In dit whitepaper vindt u de resultaten van onze jaarlijkse social media MKB-monitor. Met deze monitor doen we onderzoek naar het gebruik van sociale media in het MKB. In dit whitepaper vindt u de resultaten van de monitor en kansen voor de toekomst
DOCUMENT
Meer weten over het overname proces of wat voor soorten waarderingen er zijn: kijk dan op www.mkbovernamemonitor.nl
LINK
This relationship between external knowledge providers, e.g. consultants and academic institutions, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a difficult one. SME entrepreneurs think external advice is expensive, not required and/or not useful. In this paper these arguments are explored against the specific characteristics of SMEs. The argument of price probably tells more about the consultants inability to quantify the returns on their advice than about the cost of their services. Support policies enable free consults for SMEs on numerous topics, but the use of these facilities is relatively low. The suggestion that SME entrepreneurs do not need external knowledge is contradicted by their own assessment of their qualities. Typically the entrepreneurs lack expertise in supporting business functions like HR, IT, Finance and Legal. In SMEs these blank spots are not compensated by specialist staff members because the of the scale of the organization. The argument that the advice of an external consultant is generally not useful raises the question whether the insights gained in several business sciences only apply to large companies. This seems unlikely. Given the characteristics of SMEs the difference is probably more the context in which the insights are applied than the content of the insights itself. From the analysis of the characteristics of SMEs the dominant influence of the person of the owner/director, together with the absence of specialist staff, appeared as two of the most significant differences between SMEs and large companies. Given the personal profiles of these owners/directors as studied by Blom (Blom, 2001), the external knowledge providers should realize the three ways in consulting. The first way is the way of thinking. For this way it was stated already that the content of business sciences is not likely to differ for SMEs. The second way, the way of working, represents for the way information is gathered and the entrepreneur and his staff is involved in the process of developing the advice. In this way the consultant should allow for interaction and should make it fun for the participants. In this aspect, the process approach of consulting shows promising. The third way, the way of communicating, represents the way the knowledge is transferred from the advisor to the entrepreneur. In this way it is crucial to acknowledge the different personal profiles of SME entrepreneurs and consultants and to adjust the communication accordingly. Taking the three ways into account, the conclusion could be that the transfer of knowledge should be more the sharing of experiences. The Chair of Management Consulting will adjust her activities to explore this insight further.
DOCUMENT
The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in December 2019 and the restrictive measures that were implemented to slow down the spread of the virus have had a significant impact on our way of life. The sudden shift from offline to online activities and work may have resulted in new cybersecurity risks. The present study therefore examined changes in the prevalence, nature and impact of cybercrime among Dutch citizens and SME owners, during the pandemic. Qualitative interviews with ten experts working at various public and private organizations in the Netherlands that have insights into cybercrime victimization and data from victim surveys administrated in 2019 and 2021 were analyzed. The results show that there was only a small, non-statistically significant increase in the prevalence of cybercrime during the pandemic among citizens and SME owners. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic did have an impact on the modus operandi of cybercriminals: victims indicated that a considerable proportion of the offenses was related to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the case of online fraud. Moreover, the use of new applications and programs for work was associated with an increased risk of cybercrime victimization during the COVID-19 crisis. These results suggest that increases in rates of registered cybercrime that were found in previous studies might be the consequence of a reporting effect and that cybercriminals adapt their modus operandi to current societal developments.
