Only recently have scholars begun to explore the cross-section connection of entrepreneurship and personal selling and introduced the notion of entrepreneurial selling. This study contributes to the emerging debate by addressing the personal selling role of business owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the business-to-business (B-to-B) market in the context of failure. It examines how business owners make sense of their entrepreneurial selling activities and how underperformance in this role contributes to failure. Based on a literature review and interviews, the paper concludes that entrepreneurial selling is a crucial activity for preventing business failure and one that business owners recognize. Reasons for underperformance include business owners spending too little time on selling, their lack of personal selling skills, and procrastinating their selling activities. Answering the “bird-in-the-hand sales means” questions can produce either success or failure. Future research avenues are then suggested.
This article focuses on the opportunities and challenges Dutch Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the food and beverage industry are facing with respect to innovation in food and health. An online questionnaire was developed to give an overview on attitudes and activities of SMEs with respect to innovation; their interest in trends, among which were health and wellbeing; and their view on logos as a possible way of communication. Results show that innovation is important for SMEs: over 80% of the SMEs are innovating in products and over 60% in processes. The most appealing trends are: Health and wellbeing and sustainability. In conclusion, the identified opportunities for innovation in food and health are: a large willingness to innovate and the increasing interest in the already appealing trend of nutrition and health. Also, taste is considered as important as health and cannot be compromised.
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The focus of this project is on improving the resilience of hospitality Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by enabling them to take advantage of digitalization tools and data analytics in particular. Hospitality SMEs play an important role in their local community but are vulnerable to shifts in demand. Due to a lack of resources (time, finance, and sometimes knowledge), they do not have sufficient access to data analytics tools that are typically available to larger organizations. The purpose of this project is therefore to develop a prototype infrastructure or ecosystem showcasing how Dutch hospitality SMEs can develop their data analytic capability in such a way that they increase their resilience to shifts in demand. The one year exploration period will be used to assess the feasibility of such an infrastructure and will address technological aspects (e.g. kind of technological platform), process aspects (e.g. prerequisites for collaboration such as confidentiality and safety of data), knowledge aspects (e.g. what knowledge of data analytics do SMEs need and through what medium), and organizational aspects (what kind of cooperation form is necessary and how should it be financed).
The focus of this project is on improving the resilience of hospitality Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by enabling them to take advantage of digitalization tools and data analytics in particular. Hospitality SMEs play an important role in their local community but are vulnerable to shifts in demand. Due to a lack of resources (time, finance, and sometimes knowledge), they do not have sufficient access to data analytics tools that are typically available to larger organizations. The purpose of this project is therefore to develop a prototype infrastructure or ecosystem showcasing how Dutch hospitality SMEs can develop their data analytic capability in such a way that they increase their resilience to shifts in demand. The one year exploration period will be used to assess the feasibility of such an infrastructure and will address technological aspects (e.g. kind of technological platform), process aspects (e.g. prerequisites for collaboration such as confidentiality and safety of data), knowledge aspects (e.g. what knowledge of data analytics do SMEs need and through what medium), and organizational aspects (what kind of cooperation form is necessary and how should it be financed).Societal issueIn the Netherlands, hospitality SMEs such as hotels play an important role in local communities, providing employment opportunities, supporting financially or otherwise local social activities and sports teams (Panteia, 2023). Nevertheless, due to their high fixed cost / low variable business model, hospitality SMEs are vulnerable to shifts in consumer demand (Kokkinou, Mitas, et al., 2023; Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, 2023). This risk could be partially mitigated by using data analytics, to gain visibility over demand, and make data-driven decisions regarding allocation of marketing resources, pricing, procurement, etc…. However, this requires investments in technology, processes, and training that are oftentimes (financially) inaccessible to these small SMEs.Benefit for societyThe proposed study touches upon several key enabling technologies First, key enabling technology participation and co-creation lies at the center of this proposal. The premise is that regional hospitality SMEs can achieve more by combining their knowledge and resources. The proposed project therefore aims to give diverse stakeholders the means and opportunity to collaborate, learn from each other, and work together on a prototype collaboration. The proposed study thereby also contributes to developing knowledge with and for entrepreneurs and to digitalization of the tourism and hospitality sector.Collaborative partnersHZ University of Applied Sciences, Hotel Hulst, Hotel/Restaurant de Belgische Loodsensociëteit, Hotel Zilt, DM Hotels, Hotel Charley's, Juyo Analytics, Impuls Zeeland.
De markt vraagt om steeds meer productvariëteit. Veel bedrijven realiseren productvariëteit nu met veel klant-specifiek engineeringswerk (Engineer-to-Order/EtO). Dit zet druk op alle afdelingen in het bedrijf zoals sales, engineering, productie en service. Een uitdagende manier voor deze bedrijven, om beter met het spanningsveld tussen externe en interne eisen om te gaan, is het ontwikkelen van meer configureerbare producten (lego principe}. Hiervoor is een modulaire opbouw van het product nodig waarin verschillende productonderdelen gestandaardiseerd zijn en gebruikt kunnen worden in verschillende eindproducten. Zo kan, met minder engineeringsactiviteiten, een product geconfigureerd worden (Configure-to-Order/CtO) en de klant productvariëteit worden geboden zonder alle interne druk. Voor diverse bedrijven vormen ook de mogelijkheden van Industry 4.0 en sustainabilty ambities belangrijke drivers in hun streven naar meer CtO. Het implementeren van CtO is echter niet eenvoudig. Het vraagt om aanzienlijke capaciteit, kennis en kunde op het gebied van productontwikkeling, procesontwikkeling en het veranderproces. Betrokkenheid van medewerkers uit alle belangrijke afdelingen (verkoop, engineering, productie, service etc.) is een vereiste. Mkb-bedrijven worstelen hiermee en hebben behoefte aan goede tools en technieken, zowel inhoudelijk, over de ontwikkeling van de productarchitectuur en de impact hiervan op de bedrijfsprocessen, als veranderkundig, hoe deze transitie tot stand te brengen. In dit Sia RAAK-mkb onderzoek willen wij samen met productie mkb-bedrijven, kennisinstellingen en brancheorganisaties een integrale aanpak ontwikkelen om CtO op een goede manier te implementeren. De deelnemende mkb-bedrijven hebben de duidelijke wens om dit de komende jaren te doen. Voor de specifieke casussen zullen met casestudies en interventieonderzoek aanpakken ontwikkeld worden. Studentprojecten zullen ondersteuning geven aan de verschillende interventies. Vervolgens zal systematisch case-vergelijkend onderzoek worden uitgevoerd om inzicht te krijgen in wat in welke situatie werkt. Op basis van het case-vergelijkend onderzoek worden tools en technieken ontwikkeld die enerzijds generiek zijn en anderzijds kunnen worden aangepast aan specifieke bedrijfssituaties.
