工商管理毕业论文英文文献翻译(中英)

本科毕业设计（论文）

外文参考文献译文及原文

学 院 专 业 工商管理

年级班别 2009级（4）班

学 号 3209004550

学生姓名 李福珍

指导教师 吴小节

2013 年 6 月

目 录

1 绪论............................................................................................................................ 3 2 为什么中小企业需要表达和使用SD 商业计划？当全球化在社会生态增长的极

限成为集成因素............................................................................................................ 5

3可持续性中小企业的大型和小型之间的差异所导致的优势差异......................... 6

3.1 流线型的组织进程和商业模式............................................................................. 7

3.2 中小企业暴露竞争力............................................................................................. 7 4 中小企业作为一个实验室沙箱提供了可持续发展战略和技术，然后跨国公司通

过收购中小企业实现传统的内部融资的增长............................................................ 8

5 中小企业利用创造性破坏和信息技术的影响制造网络优势................................ 8

中小企业可持续和价值创造的战略发展

塞缪尔B. 摩尔，苏珊 L. 曼玲

玛莎和斯宾塞爱商业学校，艾隆大学，美国

摘 要

可持续战略为中小企业合作创造了许多协同效应，以及系统的公共效益。通过对中小企业的商业案例提出可持续发展，考虑到中小企业相比于跨国公司的可持续发展优势，本文讨论几种不同为中小企业优化可持续发展的激励机制：（1）成为大公司有价值的可持续投资目标，（2）在大企业不太成功的市场空间建立可持续的中小企业的高度竞争网络，（3）通过可持续的做法在全球供应链上成为高效的供应商。

然而一些成功模式的中小企业可持续发展迅速，可能是中小企业的网络将成为必不可少的解决系统问题的基础，包括工业生态学，企业全球供应链弹性和可持续性。中小企业代表了大部分的企业，快速发展的通信技术允许不同的航线网络的形成。

关键词：持续性，中小企业，可持续供应链管理，弹性，工业生态学 1 绪论

1990年代以来，无论对于任何规模大小的企业来说，环境和社会因素已经成为越来越重要的战略考虑。21世纪新兴市场条件正在通过全球观察创造了新的视野。由于忽视商业和环境之间的―隐藏连接‖，业务缺少许多新的可持续发展(SD)的机会，那些能够阻止一个不可避免的社会崩溃的威胁 [2]。随着越来越多的公司认识到我们的―共同的旅程‖[3]，它强调创建可持续发展的必要性，全球的企业都在有意发展战略计划使他们的公司具有可持续竞争力。哈特和米尔斯汀坚称，创建一个可持续的企业应被视为现代的商业环境是一个因素和应被视为21世纪商业战略家的规划过程[4]。然而，即使这种观点可能不再适合。

现代的商业计划应该包括―极点和机会‖提出了全球社会和环境的变化的情况下，如果全球可持续社会和环境的观点被忽略，那么未来增长的局限性就可能发生。矛盾的是，当公司资源变得越高效，全球经济发展越迅速。生态足迹分析表明，根据这种―反弹效应‖[5]，人类的生态需求已经超过大自然可以供应[6]。这种―生态超载‖意味着我们正在耗尽自然环境的本金而不是―以此为生的利息‖[6]。尽管增长的极限，正如适用于所有生命体，企业成长必须至少跟上经济的步伐，但典型的增长方式和 ―增长‖的含义需要改变[7]。可持续的企业弹性是―面对动荡的改变，企业生存、适应、增长的能力‖，同时，―增加股东价值而不增加材料吞吐量‖[5]。可持续的企业的弹性通过绿色技术在工业生态框架内创建多个商机，减少原材料和能源的使用，和―发现创新途径恢复和重用泛滥成灾的废弃物代替原始资源‖[5]。在一个更可持续的环境中重新定义增长，不是指外国中小企业，那些几个世纪以来一直在运行的有限制的当地市场和成功地适应这些条件[8]。

