Starting from 2002, Wonders Information Co., Ltd., a medium-sized software company located in Shanghai, China, started building a knowledge management system that attempted to facilitate knowledge sharing between its employees. This teaching case describes how the system was conceptualized, designed, built, and used. In doing so, we wish to provide a context for in-depth discussion on designing...

Variability has become important means to provide customer specific products fast to the market. This paper presents findings from a literature study and questionnaire designed to find out the current variability management practices, challenges and needs in small and medium sized companies (SMEs). The literature study was carried out first, and based on its findings questionnaire study was des...

Several studies have documented that IT projects often do not successfully meet defined objectives regarding time, budget, and functionality. There can be multiple causes for this, and an important factor in this context is the extent to which a company is ready for an IT project. To help understand this dynamic, this paper presents a framework for analyzing 'IT readiness' in SMEs (small and me...

The factors that lead to business process re-engineering (BPR) success in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not clearly understood. This article reviews the main contributing factors to BPR success using a framework that considers culture, structure, technology and resource. Eight Taiwanese case studies are used to explore issues contributing to, or impeding, successful process re-e...

The hype around Web 2.0 has again sparked tremendous interest in IT-supported knowledge management and technologyenhanced learning in organizations. Although there has been abundant evidence of how to benefit from Web 2.0 technologies, information on how to go about deploying these in small and medium-sized enterprises in a coordinated manner are scarce. Based on the findings of an empirical st...

independently produced elements which effectively constitute tourists’ total experience of the destination. However, due to their vulnerability, deficient marketing and management functions, and dependence upon distribution channel partners they also tend to jeopardise the benefits of tourism activity for destinations and host communities. Nevertheless, the prosperity of destinations and SMTEs ...

Because of its global reach, reduction of time restraints, and ability to reduce costs and increase sales, use of the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), and related technologies can be a competitive tool in the arsenal of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Countries the world over are interested in the successful adoption of the Internet by SMEs. Because a vast majority of jobs come fr...

The agglomeration of innovation determinants has a significant influence on the innovation performance of industries and enterprises. Such an effect has received less attention in empirical research studies. This study involves a survey of the agglomeration effect of two important innovation determinants, R&D investment and R&D personnel, and its influence on innovation performance from the per...

Rapidly changing global markets have led to unprecedented growth in small business sectors.1 Firms that fall within the category of ‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) include micro-enterprises employing under 10 people, small enterprises of 11–50 people, and medium-sized enterprises of 51–250 people. This growth, combined with the prevalence of SMEs in the European Union (99% of organi...