Table Of ContentPALGRAVE STUDIES IN CROSS-DISCIPLINARY
BUSINESS RESEARCH, IN ASSOCIATION
WITH EUROMED ACADEMY OF BUSINESS
The Changing Role of
SMEs in Global Business
Volume I: Paradigms of Opportunities
and Challenges
Edited by Alkis Thrassou · Demetris Vrontis
Yaakov Weber · S. M. Riad Shams
Evangelos Tsoukatos
Palgrave Studies in Cross-disciplinary Business
Research, In Association with EuroMed Academy
of Business
Series Editors
Demetris Vrontis
Department of Marketing
University of Nicosia
Nicosia, Cyprus
Yaakov Weber
School of Business Administration
College of Management
Rishon Lezion, Israel
Alkis Thrassou
Department of Marketing
University of Nicosia
Nicosia, Cyprus
S. M. Riad Shams
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Evangelos Tsoukatos
Department of Accounting and Finance
Hellenic Mediterranean University
Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Reflecting the growing appetite for cross-disciplinary business research,
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move past silo thinking and implement cross-functional and cross-
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cross-disciplinary business knowledge and its strategic implications across
economic sectors, geographic regions and organizational types.
Published in conjunction with the EuroMed Academy of Business,
books will be published annually and incorporate new scientific research
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Alkis Thrassou
Demetris Vrontis • Yaakov Weber
S. M. Riad Shams • Evangelos Tsoukatos
Editors
The Changing Role
of SMEs in Global
Business
Volume I: Paradigms of Opportunities
and Challenges
Editors
Alkis Thrassou Demetris Vrontis
Department of Marketing Department of Marketing
University of Nicosia University of Nicosia
Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia, Cyprus
Yaakov Weber S. M. Riad Shams
School of Business Administration Newcastle Business School
College of Management Northumbria University
Rishon Lezion, Israel Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Evangelos Tsoukatos
Department of Accounting and Finance
Hellenic Mediterranean University
Heraklion, Crete, Greece
ISSN 2523-8167 ISSN 2523-8175 (electronic)
Palgrave Studies in Cross-disciplinary Business Research, In Association with EuroMed
Academy of Business
ISBN 978-3-030-45830-0 ISBN 978-3-030-45831-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45831-7
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
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Contents
1 Editorial Introduction: The Changing Opportunities and
Challenges of SMEs in Contemporary Business 1
Alkis Thrassou, Demetris Vrontis, Yaakov Weber, S. M. Riad
Shams, and Evangelos Tsoukatos
2 Exploring SMEs’ Risk Management in Southern Germany 15
Bernd Britzelmaier, Susanne Schmidtmeier, Carolin Weidler,
and Chiara Crovini
3 The Medical Clinic of Proximity: Business Controversies
and Medical Challenges 43
Larisa Mihoreanu
4 The Role of Digitalization in SMEs’ Strategy
Development: The Case of Sweden 65
Daniella Fjellström, Aihie Osarenkhoe, Tobias Pettersson, and
Daniel Tadesse
5 EU Public Procurement: The SME Perspective 89
Antonios Maniatis
v
vi Contents
6 The Impact of Economic Austerity Measures on Corporate
Performance: The Case of an SME-Dominated
Construction Industry 109
José Manuel Pereira, Humberto Ribeiro, Bruno Ribeiro,
Amélia Silva, and Sandra Raquel Alves
7 Digital Transformation as a Source of Innovative Growth
for Small and Medium Enterprises in Russia 131
Tatiana Kokuytseva and Oksana Ovchinnikova
8 Critical Success Factors for SMEs in the UK Chemical
Distribution Industry: The ‘Brexit’ Effect 155
Evripidis Lampadarios and Niki Kyriakidou
9 Integrating Business Model Innovation and Corporate
Governance in Family- Owned SMEs: A Dynamic
Capability Perspective 179
Paolo Di Toma
10 The Competitiveness Challenge for SMEs: The Case of
Târnave Wine Cluster, Romania 199
Valentin Cojanu and Liane Tancelov
11 Indigenous Entrepreneurship in Australia: Theoretical
Elucidations and Research Avenues 225
S. M. Riad Shams
12 The Role of SMEs in Electricity Markets 243
Felicetta Iovino
Index 255
Notes on Contributors
Sandra Raquel Alves is a professor at the College of Technology and
Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal. She has a doctorate
in Business Sciences from the Faculty of Economics, University of Porto,
Portugal; a Masters in Accounting and Auditing from Open University;
and a Degree in Business Management from the College of Accounting
and Administration of Coimbra. She is a Chartered Accountant and a
researcher at the Information Systems and Technology Management Lab,
São Paulo, Brazil. She is a member of scientific and professional associa-
tions and a visiting professor at several universities. She is a Scientific
Conferences Organizer. reviewer of journals and conferences, and is also
the author of numerous articles and papers, including books, book chap-
ters and scientific journals.