可持续发展的企业战略定义为―调整企业与商业环境以致维持一个动态平衡的过程‖[9]。在中小企业战略规划框架内，通过添加一个可持续性的镜头，中小企业的发展寻求平衡弹性和增长, 对于调整创造丰裕：:经济，环境，社会，和为后代保存价值[10]。整合可持续发展到他们的竞争战略, 从而获得更大的盈利能力对中小企业通过采用故意的可持续发展的策略，可以帮助他们进行可持续变化优化的速度。

―很明显，自愿的、增量式环境的改进对个体公司的是不够用，大大抵消了全球经济的快速增长，中国、印度和其他亚洲经济体的快速增长可能会加剧这个问题‖[5]。

可持续发展战略为中小企业创建许多协同效应以及系统性利益共享。在对可持续中小企业的商业案例研究，和考虑中小企业可持续性优势和跨国公司形成鲜明对比，, 本文讨论了几种不同的场景中小企业优化和使用可持续性创建竞争优势，而不是仅仅关注减少不可持续性[5]：

● 大公司成为有价值的可持续投资目标；

● 在跨国公司不成功的市场空间创建网络中小企业可持续发展；

● 在全球供应链中成为可持续的供应商。

通过这种探索, 有一个关键的基本问题，这就需要更充分的调查，而哪些场景或组合的场景，可以为中小企业与工业生态学原理，企业适应力和全球可持续性提供最好的联盟？

2 为什么中小企业需要表达和使用SD 商业计划？当全球化在社会生态增长的极限成为集成因素

忽略了可持续发展生产一个人为的狭窄视野的可能性，在全球市场上，当他们试图操作甚至连小公司都可以被约束，如果一个扩大视野的可持续性不包括在规划和基准性能(11、12) 。中小企业在管理有限的全球环境和社会资源中起关键作用。一个广泛的、多维、多利益相关者视角，它形成了基于新兴的想法和趋势为基础的一个系统方法，实现一个有意的、主动的态势分析。一个考虑全面、贴近情境的分析，作为开发企业的策略的基础，必须结合新的全球利益相关者和不应该停滞或反动[13]。这样的分析可以达到顶峰，在发展的场景导致健全的战略计划，基于学习周期的缩短受益于花在计划过程的时间和精力[14]。

Senge et al 说可持续性的使用识别促进敏捷的规划对话去创造竞争优势

[15]：

人们创建的以不同的方式一起工作。他们是锚定的是未来而不是过去，通过想象他们真正想要什么存在这世界上来规划未来，他们学习如何使用一个独特的能量的来源去活跃这个有创意的过程和有创意的张力，当一个真正的视觉存在和人们说的实话相一致。他们学习如何去让一切事先制定和对未来巨大的不确定性的大胆应对。这个组织，真正引入的深刻的(可持续的) 改变从现在开始到世界各地展开，不会被困在―并不那么糟糕‖的场景中，将那些转换成扣人心弦的可持续性挑战的战略的机会。

一定数量的资源凸显了新兴的机会(16、17) 可让中小企业积极参与可持续实践：

● 加速技术创新的周期；

● 快速全球化的网络通信；

● 扩展和相互联系的供应链；

● 快速变化的市场。

一个更重要因素需要牢记的是至少占全球80%的企业被认为是中小企业，拥

有不到250名员工[18]；中小企业的构成了85 %的美国经济 [16]；99%的欧盟经济[19]；超过99%的企业在英国[20]；中小企业至少占70%的世界产值 [21]。可能未来合适的场景应该把部分的镜头放在合并可持续发展的一个规划过程[13、22-25]。这样的镜头导致了 ―可持续的企业‖ 概念[26]：即企业是强大的和能弹性面对预期和未预料到的经济、环境和社会的挑战[27]。本文预测未来市场情况，一个可持续的企业增长将会增强：(a)适应和减少风险会超过社会和环境限制，和(b)汇集目前未满足的市场需求和20亿目前未参与全球市场的潜在消费者[28 34]。

