patrice braun | Federation University Australia (original) (raw)
Papers by patrice braun
Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
This article discusses capacity building of small and medium size enterprises (SME) in tourism ne... more This article discusses capacity building of small and medium size enterprises (SME) in tourism networks in the context of the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) and an increasingly networked economy. The success of the tourism industry is dependent on the quality of business operations and how well they are able to sustain themselves in the networked economy. To run tourism businesses well, operators need to be skilled, flexible and innovative in order to maintain and enhance competitiveness. The aim of this paper is to share some insights into an Australian tourism industry capacity building project via flexibly delivered online skills. Aiming to raise industry standards and move away from ineffective silo approaches to industry training and capacity building, this article reflects the importance of developing effective industry networks.
This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism... more This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism businesses in regional Australia. Skills augmentation, building destination relationships and linkages and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers for economic growth in general, and the tourism industry in particular. Small and micro tourism enterprises (SME) face enormous difficulty competing with their larger counterparts. To make matters worse, many SME are often located in peripheral regions where access to skills support is limited. To date self-regulation efforts in the tourism sector have resulted in little evidence that the industry is capable of capacity building without external planning and intervention. With increasing ICT literacy of prospective customers, consumer expectations on product information are rising. In light of this development there is general agreement that SME managers of the future will need to have both business acumen and skills in information and communication technologies (ICT) if they want to exploit its full potential. SME will be lost in the marketplace unless they are assisted in the usage of the tools necessary to participate in the digital economy.
IGI Global eBooks, 2008
To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for SMEs has focused on individual b... more To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for SMEs has focused on individual business barriers to ICT and e-commerce adoption. Such research has shown that SMEs tend to be time- and resource-poor, with their size being their main disadvantage vis-à-vis ICT adoption (OECD, 2000; Van Beveren & Thompson, 2002). Perhaps the question is not whether small firms have adopted ICT, but rather where are small firms in terms of their ICT adoption. ICT encompasses a series of separate yet interrelated components; for example, electronic mail (e-mail), the Internet, the Web, and e-commerce, which can be adopted in a variety of social and business settings. Hence, it is suggested that ICT cannot be considered as a single technological innovation but rather as a series of (process) innovations, potentially resulting in variable ICT adoption patterns (Walczuch, Van Braven, & Lundgren, 2000).
Proceedings of 2nd Future of Australia's Country …, 2005
This paper discusses elements of trust in rural areas in terms of trust influencing business proc... more This paper discusses elements of trust in rural areas in terms of trust influencing business processes, economic sustainability and business innovation in a regional and rural network context. Contrasting globalisation and localisation, the paper starts with a brief overview ...
This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism... more This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism businesses in regional Australia. Skills augmentation, building destination relationships and linkages and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers for economic growth in general, and the tourism industry in particular. Small and micro tourism enterprises (SME) face enormous difficulty competing with their larger counterparts. To make matters worse, many SME are often located in peripheral regions where access to skills support is limited. To date self-regulation efforts in the tourism sector have resulted in little evidence that the industry is capable of capacity building without external planning and intervention. With increasing ICT literacy of prospective customers, consumer expectations on product information are rising. In light of this development there is general agreement that SME managers of the future will need to have both business acumen and skills in information and communication technologies (ICT) if they want to exploit its full potential. SME will be lost in the marketplace unless they are assisted in the usage of the tools necessary to participate in the digital economy.
Education + Training, 2006
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industr... more Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industry capacity building via flexibly delivered online skilling and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach -An online research survey approach was employed, involving a sample of 64 micro tourism operators. Findings -The paper finds that the major benefits perceived by operators across the pilot region, were the time saving aspects demonstrated in the smart form concept. Operators were also drawn in by the best practise examples and direct links to the online resources to bring and keep them up to date with industry information and developments.
Tourism entrepreneurship of the micro operator is a research area that has not received a great d... more Tourism entrepreneurship of the micro operator is a research area that has not received a great deal of attention. This paper examines some of the key characteristics of tourism entrepreneurs and argues that these characteristics of tourism entrepreneurship derive from the lack of barriers to entry accompanied by the very low skill base of industry entrants. To highlight the difficulties of applying accepted concepts that relate to small firm entrepreneurship and tourism innovation, a review the tourism literature on entrepreneurship in a range of foreign and Australian settings is combined with a series of in-depth interviews conducted with six key stakeholders representing tourism industry manages and small business advisory and management services in Victoria, Australia.
Skills augmentation, through individual and collective learning, building destination relationshi... more Skills augmentation, through individual and collective learning, building destination relationships and network linkages through knowledge sharing and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers for regional growth in general and the tourism industry in particular. The aim of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into regional tourism industry network and capacity building via online skilling and knowledge sharing. Applying an ICT and Internetenhanced platform for the delivery of business skills, this paper discusses an online learning pilot for micro tourism businesses in regional Australia designed to offer tourism information and skills development towards industry accreditation. While a tripartite university-government-industry partnership was successfully established to share knowledge towards regional capacity building and industry benchmarking, the authors also highlight silo politics, cultural differences, lack of leadership and lack of trust as some of the main barriers to effective and bilateral knowledge sharing towards regional industry capacity building.
