Many studies of IS alignment have focused on the alignment between business strategy and IS strategy. This study is different to these prior studies as it develops a measure of IS alignment that is focused on business processes rather than business strategy. Therefore, it examines whether IS is aligned with business processes, i.e. the functional sub-component of the Henderson & Venkatraman (19...

We explore how integrating into the world economy affects the incomes of manufacturers in less developed countries (LDCs). We show that cutting back trade barriers has asymmetric effects on the incomes of the two typical groups of entrepreneurs. Whereas access to foreign markets benefits those entrepreneurs who are able to run large-scale factories, credit-rationed entrepreneurs running a micro...

Employing a probit, logit and gompit model this paper demonstrates that small firm development, represented by a group of structural, behavioral and performance variables determines regional location in Poland. The paper uses original data that samples the small firm stratum in two contrasting regions, Pomorskie and Lubelskie. The following variables were shown to be significantly correlated wi...

Most agribusiness firms are small. Regardless of the measurements or standards employed, this assertion remains valid. It is perhaps, the natural end product of our free enterprise economy, where entrepreneurial spirit remains more pervasive than the economies of size. Or perhaps this characterization of the agribusiness industry is linked inseparably to the very atomistic nature of our total a...

We examine the relationship between the number of bank relationships and firms’ performance, evaluating possible differential effects related to firms’ size. Our sample of firms from Italy includes many small firms, 99 percent of which are not listed and for which bank debt is a major source of financing. In the sample, 4 percent of the firms have a single bank relationship, and 66 percent of t...

We investigate how personal bankruptcy law affects small firms’ access to credit. When a firm is unincorporated, its debts are personal liabilities of the firm’s owner, so that lending to the firm is legally equivalent to lending to its owner. If the firm fails, the owner has an incentive to file for personal bankruptcy, since the firm’s debts will be discharged. The higher the exemption level,...