3 可持续性中小企业的大型和小型之间的差异所导致的优势差异

企业计划的一个主要方面在领先的制造商中，一个工业部门强调可持续性包括―内部业务流程, 外部利益相关者和投资者关系, 和客户价值主张‖[5]。看来，全球跨国企业正在采取行动的走向是变得更可持续和他们强烈感觉到他们的努力的重要性，通过各种途径来报告他们的进展[29]。整个概念和专项技术已经发展到定义和衡量―可持续性‖[35]。

以下指标的跨国企业战略计划和行动揭示了可持续发展的概念，可持续企业作为一个成功的商业模式已经成为一个现实：

● 世界可持续发展委员会 (WBCSD)的发展[26]，可持续企业学院(SEA)[36],和

旨在培养可持续企业的商业领袖的其他咨询机构。

● 可持续创造的股指如道琼斯可持续发展指数(DJSI)，它被设计用来测量可持

续发展企业的经济性能，使比较指数不测量任何方面可持续性。

● 越来越多的付费广告和网站鼓励和报道可持续竞争力的优势。

● 数以百计的领先公司利用全球报告倡议组织(GRI)作为指南审计他们的可持

续发展报告。

中小企业可持续战略计划的效益相对于那些跨国公司来说是不同的。他们大型的资产根基，跨国公司可以在一个大的和多样化的全球市场上投资和扩大产品开发的成本。对于大型公司，如果一个战略计划或产品推广在一个区域不成功，那么也许，在绕过半个地球的某些市场上，这可以成功。这个实现研发的更大回报，成为了作为一个大公司的优势，因为它们是现任全球市场领先者。小公司的优势和约束被A′ cs 很好地描述[37]，特别是基于历史定义的限制，地理条件的

限制下的市场范围没有联网的中小企业；然而，中小企业也能够表现得更灵活来填补当地或专业市场和技术利基市场[15、37、38]通过较少受到现有的组织结构因素影响之前，可持续性企业的性能：

实业公司是资金密集型和广告密集的大公司，倾向于促进技术创新的优势。小公司的创新优势, 却往往发生在产业生命周期的早期阶段，那个阶段的总体革新和使用熟练劳动力发挥了巨大的作用，大型公司占据了很大的市场份额[15]。 一个组织的弹性和能力在―整合、建立和重新配置内外能力去解决迅速改变的环境‖是至关重要的成功因素，对变化的市场和破坏性创新和改变做出反应[39]。Rothaermel 和Hess[40]表明先驱们建立这些组织的能力可以发现在个体，组织和网络水平。在组织的水平上，两个主要的障碍能有效地管理破坏性创新和变化，那个成效在大公司中较高和在小公司里较低。

3.1 流线型的组织进程和商业模式

较大的组织能克服障碍是因为他们通常有足够的人力资源和其他资源，他们往往抓住正在面临的挑战来改变不恰当的和无效的组织过程和商业模式[41]。组织的能力可用来面对破坏性变化带来的挑战是受其资源、流程和价值观的影响。首先, ，组织资源决定公司的能力。由于公司的成熟、组织流程能够良好地定义，一旦公司的商业模式变得定义明确、组织价值观是清晰的。这些因素——资源、流程和价值观——构成的组织的文化。克里斯腾森和奥弗多尔夫[41]认为改变公司的流程、业务模型、价值观、和根基文化是困难的，如果不是不可能的，因为对于已经建立了的大型公司；但是，这恰恰是必须发生的，为了让公司处理破坏性创新和重大的变化。较小的组织可以利用他们的能力进行创业创新和组织变革，因此，向大型组织学习如何实现优势[42]。

