04 Partea I Cap 1engl

8/11/2019 04 Partea I Cap 1engl

1/6

PART ISMEs WITHIN MODERN ECONOMY

Chapter 1

SMEs ROLE AND PLACE WITHIN MODERN ECONOMY

1.1. Enterprise essential c!pnent " ecn!#

We consider necessary to explain certain conceptual terms in order tobetter understand the content of White Charter of SMEs.

Generally, by c!pan# r enterprisewe understand a group of persons,organized according to certain legal, economic, technologic and managerialreuests that concei!e and de!elop complex wor" processes, freuently using

certain wor" instruments under the form of products and ser!ices, in order toobtain a high profit.

Companies are set up within each acti!ity domain # industry, agriculture,constructions, transports, trade, communications, scientific research, planning,education, culture, health, etc. # people that created them meant to obtainprofit. $he company or enterprise has a !ery large domain, not only theeconomic field and its acti!ity ob%ect may belong to any field, the final purposebeing represented by profit.

&s a system, the company or enterprise has many dimensions or

$e"inin% "eat&res.a' $he enterprise is a c!ple' s#ste!, as it includes human resources,

financial and informational materials, each of them being formed up by !ariouselements.

b' $he enterprise is socio(economic system as the employees) groups,which components are interdependent, underta"e wor" processes generatingnew !alues for usage. *uman resources uality of being principal producers ofnew !alues confers them a central position within enterprise and this must beta"en into consideration because it is essential for the efficiency of de!elopedacti!ities.

c' $he enterprise is an pen s#ste!, as it beha!es li"e a component ofnumerous other systems that ha!e permanent relations on se!eral dimensions.+ts character as an open system is expressed through input flow # euipment,row materials, materials, fuel, energy, information, money # and through itsoutputs, especially products, ser!ices, and information for systems to which itbelongs. +n the last decades, the international dimension of enterprises) opencharacter is amplified, as an expression of deepening international wor" di!isionand globalization of economic acti!ities. assing to mar"et economysignificantly amplifies open system character of -omanian companies.

d' $he enterprise is an a$apti(e r%anic s#ste!, as it is in a continuouschange, under the influence of endogenous and exogenous factors, adaptingboth to mar"et e!olution and reuests generated by incorporated resources


2/6

White Charter of SMEs in Romania 2007

dynamics. $he enterprise is not a passi!e system and, at its turn, influencesthrough its outputs, certain characteristics of systems that it is related to.

e' $he economic enterprise is a technical)!aterial s#ste!, becausebetween wor"ing methods, raw materials and materials used inside it there are

certain connections that express by technological dependence between itssubdi!isions, especially between departments with production acti!ities. $hischaracteristic expresses especially in industrial companies where sections andwor"shops are specialized according to technological principles..

f' $he enterprise is a pre$!inantl# peratinal s#ste!. $e ma%ority ofwor"ing processes inside it has an effecti!e character. Managerial processeswith strategic and tactic character, although highly important, still ha!e areduced weight at the le!el of trade companies, expressing under the form ofperspecti!e decisions adopted by management)s high department, usually

General &ssembly or &dministration Council.Enterprise*s special i!prtance results from

+t is the principal ma"er of economic substance in any country and

without it contemporary society wouldn)t exist/

+t offers wor"ing places for the ma%ority of population/

+ts performances condition economy)s progress and performances in

each country and life standard for the population.

1.+. SMEs "&n$a!ental ele!ent " enterprises

E!idently, the first approach should refer to SMEs $e"initin. 0ariousapproaches exist that come from partially different perceptions o!er company)sdimension and expressing and uantifying modalities. &s an example,$echnology +nstitute from Georgia, &tlanta, undertoo" analysis in 12 countriesand issued a synopsis with 23 definitions for small and medium enterprises thatwas assumed by World 4an".5.+n our opinion, different approaches for SMEs definition may be systemized as itis presented in table 5.5.

Ta,le 1.1Main Apprach T#pes "r SMEs De"initin

1Employment and Development of Small Entreprises, World Bank, Washington DC, 1978.,


3/6

SMEs Role and Place within Modern Economy

6o.crt.

&pproach category

Criteria 6ame Significant characteristic

5

Economicdomain

Generalizing $hey establish the samecriterion or criteria for SMEs

definition for all economic fields

7ifferentiated$hey establish !arious criteriafor SMEs definition, dependingon their acti!ity field 8industry,trade, transports, etc.'

