The Influence of Human Resources and ICT on the Development of SME'S

Abstract

When we talk about development of SMEs we know that there are many positive factors that contribute to our goal but we must also have in mind the negative influence of the same factors, if they are not properly dimensioned. In this paper we showed the influence of human resources and ICT to the development of the SMEs. Working method was based on the responses received from 221 SMEs to a questionnaire release by email, to a sample of 384 SMEs in the 3 South- Muntenia Region (Dambovita and Teleorman).The abstract should present the objectives and results of the research. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Headnote

Abstract

When we talk about development of SMEs we know that there are many positive factors that contribute to our goal but we must also have in mind the negative influence of the same factors, if they are not properly dimensioned. In this paper we showed the influence of human resources and ICT to the development of the SMEs. Working method was based on the responses received from 221 SMEs to a questionnaire release by email, to a sample of 384 SMEs in the 3 South- Muntenia Region (Dambovita and Teleorman).The abstract should present the objectives and results of the research.

Keywords: human resources, access to TIC, development, SME's.

JEL Classification: O320

Introduction

Innovation is a factor in the competitiveness of SMEs and represent " a particular type of change, more specialized"[Robbins, S. and Judge, T, 2004:638]. It consists in transforming an idea into a new technology, a new or improved product, a new marketing method or in a new training course for staff or a new form of work for organization.

SMEs are viable only if they manage to survive the first five years of existence. Although the nature of the problems of vital importance may vary, both official statistics, and other studies give us a pretty clear picture of the types of problems faced by small businesses [West, 2000: 71], of which the most acute are the character limited of both resources financial and human.

Despite these deficiencies, in the literature we find different opinions of the entrepreneurs who argue for the idea that "bigger is not always better", keeping the small size of the company presents objective advantages: a faster response to customer requests, customers can talk directly with the company manager (situation appreciated by them). In the opinion of Adam Smith an individual for whom a lot of work and time has been spent for its training, must prove a superior level of qualification and dexterity, being able to be compared to any expensive but performance car [Smith, 1994: 1124].

In addition, customers are treated equally, regardless of their status and budget, which is usually available in large enterprises, where a request of a client is assigned to a person more or less experienced, depending on the size of the profit involved. Also, a small company has more availability for its customers, devoting more time to the public relations (well appreciated by customers). Another advantage of SMEs is given by the variety of small projects (depending, of course, of the object of activity).

All these factors, however, emphasizes the fragility of a small business. For example, if one of the valuable employees leaves the company, the effect can be much higher - even catastrophic - than the departure from a large enterprise [Robescu, 2012:84]. Similarly, a huge crisis can be triggered by a significant customer if he late with payment.

Considering all these factors [www.wikipedia.ro], the most serious problems facing a small business can be summarized as follows:

- management team (the entrepreneur himself) - does not have the necessary skills in a number of key areas;

- the entrepreneur does not have time to carry out many complex tasks that will help the development of the company, and financial resources limited does not allow to recruit qualified personnel in solving those problems;

- the entrepreneur will react to problems when they occur, rather than trying to provide and to take proactive measures.

1. Research Methodology

The main aim of the research was to understand the influence of the mentioned factors that it have on the development of SMEs in Romania. To better meet the research objectives we chose sending and receiving questionnaires via e-mail.

The general collectivity is represented by all SMEs in Dâmbovi?a County and Teleorman, both of them are located in the South Region.

In our research we stopped attention to this region and we opted for Dâmbovi?a county and Teleorman, justifying our choice by the fact that both counties have a level of economic and social development, which differ significantly.

Thus, the research unit was represented by the enterprise, and inside the enterprise respondent is represented by the general manager or director of sales / marketing / commercial, as appropriate.

Recruitment of the respondents was done randomly to respond to the questionnaire.

Participation was voluntary and respondents were guaranteed confidentiality. Were administered 384 questionnaires via email, of which 221 were returned completed. Response rate of 57.40% was considered valid, divided by the number of companies who responded favorably to the invitation.

For the interpreting the results obtained by the empirical research on the based questionnaire was used the dispersion analysis of a factor or of the simple variation, calculating the following parameters: arithmetic mean, mean linear deviation, coefficient of variation and dispersion.

Data processing was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and a program which operating with the dispersion analysis (of variance) for statistical strings mono, two-way and tri/factorial experiences.

For correlative analysis of various factors influencing the innovative/ development activities of the SMEs, we used a correlation analysis program and functions (2D and 3D) which helped us to exploit well data obtained by questionnaire applied and to obtain models using probability theory.

1. Research Results

Regarding item - the existence of factors that positively influence the development of SMEs - we can say that 55.6% of respondents identified the existence of facto rs, and almost 44.4% consider that there are no factors that would positively influence activity of SMEs. After identifying these factors, we proceed to analyze them.