Bernd Britzelmaier is Professor of Management Control, Finance and
Accounting at Pforzheim University. He has written and edited more
than 20 books for publishing houses such as Pearson or Springer and a
number of papers in the fields of Business in China, Finance, Accounting
and Management Control. He is the associate editor of the World Review
of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development and
serves as a member of several editorial boards.
vii
viii Notes on Contributors
Valentin Cojanu is Professor of Economics and International
Competition at Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE). His
papers cover the thematic area of trade and development: market integra-
tion, international specialization, competitiveness and international com-
petition. He heads the Doctoral School in Economics and International
Business since 2013 and manages the Program of Microeconomics of
Competitiveness offered by Harvard Business School in the school of
Economics and International Business. In 2007, he founded the Journal
of Philosophical Economics, covering areas of interest connected with the
reorientation of economics towards landmark philosophical ideas about
society and modern thinking.
Chiara Crovini is a post-doctoral research fellow in Business and
Management at the Department of Management, University of Turin,
Italy. Her research area covers all the topics related to risk management,
management accounting, non-financial reporting, internal control systems,
auditing, banks and credit institutions. She is a Chartered Accountant and
Statutory Auditor. She is a member of the European Accounting Association
(EAA), European Risk Research Network (ERRN) of the Business System
Laboratory (B.S. Lab.), International Academy of Business and Economics
(IABE), Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale Giovani (AIDEA
Giovani) and SIDREA (Società Italiana dei Docenti di Ragioneria e di
Economia Aziendale).
Paolo Di Toma is Professor of Business Administration at the
Department of Communication and Economics of the University of
Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. He received a Ph.D. in Business
Administration at the University Cà Foscari of Venice. His main research
interest is corporate governance, primarily the Board and its interaction
with strategic and managerial innovation. His recent studies focus on the
interaction between governance processes and business model innova-
tion, the development of dynamic capabilities and strategy execution.
Daniella Fjellström is an assistant professor in the Department of
Business and Economic Studies, University of Gävle. She earned her
PhD in International Business at the Centre for International Business at
Leeds University Business School, the University of Leeds, UK. Her
Notes on Contributors ix
research interests include information technology in an organizational
context, knowledge transfer and digitalization. Her work has been pub-
lished in, among others, Asian Business & Management, Journal of
Business and Industrial Marketing, International Journal of Applied
Business and Economic Research, Qualitative Research in Organizations
and Management: An International Journal, Journal of Asia Business
Studies, Global Business and Economics Review.
Felicetta Iovino is a Fellow of Business Administration and Accounting.
She has written articles about energy companies and energy policy, which
were published in international and peer-reviewed journals.
Tatiana Kokuytseva is a PhD in economics, deputy director for science,
and an associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, Peoples’ Friendship
University of Russia (RUDN University). Her research interests include
management of innovation development and competitiveness, digital
transformation, high-tech industries, human resources. She has written
over 120 scientific papers, including 16 articles in journals indexed in
Scopus, 12 – in WoS, 98 – in Russian Science Citation Index, and 4
monographs. She has taken part in more than 60 research projects in the
interests of Russian high-tech companies. She is a winner of international
and Russian scientific competitions, a three-time winner of Young Talents
Award under the national project “Education”. Among the prizes she has
won are a medal from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science
and a medal from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Niki Kyriakidou is a senior academic in human resource management
with 15 years of teaching and research experience. Dr Kyriakidou’s
research interests include International Strategic Human Resource
Management and Development, International Leadership Development,
and International Cross Cultural Management. Her recent research writ-
ing, supervision and international project collaborations focus on strate-
gic leadership development, career development issues and the skill needs
of the knowledge-base economies of European Countries.
Evripidis Lampadarios is a business manager and consultant in the
chemical industry . Lampadarios is also a part-time lecturer in Business
Strategy and Human Resource Management at Leeds Beckett University.