9

6umber of usedindicators Single(dimensional

$hey define SMEs dimensionbased on a single indicator,generally the number of employees

Multi(dimensional$hey define SMEs dimensionbased on se!eral indicators,generally the number of employees, turno!er and sharecapital

:rom pragmatic reasons # especially easiness of usage # during the lastyears the main trend was to call on %enerali-in% an$ sin%le)$i!ensinalappraches. SMEs definition depending on the number of employees is

especially used for each acti!ity domain. $his approach was generalized byEuropean ;nion and in lots of other European countries, including -omania.We are also going to use this paper. &ccording to this approach, smallenterprise is that company that has up to ne more feature is recommended to be added to these # si%ni"icant"le'i,ilit# " SMEs, especially for small companies.

1 E.!. "rli#h, $.%. &a'raken, C.". (ettmayr, ).&. $i#hler, %an*al for Small +nd*strial B*siness

$ro-e#t Design and !ppraissal, /+D0, iena, 1992, p. 71.

3

3


4/6


i%&re 1.1Si%ni"icant eat&res " S!all C!panies

S!all an$ !e$i&! enterprises /SMEs0 represent the !st n&!er&san$ i!prtant sectr " enterprises ha(in% !&ltiple ecn!ic technicalan$ scial "&nctins. &rguments in fa!or of this premises that might surprisemany people are the following

$hey generate the largest part of G7 in each country, generally22?=2?/

$hey offer labor places for the ma%ority of acti!e population/

2

0rientation to'ards

des#entali4ed

prod*#tion and lo#almarkets!##omplishing

prod*#ts and servi#es

for differential re5*est!#tivities 6ased on

#entral role of

6*siness men

Features

"re5*ent

s*perposition of

6*siness men and

manager roles

Eer#ising

parti#ipative

entreprene*rialCalling on strategies

for #ooperation 'ith

other #ompanies

+nvolving pro#esses of

prod*#ts and servi#es

in s*6#ontra#ting


5/6

SMEs Role and Place within Modern Economy

$hey generate in a big proportion technical inno!ations applicable in

economy/

7uring the last years, in most of the countries, including European

;nion, SMEs are the only ones that generate labor places/

$hey present the highest dynamism under the conditions of mar"eteconomy, situation confirmed by their number e!olution, turno!er!olume, occupied labor force that is higher compared to largeenterprises/

$hey accomplish products and ser!ices at reduced prices compared to

large companies/ the most important factors that determine thisdifference are the reduced expenses, superior !olume and intensity inwor" under the conditions of business man)s permanent presence inthe company and, usually more intense moti!ation of the personnel/

$hey present high flexibility and adaptability towards mar"et reuestsand changes, fa!ored by reduced dimension, uic" decisional process,and manager)s in!ol!ement in current acti!ities/

$hey represent one of the principal sources of state budget incomes

8taxes, 0&$, etc.'/

$hey offer the possibility for a significant number of people to ha!e

professional and social success, especially for the most acti!e andinno!ati!e segment that @dragsA the economy/

$hey ensure the main component of a fa!orable economic bac"ground

for mar"et economy, characterized by flexibility, inno!ation anddynamism/

$hey represent the seeds for future large companies, especially in new

domains of economy, its high branches based on techniues andcomplex and competiti!e technologies/

$he actual tendencies of technical, economical and social nature fa!or

setting up of SMEs. We refer to reducing the dimensions of euipment,informatics, de!elopment of communications and transports, increasingeducational le!el of people, reducing the differences of life conditions

between regions, administrati!e decentralization, aspects that not onlyma"e possible, but also generate high economic performances,especially through small and medium enterprises.

Stating the importance of SMEs under the contemporary economyconditions doesn)t mean underestimating large companies) role. Each country)seconomy, in order to be powerful, should ha!e a component of largecompanies, especially in industrial and transport field. Economic realitiesdemonstrate the existence of powerful relationships of complementaritiesbetween large companies, on the one hand, and SMEs, on the other hand. $he

economy is healthier and more performant if it is more stable not only from thesectorial point of !iew, but also dimensional, obtaining effects with superiorsynergies.


6/6


SMEs present si%ni"icant cn%enital 23ea4nesses5 an$ their$isc(er# an$ c&nterin% is essential. Without the intention of beingexhausti!e, we present these SMEs @wea"nessesA

Small uantity or incorporable resources and reduced reser!es that

they ha!e/ 7ependence, usually decisi!e of its existence on a single person, the

business man/

+nsufficient interest for its features shown by en!ironmental factors/

$echnical le!el is freuently reduced, compared to large companies/

More @!olatileA stability and permanency because of pre!ious specific

features.$his nati!e errors of SMEs were !ery well surprised in a synthesis,

comparing them to large companies by *oward Ste!enson1, manager of

Entrepreneurial &cti!ities Center from *ar!ard, by saying B&n ad!antage of bigcompanies # they ma"e big mista"es, but sur!i!e/ SMEs when ma"e bigmista"es, generally are ban"rupt@.

1 &. Stevenson, +ntreprenorial %anagement and Ed*#ation, Sti-in Seminar, 199.

Documents

04 Partea I Cap 1engl