3.2 中小企业暴露竞争力

第二个障碍是，虽然更大的组织在开始阶段利用技术发展，可以做得很好，他们的能力可以改善约束隔离它们，但随着时间的推移，相比小组织无法逃避严酷的技术生存竞赛，他们可能变成较弱的竞争者[43]。当破坏性创新和变化由竞争竞赛变得被动，更大的组织趋向于重要的生存和竞争优势[43、44]。然而，当一个较大的组织成功地中和了竞争的约束，组织的认为是刀枪不入，作为绝缘从关键

来源的连续组织的发展。因此，战略使组织从竞争中分离出来可能会适得其反，这样的组织在长期依赖在竞争者中变得较弱[43]。这些影响表明因为小公司不能有效约束竞争力量，也不回避这些外部力量，组织发展过程的小公司也可能构成一个内置的引擎来应对破坏性创新和改变的挑战。

4 中小企业作为一个实验室沙箱提供了可持续发展战略和技术，然后跨国公司通过收购中小企业实现传统的内部融资的增长

外部融资或收购变得必要，当增长速度超过了中小企业融资能力的增长，或者如果一个中小企业的技术或市场分割变得对投资者有利息[8]。小公司通过在公共市场中提高资本来扩张，可以实现期望，或者他们可以成为有吸引力的收购目标更大公司[37]。大公司寻求投资或收购小中小企业通常使用传统的策略提高盈利能力：

● 收购中小企业技术和市场份额[45]；

● 通过消除冗余费用实现―集会‖效率 [46]；

● 通过整合中小企业的竞争对手来分割市场[47]。

中小企业给大企业带来的好处，是大企业不可达到的其他方面。然而，寻求可以整合成更大的组织的那些规模较小的公司是有障碍的。约50-80%的合并和收购，这取决于谁的研究被引用，因为不能很好地传达可以达到预期的效益[48]。不管是否收购的焦点问题在战略配合、或组织配合、或收购过程本身，失败率保持一贯的高[49]。两个荟萃分析的实证研究提倡―大识别的过程和组织维度的收购‖，正日益在行动上的文献中为人们所承认[50,51]；例如，不合适决策、谈判和集成过程可以导致劣质收购的结果（52-54) 。另外的工业生态学标准[5]在衡量一个中小企业的成功并购应该看中小企业是否能够帮助跨国企业降低其不可持续性，或从根本上加强可持续发展的系统性基础以增加跨国企业的能力 [55]。

尽管这对于大企业来说有风险，但是被收购是一个有意思的选择。从财政和组织的角度来说，当收购发生时就能解放企业家和他们的资本，继续开发新公司和寻求其他产生协同效益的选择。

5 中小企业利用创造性破坏和信息技术的影响制造网络优势

小公司在全球范围内保持一定数量的增加的一个明显的原因是―创造性破

坏‖的加速度影响了在全球市场上快速的技术转换 [41,56]。尽管对于拥有固有优势广度的大公司来说，这个因素已经在持续了[31,57]。此外, 通信技术的全球化是促进中小企业网络的形成。这些组织间的网络是中小企业的战略伙伴或者利益相关者联盟，引进一个新的组织形式的假设[37]，因为联网的中小企业在市场上可以表现为一个单一的大公司，因此通过同步胜任力去实现市场渗透[58-60]。 小公司也可以更灵活和创造性地利用―力量倍增器‖的优势来贷款进行投机的利益相关者[61]。通过网络不断更新组织的学习和知识基础是一个重要的基础方法，中小企业可以同时实现地位和绩效的优势，当面对破坏性创新和改变。这包括从前和现在新的商业、政府和非政府组织的合作者创建社区的可持续知识网络类似开源的参与模式，类似于―与小群体的集群联盟‖[60]，而不是清晰定义的线性报告层次结构[20]。

……..