This paper examines the role of entrepreneurship and ICT as the basis for sustainable livelihoods... more This paper examines the role of entrepreneurship and ICT as the basis for sustainable livelihoods and empowerment for rural women entrepreneurs. The research adopted a social constructionist epistemology and an integrated framework for its qualitative data collection. The study found pervasive use of mobile phones to support entrepreneurship and strong links between gender empowerment and cooperative entrepreneurship. Communities that are organised into cooperatives are more empowered than when women entrepreneurs go it alone. Such communities have champions with mobile phones who act as the main conduit to access markets. Where cooperative entrepreneurship exists, there is strong social capital, increased productivity and income, which in turn empowers and strengthens the position of women. From a theoretical perspective, this paper makes a contribution to the women’s entrepreneurship discourse, moving away from contemporary theoretical assumptions on the female entrepreneur as a lone rider to women’s entrepreneurship from a networked perspective as a means for social change.
In Gender Empowerment, E. Surjadi (Ed). Sriya Hakapan Jagra: Jakarta, pp. 553-570.
It is widely accepted that technological change underpins a global economy and that geographic lo... more It is widely accepted that technological change underpins a global economy and that geographic location and concentration is of foremost importance for tourism development and competitive advantage. This paper discusses the role of tourism networks, clustering and destination value chains for micro and small and medium size tourism enterprises (SMEs) in freely assembled destinations. In discussing destination benefits and barriers surrounding SME clustering, SME positioning and performance are highlighted. It is proposed in this paper that SME clustering and value are not always naturally established. Successful destination clusters may be created by upgrading SME performance, analysing local value chains and matching both tangible and intangible sources of value, such as systems, leadership, relationships and brands with demand-side value segmentation.
Economic stimulation on the local level is increasingly being recognised as the key to regional r... more Economic stimulation on the local level is increasingly being recognised as the key to regional resilience. As such, regional capacity building initiatives have moved into endogenous development models that build on the local economic context, embedded competencies and social structures.
© Dr Patrice Braun. Report or sections thereof may be used for research or reference purposes onl... more © Dr Patrice Braun. Report or sections thereof may be used for research or reference purposes only with appropriate acknowledgement. For further information please contact the author. accessing services and learning. As such, mobile technology is a powerful enabler for women´s empowerment.
In line with global economic innovation trends, regional development literature and policy docume... more In line with global economic innovation trends, regional development literature and policy documents reflect the importance of network connectivity and clustering; collaborative learning; cooperative relationships through the coordination of complementarities; and community building. Another central concept that permeates and underpins today's economic development is change. Technological change, constantly expanding knowledge, globalisation, new markets, political pressures, customer preferences, social expectations, and changing beliefs and values typify the nature of our techno-economic climate and combine with other aspects of the environment to cause the turbulence faced by regions and communities.
To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for small and medium size enterprise... more To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) has focused on individual business barriers to information and communication technologies (ICT) and e-business adoption. Such research has shown that SMEs tend to be time and resource-poor, with their size being their main disadvantage vis-à-vis ICT adoption. Government intervention designed to overcome such barriers and facilitate adoption of ICT has not markedly increased the uptake of e-business by SMEs. In this discussion paper, the authors posit that the current approach to ICT adoption interventions fail to take into account the incremental nature of the SMEs e-business learning processes. An incremental learning model adapted from Earl is presented that positions ICT adoption as an evolutionary process and stresses the need for continuous learning and change. To help small business owners articulate, value and meet their evolving e-business needs, the authors suggest that ICT adoption strategies should focus on facilitating not only the acquisition of skills and knowledge, but also the development of e-business networks which underpin the SME ICT adoption process.
To create competitive advantage in today's economy, lifelong learning is essential and knowledge ... more To create competitive advantage in today's economy, lifelong learning is essential and knowledge must be relevant, applicable and actionable. This puts new demands on us all. On the side of managers it calls for collaborative learning approaches to knowledge creation and knowledge transfer between organisations. On the side of academics, it calls for engaged scholarship aimed at facilitating learning and knowledge transfer. In meeting these changing conditions, bilateral knowledge trading or the formation of interactive knowledge creation relationships between practitioners and researchers is essential. With competitive advantage embedded in collaboration, knowledge sharing has been taking place through collaborative learning environments such as communities of practice, inter-organisational networks and virtual environments. However, to satisfy the collaborative and knowledge-based expectations that typify the nature of our economic climate, favourable conditions for both face-to-face and virtual collaborative learning must be in place. Action researchers have long advocated collaborative learning processes as the way forward, despite the fact that working within an environment that aspires for knowledge to be become applicable and actionable can be complex and challenging. In discussing the concepts of collaborative learning and the creation of actionable knowledge, this paper highlights prevalent actionable knowledge creation practices and presents enabling environments that enhance conditions such as trust, reciprocity; social capital, and participation required for effective collaborative learning relationships.The paper concludes with a brief exploration of additional directions that may help to augment collaborative learning activities.
