Paper presented at the RENT XXV conference. The point of this paper is to improve our understanding on the added value of M&A advisors in SMEs, an important segment of the economy and merger industry. To predict the added value of professional advice we contrast two theories: the agency theory and the …

Many policy makers are unaware of the pitfalls in ownership transfers in SMEs and the inadequate advisory services. This paper presents the economic importance of business transfers, the research evidence to date on the main issues in ownership changes and discusses potential policies to reduce (advisory) …

SMEs represent a very important part of the European economy today, and within this SME group the creative sector is recently one of the fastest growing sectors. Our paper studies the innovation management of 105 creative SMEs in Flanders and the Netherlands, based on the innovation diagnostic instrument, …

Within the next decade, the number of professional- and family carers will be insufficient to deal with the increasing demand for care. The shortage on the labor market for health care professionals becomes evident by the time the demand for care exceeds the supply1. In order to find solutions to make …

The Co-Design Pressure Cooker was set up to gather knowledge on co-design in product development activities of Small-to-Medium Enterprises(SMEs). This booklet gives an impression of ten projects conducted in the Province of Utrecht, the Netherlands. In these ten projects, a total of 22 companies were …

Over recent years aspects of sustainability have claimed a central role in many countries. As a result research for sustainability has become an important driver for innovation. This paper describes developing a model that supports SMEs in integrating sustainability in their business and innovation processes. In …

This research is a fundamental part of a Chilean government project called: "Sharing key success factors and experiences in trade in services for SMEs" which has been proposed to the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), with the aim of sharing experiences and key success factors which promote the …

It’s clear that the e$ective management of design is a commercial necessity. It enables a company or organization to innovate, to stay in line with or ahead of the market, and to identify and cater to consumer needs. When design becomes an explicit part of the management process, it can have a greater …

It is often said that European companies must stop trying to compete on price and concentrate more on developing products and services that offer customers and users a high level of added value. Design is an indispensable tool for such development and innovation, and this is why the findings of this …

Vast empirical evidence underscores that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. As governments accordingly pursue export-promoting policies we are interested in the firmness of these conclusions with respect to African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the influence of the …