Index

1. Introduction . ......................................................................................................... 112

2. Why do SMEs need to articulate and use SD business plans for integrating factors of globalization within social and ecological limits to growth? . .............. 114

3. Differences between large and small firms that result in sustainability advantages to SMEs . ................................................................................................ 115

3.1. Streamlined organizational processes and business models .............................. 117

3.2. SMEs exposure to competitive forces ................................................................. 117

4. SMEs as a laboratory-sandbox for developing sustainable strategies and technologies which are then integrated into MNEs via acquisition. ................... 118

5. Network advantages for SMEs utilizing the effects of creative destruction and information technology . ........................................................................................... 119

Strategy development in small and medium sized enterprises for sustainability and increased value creation

Samuel B. Moore a, Susan L. Manring b

a Ouroboros Holdings, LLC. 4003 Birkdale Ct. Elon, NC 27244-2020, USA

b Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, Elon University, Elon, NC 27244-2020, USA

Keywords : Sustainability, Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), Sustainable supply chain management, Resilience, Industrial ecology

Abstract

Sustainability strategies create many synergistic effects for SMEs working collaboratively, as well as systemic benefits for the commons. After setting forth the business case for sustainable SMEs, and considering SME sustainability advantages in contrast to MNEs, this paper discusses several different incentives for SMEs to optimize sustainability: (1) becoming valuable sustainable investment targets for larger firms; (2) creating highly competitive networks of sustainable SMEs in market spaces where larg eenterprises are less successful; (3) becoming highly efficient suppliers in global supply chains through sustainable practices.

While several successful models of the sustainable SME are evolving, it may be that networks of SMEs will become essential for addressing the systemic problems that underlie industrial ecology, enterprise resilience, and global supply chain sustainability. SMEs represent the majority of all enterprises, and rapidly evolving communication technologies allow for various routes of network formation.

1. Introduction

Since the 1990s, environmental and social factors have become increasingly important strategic considerations for enterprises of any size. Emerging 21st century market conditions are now creating truly new lenses through which the world must be viewed [1].By ignoring the ‗‗hidden connection‘‘ between business and the environment, business is missing many new sustainable development(SD) opportunities that may prevent the threat of an inevitable collapse of society [2]. As more companies recognize our ‗‗Common Journey‘‘ [3], which underscores the necessity of creating sustainable development, firms worldwide are intentionally developing strategic plans to make their companies competitive sustainably. Hart and Milstein have insisted that creating a sustainable enterprise should be viewed as just another factor in the modern business environment and should be addressed as such within the planning process by 21st century business strategists [4]. However, even this view may no longer be adequate.

Modern business plans should include both ‗‗the limits and opportunities‘‘ presented by changes in global social and environmental circumstances, as limitations of future growth may occur if the global and environmental perspectives for sustainable societies are ignored. Paradoxically, the global economy grows more rapidly as companies become more resource efficient. Ecological footprint analysis indicates that with this ‗‗rebound effect‘‘ [5], humanity‘s ecological demands already exceed what nature can supply [6]. This ‗‗ecological overshoot‘‘ means that we are depleting the stock of natural environmental capital rather than ‗‗living off the interest‘‘ [6]. In spite of limits to growth, just as is true for all living organisms, business enterprises need to grow at least enough to keep pace with the economy, but defining growth and the ways and means of ‗‗growth‘‘ need to change [7]. Sustainable enterprise resilience is the ‗‗capacity for an enterprise to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of turbulent change,‘‘ and at the same time, ‗‗to increase shareholder value without increasing material throughput‘‘ [5]. Sustainable enterprise resilience within the framework of industrial ecology creates multiple business opportunities through green technologies, reduction of raw material and energy use, and ‗‗discovering

innovative pathways for recovery and reuse of waste streams in place of virgin resources‘‘ [5]. This redefines growth in a more sustainable context, a context that is not foreign to SMEs, who have been operating for centuries within the context of limited local markets, and adapting to those conditions successfully [8].