DOCUMENT
The shift towards a more sustainable circular economy will require innovations. While SMEs can contribute to this development, financing innovations within SMEs is difficult. Various authors have not ed moreover that the concept of the circular economy has further increased the complexity of investment decisions concerning sustainable innovations, due to the multiple value creation and new business models involved . On the other hand
DOCUMENT
The complexity of Information Technology (IT) is increasing; so are customer expectations. Consequently it is not easy for especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to keep track of all IT-developments, let alone leverage them in business operations with the aim to satisfy increasingly demanding customers. This also holds for the health care sector. This research is focussed on first line health care, and deals with the following research question; ‘which IT capabilities do SMEs within the first line health care sector need to have at their disposal in order to reach Business/IT-Alignment (BITA) maturity?’ Using the best practices ITIL, ASL and BiSL (cf. Bon, et al. 2007), IT capabilities are formulated. Based on the theory of Luftman (2000) business/IT-alignment and maturity is measured. Quantitative research of 123 first line health care SMEs in the Netherlands, confirms a moderate to strong correlation between the IT capability constructs ‘Organisation’, ‘Processes’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘People’ on the one hand, and BITA maturity on the other. The results indicate that SMEs within the first line health care sector should invest in IT capabilities related to the enterprise's ‘Organisation’ and ‘Processes’ to strive for increased business and IT maturity.
DOCUMENT
Deze agenda is een strategisch kader voor human capitalontwikkelingen in de creatieve industrie in de Metropoolregio Amsterdam voor de komende vier jaar (2012-2016). De agenda bestrijkt de gehele breedte van de creatieve industrie en richt zich op een interdisciplinaire aanpak en op het stimuleren van een onderzoekende en ondernemende cultuur in het onderwijs. Leidende thema’s zijn: • onderwijs over ondernemerschap;; • vraag en aanbod op elkaar afstemmen;; • alumni & permanente educatie;; • internationalisering. De Creatieve Industrie is de belangrijkste top sector voor de Metropoolregio Amsterdam (CBS monitor topsectoren 2012). Voor de beschrijving van de Creatieve Industrie in de Metropoolregio is een benadering vanuit drie clusters aangehouden: Kunsten & Cultureel Erfgoed, Media & Entertainment, Creatieve Zakelijke Diensten (reclame, mode vormgeving, architectuur). Het Kernteam Creatieve Industrie MRA wil een belangrijke bijdrage leveren aan de Europese en landelijke ambitie om Nederland in 2020 de meest creatieve economie van Europa te laten zijn. Dit vraagt om continue innovatie, slimme en creatieve oplossingen. Daarvoor is slim, creatief, jong (top)talent onmisbaar. Bij deze ambitie hoort een naadloze verbinding en samenwerking tussen bedrijfsleven en kennis- en onderwijsinstellingen. Het concurrerende klimaat, dynamiek en tempo in de sector vragen om snelle toepassing van nieuwe kennis en technologie en om een voortdurende instroom van nieuw (internationaal) creatief (top)talent en permanente bijscholing. Naast een economische waarde heeft de creatieve sector ook een maatschappelijk toegevoegde waarde. Met name de subsector Kunsten & Cultureel Erfgoed bevordert, met een vaak cross-sectorele aanpak, participatie en cohesie van diverse groepen in de samenleving. De toegevoegde waarde van de creatieve industrie wordt door andere sectoren nog onvoldoende op waarde geschat en benut. Voor professionals en aankomend talent is het cruciaal dat zij de juiste kennis en vaardigheden ontwikkelen om de meerwaarde en identiteit van de creatieve industrie over het voetlicht te brengen. De ondertekenaars van deze HCA hebben de intentie de ingezette samenwerking nog concreter vorm te geven. Het Centre of Expertise, Centrum voor Innovatief Vakmanschap en de Amsterdam Campus zijn hierbij dé vehikels om concrete afspraken en projecten tussen de drie partijen uit de gouden driehoek te realiseren. Prioriteit hierbij is de vraagarticulatie vanuit het bedrijfsleven verder aan te scherpen, afspraken hierover tussen partijen zijn reeds gemaakt. AIM wordt gevraagd twee per jaar een bijeenkomst te organiseren om concrete acties met elkaar te benoemen. Deze HCA, met bijbehorende ambitie en invulling, zal dan ook jaarlijks door het Kernteam geëvalueerd en zo nodig bijgesteld worden. Hierbij blijft afstemming met de MRA –agenda’s: HCA ICT en HCA Toerisme en Congressen gewenst.
