in SMEs in China, and the actual circumstances of succession, based on the results of a fact-finding survey of Chinese SMEs, and at the same time bring to the surface the primary factors which influence preparations and plans. The results of the analysis shed light on the status of business succession preparations, successor’s awareness of issues, decision making, and so on. This survey highlights the awareness of business succession among business managers.

Analysis of the Critical Aspects of the Generational Turnover in Family Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises （SMEs）

Family businesses, which aim at surviving today, have to deal with a precise modality： To ensure their continuity, entrepreneurs have to ensure the transfer of leadership from one generation to another inside of them. We do believe that this matter is worth being analyzed, since the succession, from one generation to another, can be considered as a crucial variable in maintaining family small- and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） over time. Therefore, after investigating the main features, problems, and factors leading to the succession processes, in the second part of this article, an empirical analysis will be carried out, by comparing several European countries on the basis of data from the European Commission. This article contributes to enriching, from a theoretical point of view, the conceptual framework used for investigating the dynamics in the continuity of SMEs. Moreover, empirically, it contributes to the increasing literature on family businesses by comparing several European countries in order to understand what originates the longevity of family SMEs.

Artificial Intelligence Based Optimal Functional Link Neural Network for Financial Data Science

In present digital era,data science techniques exploit artificial intelligence(AI)techniques who start and run small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)to have an impact and develop their businesses.Data science integrates the conventions of econometrics with the technological elements of data science.It make use of machine learning(ML),predictive and prescriptive analytics to effectively understand financial data and solve related problems.Smart technologies for SMEs enable allows the firm to get smarter with their processes and offers efficient operations.At the same time,it is needed to develop an effective tool which can assist small to medium sized enterprises to forecast business failure as well as financial crisis.AI becomes a familiar tool for several businesses due to the fact that it concentrates on the design of intelligent decision making tools to solve particular real time problems.With this motivation,this paper presents a new AI based optimal functional link neural network(FLNN)based financial crisis prediction(FCP)model forSMEs.The proposed model involves preprocessing,feature selection,classification,and parameter tuning.At the initial stage,the financial data of the enterprises are collected and are preprocessed to enhance the quality of the data.Besides,a novel chaotic grasshopper optimization algorithm(CGOA)based feature selection technique is applied for the optimal selection of features.Moreover,functional link neural network(FLNN)model is employed for the classification of the feature reduced data.Finally,the efficiency of theFLNNmodel can be improvised by the use of cat swarm optimizer(CSO)algorithm.A detailed experimental validation process takes place on Polish dataset to ensure the performance of the presented model.The experimental studies demonstrated that the CGOA-FLNN-CSO model has accomplished maximum prediction accuracy of 98.830%,92.100%,and 95.220%on the applied Polish dataset Year I-III respectively.

Familial and Territorial Values for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Italy： Some Reflections in Theory and Practice]

This study reflects the specificities of family small- and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） which are related to values, culture, and relationships with the territory （local context）. In the following sustainable and corporate social responsibility （CSR）-oriented strategies, family businesses are ＂assisted＂ by the presence of entrepreneurial values which are tied to and derived from the social system in the territory in which they are located. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the consolidation of stable and durable relations between the family business and the local context depends on the presence of shared values between the members of the family and the stakeholders, all components of civil society are within the same territory. Such values are the fruit of a given territory＇s civic traditions. They are the result of an anthropological culture which is typical of the socioeconomic environment in which the entrepreneur, the family, and the business are all rooted, thus, they are expressions of a culture ＂of the place＂.

Should medium-sized contractors still implement home-made information technologies on construction sites?

Despite the increasing dissemination of the Building Information Modeling(BIM)approach,many firms are still far from BIM and are only starting to adopt information technologies.We conducted an ethnographic action research with an industrial partner that implements information technologies on its construction sites,with a strong preference for home-made applications.Results show that the development of such applications faces difficulties and that multiple iterations and versions are necessary before achieving the expected goals because the required competencies are lacking among internal development teams.Moreover,initial needs evolve considerably throughout the application’s development and evaluation process.However,notwithstanding the difficulties encountered during the different application development phases,the industrial partner believes the decision to be worthwhile because of the desire to have internal control over the project data and the need to consider certain specificities related to business processes.

Drivers and barriers to engage enterprises in environmental management initiatives in Suzhou Industrial Park,China

Small-and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)play an important role in sustainable development not only for their significant contribution to China’s economy,but also for their large share of total discharged pollutants.Therefore,this research takes the enterprises in Suzhou Industrial Park,China as the case study to investigate the environmental management practices of SMEs,and identify drivers and barriers to engaging businesses in environmental management initiatives.It is shown that,as in other countries,SMEs are less active in adopting environmental management initiatives than larger companies.Legislation remains the key driver to engage SMEs in environmental management initiatives.Based on the analysis,policy recommendations are also presented.

The impact of regulatory and financial discrimination on China's low-carbon development:Considering firm heterogeneity

Firms in China within the same industry but with different ownership and size have different production functions and face different emission regulations and financial conditions,thus can give very different responses to environmental policies.This fact has been largely ignored in most of the low-carbon development related literature.Using an augmented Chinese input–output table in which information about firm size(large-and small and medium-sized firms)and ownership(state-,foreign-,and private-owned firms)are explicitly reported,a dynamic computable general equilibrium model is developed in this study to analyze the impact of alternative low-carbon policy designs with different regulatory coverage and financial equalization on heterogeneous firms.Our simulation results show that,with the fully balanced regulation coverage and equalized financial system for heterogeneous firms,the total green investment accounts for 4%of GDP in 2030 for fulfilling China's commitment to reduce carbon emissions,which is the lowest among the various scenarios;about one-third of this investment is made by small and private firms;at the same time,green investment efficiency will be the highest,about 84%higher than that of the business-as-usual level.Therefore,a market-oriented and new technology-driven arrangement and mechanism for sharing emission reduction burden and allocating green investment across heterogeneous firms,especially to small and medium-sized firms,is crucial for China to achieve a more ambitious emission target in the long run.

How different types of financial service providers support small- and mediumenterprises under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic: From the perspective of expectancy theory

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19)pandemic has significantly impacted several aspects of the society and the economy.A problem that needs prompt attention in this situation is the increasing difficulties faced by small-and mediumsized enterprises(SMEs)in raising capital,which has aroused great concern from multiple stakeholders such as public administrations and regulators.As the major supply of capital,financial service providers(FSPs)play a critical role in financing SMEs.However,how FSPs deal with SME financing during shocks has not yet been fully researched.Accordingly,in this study,a theoretical framework based on expectancy theory is proposed to explore the expected strategic adjustments of FSPs in financing SMEs.Specifically,this study investigates 272 FSPs in China on their expectancy and attitude on financing to SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.Furthermore,this study has divided FSPs into three categories:commercial banks,non-bank financial institutions,and credit-enhanced FSPs.Differences among these categories are compared and analyzed.

The influence of the corporate social responsibility disclosures on consumer brand attitudes under the impact of CO VID-19

This study focuses on the use of we-media by small-and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)to disclose internal corporate social responsibility(ICSR)under the impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19).Study 1 interprets the catalyst effect of COVID-19 on the externalization of SMEs'ICSR.The fuzzy grading evaluation method is initially verified.Under the impact of COVID-19,SMEs fulfilling their ICSR can enhance consumer brand attitudes.Study 2 uses a structural equation model and empirical analysis of 946 effective samples and finds that consumers perceive the self-sacrifice of corporations during the coronavirus disease period.SMEs can fulfill their ICSR to enhance the internal explanation mechanism of consumer brand attitudes and the moderating role of enterprise losses.