The strategy of a sustainable enterprise has been defined as ‗‗the process of aligning an enterprise with the business environment to maintain a dynamic balance‘‘

[9]. By adding a sustainability lens within the framework of SME strategic planning, SME development seeks to balance resilience and growth so as to align the creation of abundance: economically, environmentally, and socially, and to conserve that value for future generations [10]. Integrating sustainability into their competitive strategy, and thereby obtaining greater profitability for SMEs through adoption of intentional sustainable strategies, can help them to optimize their rate of sustainable change.

‗‗It is becoming apparent that voluntary, incremental environmental improvements by individual companies will be inadequate to significantly offset the growth of the global economy, and that the rapid growth of China, India, and other Asian economies will likely exacerbate this problem‘‘ [5].

Sustainability strategies create many synergistic effects for SMEs working collaboratively, as well as systemic benefits for the commons. After setting forth the business case for sustainable SMEs, and considering SMEs sustainability advantages in contrast to MNEs, this paper discusses several different scenarios for SMEs to optimize and use sustainability to create competitive advantages rather than simply focusing on reducing unsustainability [5]:

● become valuable sustainable investment targets for larger

firms;

● create networked SMEs in sustainable market spaces where

MNEs are less successful;

● become sustainable suppliers in global supply chains.

Through this exploration, there is a critical underlying question, which will require fuller investigations; which of these scenarios, or combinations of scenarios, can provide the best alignment for SMEs with the principles of industrial ecology,

enterprise resilience, and global sustainability?

2. Why do SMEs need to articulate and use SD business plans for integrating factors of globalization within social and ecological limits to growth?

Ignoring the possibilities offered by sustainability can produce an artificially narrow vision, with even small firms being constrained as they attempt to operate in a global marketplace, if an expanding vision of sustainability is not included in planning and benchmarking performance [11,12]. SMEs have a vital role to play in managing limited global environmental and social resources. A broad, multidimensional, multi-stakeholder perspective that is formed based on emerging ideas and trends should be the basis of a system approach towards an intentional, proactive situational analysis. A thoughtful, situational analysis, as the basis for developing enterprise strategy, must incorporate new global stakeholders and should not be stagnant or reactionary [13]. Such analyses can culminate in development of scenarios leading to sound strategic plans, based on foreshortened learning cycles that benefit from the time and efforts spent in the planning process [14].

Recognition of the use of sustainability to promote expeditious planning dialogues to create competitive advantages are described by Senge et al. [15]:

People creating together work in different ways. They are anchored in the future rather than in the past, drawn forward by images of what they truly want to see exist in the world. They learn how to work with a distinctive source of energy that animates the creative process, the creative tension that exists whenever a genuine vision exists in concert with people telling the truth about what exists now. They learn how to let go of having to have everything worked out in advance and to step forth with boldness into immense uncertainty. The organizations that truly lead in the profound (sustainable) changes starting now to unfold around the world, who do not get stranded in just being ‗‗less bad‘‘, will be those who convert sustainability challenges into compelling strategic opportunities.

A number of forces underscore the emerging opportunities [16,17] for SMEs to become proactively involved in sustainable practices:

● accelerating cycles of technological innovation;

● rapid globalization of networked communications;

● extended and interconnected supply chains;

● rapidly changing markets.

A further important factor to bear in mind is the fact that at least 80% of all global enterprises are considered SMEs, having less than 250 employees [18]; SME‘s constitute 85t% of USA business [16]; 99% of the European Union business [19]; over 99% of enterprises in the UK [20]; and SMEs account for at least 70% of the world‘s production [21]. Possible scenarios of the future should be part of any lens for incorporating sustainable development within a planning process [13,22–25]. Such lenses have led to the conception of ‗‗sustainable enterprises‘‘ [26]: i.e., enterprises that are robust and resilient in face of anticipated and unanticipated economic, environmental and social challenges [27]. Scenarios anticipating future market conditions predict that a sustainable enterprise growth will be enhanced by: (a) adapting to and diminishing the risk of exceeding social and environmental limits, and (b) meeting currently unmet market needs for the 2t billion potential consumers that do not currently participate in the global marketplace [28–34].