We identified 10 factors that positively influence innovation activities of SMEs. From these factors, in this paper we only stopped at two of them, namely:

- The existence of qualified human resources.

- Need for ICT equipment, and access to ICT.

First dimension of the item - qualified human resources - shows that 37% of respondents believe that qualified personnel contributes in a small and very small extent to innovation process respectively to development, while 53% consider that contribute large extent, very large and decisive in the process of business growth.

It's possible that the SMEs managers to think that the human resources has to have specials skills in the act of creation (32.5%) (Figure 1).

Dimension 2 of the item - purchase of ICT equipment - provides an overview of the fact that the modern computing technology underlies any progress that can be achieved only through innovation.

Share of respondents which think that isn't need to buy IT equipment about 18% of them, other 17% of respondents consider this kind of purchase is of medium importance, while 65% consider purchasing IT equipment as high, very high and determinants for the development of SMEs (figure 2).

The third dimension of item - the influence of access to ICT for innovation / development - access to ICT technology is well received and used by SMEs.

Thus, 15% of respondents believe that access to ICT influences a lesser extent innovation activity, the remaining 85% believing that has a great influence on the development of SMEs (Figure 3).

For processing the model we used the creditworthiness grades for the two factors, as follows:

- the qualified labor, measured by grades from 0 to 5, the qualification increase with grade (0- not qualified; 5 - very qualified) (x);

- dimension 2 and 3, for the purchase of IT equipment and access to it, we decided to transform in one indicator, and give one grade of creditworthiness from 0-5, increasing the grade means that intake to achieve a more consistent innovation activities is increased (y );

- the modeling result for these two factors is the best possible innovation "z" and is expressed in percent (from the optimum potential).

In this case Z = f (X, Y) and is expressed as a function LDRX in the graph from Figure 4, from which we retain next:

- Qualification of labor, without any technological support, cannot increase the effect of innovation with more than 50% from the optimum potential;

- Use of any ICT technologies cannot bring increased the innovation activity with more than 52%.

Also, to achieve the optimal rate of innovation, remaining 48-50% is given by the interaction between the two factors, i.e. between ICT access and skills of the workforce (figure 4, the blue from the figure). The percentages obtained by interaction are achieved by using other factors, and primarily of funding sources, whether they are internal in accessing loans or projects and programs.

There are sometimes difficulties in reading a 3D model (Figure 4), for which we transform these models into 2D diagrams for an easy understanding (Figure 5). The lines drawn in the figure are factors ICT influenced by the growth of workforce skills, regardless of the degree of technicality of the equipment.

Conclusion

Innovation and the technological progress must always be used by SMEs to enhance their competitiveness.

Our research showed that the determinants of innovation activity and development of SMEs are: the skills of human resources. Already it is known at global economic level, well-qualified staff in research and technology is used poorly. In the EU, 46% of researchers are active in the economy, this figure is 69% in China, 73% in Japan and 80% in the U.S. And, only 30% in Romania.

The most favorable factors for innovation proved to be the following: skills, or quality of the human resources; financial resources; efficiency improve product and service quality is positively correlated with employee skills and reduce production time; knowledge management plays a crucial role in reducing costs and hence we could reasonably conclude that proper knowledge management can lead to cost reduction [Bahram, H., 2010: 181].

In terms of human resource, we find that innovative organizations actively promote the training and development of their members, whose knowledge and remain current with respect to changes surrounding. [Robbins, S. and Judge, T, 2004:639].

A learning organization is characterized by the development of a permanent capacity to adapt. Such an organization must develop an efficient management information system (MIS) to enable a better use of information in decision decision-making processes.

Globalization, a factor shaping today's business is a result of many factors, including privatization, deregulation, improved worldwide transportation and telecommunications, the emergence of transnational firms, and trade blocs [Haag, S, Cummings, M., Dawkins, J.,1998:10-11].

In the context of globalization, it is necessary to adapt MIS, and specifically planning for, developing, managing, and using the coordinated efforts of an organization's three most important resources: people, information and money.

References

References

Bahram, H., (2010) "Strategic Knowledge Management and its effects on Cost Management in projects", Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering, Quality and Production Systems, Constanta, Romania, September 3-5, 2010, pp. 181.

Haag, S., Cummings, M., Dawkins, J., (1998), Management Information Systems for the Information Age Mc Graw Hill Inc., Boston.

Robbins, S., Judge, T. (2004), Comportaments organisationnels, 12e edition Pearson Education

Robescu V.O. (2012), Inovarea ?i managementul IMM-urile în Romania, Ed. Ceres, Bucure?ti

Smith, A. (1994), The Wealth of Nations, Vol. I, published by Random House Ink

West, A., (2000), Planul de afaceri, Editura Teora, Bucure?ti.