DOCUMENT
The Dutch greenhouse horticulture industry is characterized by world leadership in high-tech innovation. The dynamics of this playing field are innovation in production systems and automation, reduction in energy consumption and sharing limited space. However, international competitive advantage of the industry is under pressure and sustainable growth of individual enterprises is no longer a certainty. The sector's ambition is to innovate better and grow faster than the competition in the rest of the world. Realizing this ambition requires strengthening the knowledge base, stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation (not just technological, but especially business process innovation). It also requires educating and professionalizing people. However, knowledge transfer in this industry is often fragmented and innovation through horizontal and vertical collaboration throughout the value chain is limited. This paper focuses on the question: how can the grower and the supplier in the greenhouse horticulture chain gain competitive advantage through radical product and process innovation. The challenge lies in time- to-market, in customer relationship, in developing new product/market combinations and in innovative entrepreneurship. In this paper an innovation and entrepreneurial educational and research programme is introduced. The programme aims at strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between enterprise, education and research. Using best practice examples, the paper illustrates how companies can realize growth and improve the innovative capacity of the organization as well as the individual by linking economic and social sustainability. The paper continues to show how participants of the program develop competencies by means of going through a learning cycle of single-loop, double-loop and triple loop learning: reduction of mistakes, change towards new concepts and improvement of the ability to learn. Finally, the paper illustrates the importance of combining enterprise, education and research in regional networks, with examples from the greenhouse horticulture sector. These networks generate economic growth and international competitiveness by acting as business accelerators.
DOCUMENT
The Dutch greenhouse horticultural industry is characterized by world leadership in high-tech innovation. The dynamics of this playing field are innovation in production systems and automation, reduction in energy consumption and sharing limited space. However, international competitive advantage of the industry is under pressure and sustainable growth of individual enterprises is no longer a certainty. The sector's ambition is to innovate better and grow faster than the competition in the rest of the world. Realizing this ambition requires strengthening the knowledge base, stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation (not just technological, but especially business process innovation). It also requires educating and professionalizing people. However, knowledge transfer in this industry is often fragmented and innovation through collaboration takes up a mere 25-30% of the opportunities. The greenhouse horticulture sector is generally characterized by small scale, often family run businesses. Growers often depend on the Dutch auction system for their revenues and suppliers operate mainly independently. Horizontal and vertical collaboration throughout the value chain is limited. This paper focuses on the question: how can the grower and the supplier in the greenhouse horticulture chain gain competitive advantage through radical product and process innovation. The challenge lies in time- to-market, in customer relationship, in developing new product/market combinations and in innovative entrepreneurship. In this paper an innovation and entrepreneurial educational and research programme is introduced. The programme aims at strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between enterprise, education and research. Using best practice examples, the paper illustrates how companies can realize growth and improve innovative capabilities of the organization as well as the individual by linking economic and social sustainability. The paper continues to show how participants of the programme develop competencies by means of going through a learning cycle of single-loop, double-loop and triple loop learning: reduction of mistakes, change towards new concepts and improvement of the ability to learn. Furthermore, the paper discusses our four-year programme, whose objectives are trying to eliminate interventions that stimulate the innovative capabilities of SME's in this sector and develop instruments that are beneficial to organizations and individual entrepreneurs and help them make the step from vision to action, and from incremental to radical innovation. Finally, the paper illustrates the importance of combining enterprise, education and research in networks with a regional, national and international scope, with examples from the greenhouse horticulture sector. These networks generate economic regional and national growth and international competitiveness by acting as business accelerators.
DOCUMENT
In het boek is een overzicht te vinden van de verschillende kenniscentra en lectoren van de HU. Per kenniscentrum worden de verschillende onderzoeksterreinen beschreven en de lectoren voorgesteld.
DOCUMENT