3. Differences between large and small firms that result in sustainability advantages to SMEs

A major facet of corporate planning among leading manufacturers in every industrial sector is the emphasis on sustainability in ‗‗internal business processes, external stakeholders and investor relations, and customer value propositions‘‘ [5]. It appears that global multinational enterprises are taking actions towards becoming more sustainable and they feel strongly enough about the importance of their efforts to report on their progress through various avenues [29]. An entire lexicon and specific techniques have been developed to define and measure ‗‗sustainability‘‘ [35].

The following indicators of MNE‘s strategic plans and actions towards sustainability reveal that the concept of the sustainable enterprise as a successful business paradigm has become a reality:

● The development of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

(WBCSD) [26], the Sustainable Enterprise Academy (SEA) [36], and other consulting organizations whose purpose is to train and inform business leaders on sustainable enterprise.

● The creation of sustainable stock indexes such as the Dow Jones Sustainability

Index (DJSI), which are designed to measure the economic performance of sustainable enterprises, enabling comparison to indexes which do not measure any aspect of sustainability.

● The growing number of paid advertisements and web sites encouraging and

reporting on sustainable efforts as a competitive advantage.

● The audited sustainability reports of hundreds of leading firms that have utilized

the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as their guide in preparing their reports. The benefits of sustainable strategic plans for SMEs are different from those offered to MNEs. With their large asset bases, MNEs can invest and spread the costs of product development over a large and diversified global market. For large firms, if a strategic plan or product introduction is not successful in one region, then perhaps, in some market half way around the globe, it will be. This realization of greater returns from R t D has generally been perceived as an advantage for larger firms, as they are incumbent in global markets. The limits and advantages of smaller firms are well described byA′ cs [37], in particular the limitations which are based on a historically defined, geographically limited market scope for non-networked SMEs; however, SMEs are also able to act more nimbly to fill local or specialized market and technology niche markets [15,37,38] through being less encumbered by existing organizational structures that predate sustainability as a factor in enterprise performance:

Industries that are capital-intensive, concentrated, and advertising intensive, tend to promote the innovation advantage in large firms. The small firm innovation advantage, however, tends to occur in industries in the early stages of the life cycle, where total innovation and the use of skilled labor play a large role, and where large firms comprise a high share of the market [15].

An organization‘s resilience and ability to ‗‗integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences t o address rapidly changing environments‘‘ are critical success factors in coping with shifting markets and for responding to disruptive innovations and change [39]. Rothaermel and Hess [40] suggest that the antecedents to build these organizational capabilities can be found at the individual, organizational, and network level. At the organizational level, two major hurdles to effectively manage disruptive innovations

and change are higher in larger firms and lower in smaller firms.

3.1. Streamlined organizational processes and business models

One hurdle for larger organizations to surmount is that while they usually have adequate human capital assets and other resources, they are often caught facing the challenges of disruptive change with inappropriate and ineffective organizational processes and business models [41]. An organization‘s capacity to meet the challenges of disruptive change is affected by its resources, processes, and values. Initially, organizational resources determine the firm‘s capabil ities. As the firm matures, organizational processes become well-defined, and once the firm‘s business model becomes clearly defined, organizational values are articulated. These factors – resources, processes, and values – are the building blocks of the organization‘s culture. Christensen and Overdorf [41] argue that changing a company‘s processes, business models, values, and ultimately its culture is difficult, if not impossible, for large, established companies; and yet, this is precisely what must happen in order for a firm to deal with disruptive innovations and major changes. Smaller organizations can leverage their capacities for entrepreneurial innovations and organizational change, thereby, learning to achieve advantages over larger organizations [42].

3.2. SMEs exposure to competitive forces

A second hurdle is that while larger organizations may do well initially with technological developments, their capability to ameliorate competitive constraints insulates them so that they are likely to become weaker competitors over time,

compared with smaller organizations that cannot escape the rigors of technology survival contests [43]. When disruptive innovation and change are driven by competition contests, larger organizations tend to have significant survival and competitive advantages [43,44]. However, when a larger organization succeeds in neutralizing the constraints of competition, the organization‘s perceived invulnerability serves as insulation from critical sources of continuous organizational development. Hence, strategies that isolate organizations from competition may actually backfire, such that larger organizations become weaker competitors in the long run [43]. These implications suggest that since smaller firms cannot effectively constrain competitive forces nor shield themselves from these external forces, the organizational development processes of smaller firms may also constitute a built-in engine for addressing the challenges of disruptive innovation and change.

4. SMEs as a laboratory-sandbox for developing sustainable strategies and technologies which are then integrated into MNEs via acquisition.

SMEs have traditionally been entrepreneurial businesses that grow through internal financing. The leap to external financing or acquisition becomes necessary when growth outpaces the ability of the SME to finance that growth, or if an SME‘s technology or market segment becomes of special interest to investors [8]. Small firms can fulfill the desire to grow larger by raising capital in public markets, or they can become attractive acquisition targets for larger firms [37]. Large firms seeking investments or acquisitions in small to medium sized enterprises typically use traditional strategies to improve profitability by:

● acquiring SME technology and market share [45];

● achieving ‗‗roll-up‘‘ efficiencies through elimination of redundant expenses [46]; ● de-fragmenting markets through consolidation of SME competitors [47].

The benefits that SMEs bring to larger firms may be otherwise unreachable by larger organizations. However, there are hurdles in seeking to integrate smaller firms into larger organizations. Roughly 50–80% of mergers and acquisitions, depending on whose research is cited, fail to deliver anticipated benefits [48]. Regardless of whether

the focus of an acquisition is on the issue of strategic fit, or organizational fit, or the acquisition process itself, failure rates remain consistently high [49]. Two meta-analyses of empirical studies called for a ‗‗greater recognition of the process and organizational dimensions of acquisitions‘‘ that are increasingly recognized in the behavioral literature [50,51]; for example, inappropriate decision-making, negotiation and integration processes can lead to inferior acquisition outcomes [52–54]. Additional industrial ecology criteria [5] for gauging the success of an SME acquisition should be whether the acquired SME helps an MNE reduce its degrees of unsustainability, or increases MNE capabilities to fundamentally strengthen the systemic underpinnings of sustainability [55].

Despite the risks for larger firms, being acquired is an interesting option for SMEs, financially and organizationally, since acquisition can free the founding entrepreneurs and their capital, to continu to develop new firms and to pursue other synergistic alternatives.

5. Network advantages for SMEs utilizing the effects of creative destruction and information technology

One of the apparent reasons for the increasing number of smaller firms globally is the acceleration of ‗‗creative destruction‘‘ effects caused by rapid technology transitions within global markets [41,56]. This factor has persisted despite the breadth of advantages inherent to larger firms [31,57]. Moreover, globalization of communication technology is facilitating the formation of SME networks. These inter-organizational networks, which are strategic partnerships or alliances among SME stakeholders, introduce a new organizational form into A′ cs‘ assumptions [37], as networked SMEs can behave in the marketplace as a single larger firm, thereby achieving market penetration through synchronized competency building [58–60].

Smaller firms may also be more nimble and creative in leveraging the ‗‗force multiplier‘‘ advantages of stakeholder networking [61]. The cont inuous updating of organizational learning and knowledge bases through networking is a significant way for SMEs to achieve both positional and performance advantages in the face of

disruptive innovations and change. The involvement offormer and new business, government, and NGO collaborators creates communities of sustainable-knowledge networks similar to the open-source participation model that is ‗‗lumpy with small groups and clustered with coalitions‘‘ [60], rather than clearly defined roles with linear reporting hierarchies [20].

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