This paper discusses elements of inter-entrepreneurial trust in regional networks and clusters in... more This paper discusses elements of inter-entrepreneurial trust in regional networks and clusters in terms of influencing business processes and economic viability in today's economy. The message that can be extracted from the literature is that competitive advantage strongly depends on interfirm collaboration and that networks with a high degree of trust lead to entrepreneurship and innovation. The paper highlights two local Victorian network studies, one in the grains industry and one in the tourism industry, and explores trust based relations in these regional networks. Contrasting sectoral results indicate that social network cohesion and trust were found to be present in the grains community but were absent in the tourism community. Borrowing from the economics and leadership literature, it is proposed that trust fosters certain types of inter-entrepreneurial networks. A description of these networks and related policy implications conclude the paper.
Implementing new business models to achieve competitive advantage in the technoeconomic innovatio... more Implementing new business models to achieve competitive advantage in the technoeconomic innovation paradigm bring to the fore ICT adoption, strategic planning and network issues. Building on the concept that global positioning and competitive advantage for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) may be achieved through connectivity and clustering, this article discusses research into the adoption of networked technologies by SMEs. In considering small business perceptions of affordability and growth opportunities for their business, this article explores the conditions for small business network formation underpinned by technology and discusses the results of an action research study with a regional Australian SMEs tourism network seeking to establish a virtual e-marketing and e-commerce portal environment.
The Internet provides tourism industry businesses of all sizes with far-reaching opportunities to... more The Internet provides tourism industry businesses of all sizes with far-reaching opportunities to offer virtual tourism product and develop or enhance relationships with their customers. In many parts of the world, small and medium sized tourism firms (tourism SMEs) make up the majority of the tourism industry and therefore make a substantial contribution to regional economies. This article discusses the adoption of e-commerce technologies by regional tourism firms in general and by regional Australian small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in particular.
Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
This article discusses capacity building of small and medium size enterprises (SME) in tourism ne... more This article discusses capacity building of small and medium size enterprises (SME) in tourism networks in the context of the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) and an increasingly networked economy. The success of the tourism industry is dependent on the quality of business operations and how well they are able to sustain themselves in the networked economy. To run tourism businesses well, operators need to be skilled, flexible and innovative in order to maintain and enhance competitiveness. The aim of this paper is to share some insights into an Australian tourism industry capacity building project via flexibly delivered online skills. Aiming to raise industry standards and move away from ineffective silo approaches to industry training and capacity building, this article reflects the importance of developing effective industry networks.
This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism... more This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism businesses in regional Australia. Skills augmentation, building destination relationships and linkages and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers for economic growth in general, and the tourism industry in particular. Small and micro tourism enterprises (SME) face enormous difficulty competing with their larger counterparts. To make matters worse, many SME are often located in peripheral regions where access to skills support is limited. To date self-regulation efforts in the tourism sector have resulted in little evidence that the industry is capable of capacity building without external planning and intervention. With increasing ICT literacy of prospective customers, consumer expectations on product information are rising. In light of this development there is general agreement that SME managers of the future will need to have both business acumen and skills in information and communication technologies (ICT) if they want to exploit its full potential. SME will be lost in the marketplace unless they are assisted in the usage of the tools necessary to participate in the digital economy.
IGI Global eBooks, 2008
To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for SMEs has focused on individual b... more To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for SMEs has focused on individual business barriers to ICT and e-commerce adoption. Such research has shown that SMEs tend to be time- and resource-poor, with their size being their main disadvantage vis-à-vis ICT adoption (OECD, 2000; Van Beveren & Thompson, 2002). Perhaps the question is not whether small firms have adopted ICT, but rather where are small firms in terms of their ICT adoption. ICT encompasses a series of separate yet interrelated components; for example, electronic mail (e-mail), the Internet, the Web, and e-commerce, which can be adopted in a variety of social and business settings. Hence, it is suggested that ICT cannot be considered as a single technological innovation but rather as a series of (process) innovations, potentially resulting in variable ICT adoption patterns (Walczuch, Van Braven, & Lundgren, 2000).
Proceedings of 2nd Future of Australia's Country …, 2005
This paper discusses elements of trust in rural areas in terms of trust influencing business proc... more This paper discusses elements of trust in rural areas in terms of trust influencing business processes, economic sustainability and business innovation in a regional and rural network context. Contrasting globalisation and localisation, the paper starts with a brief overview ...
This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism... more This paper discusses a recently funded tourism industry capacity building pilot for micro tourism businesses in regional Australia. Skills augmentation, building destination relationships and linkages and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers for economic growth in general, and the tourism industry in particular. Small and micro tourism enterprises (SME) face enormous difficulty competing with their larger counterparts. To make matters worse, many SME are often located in peripheral regions where access to skills support is limited. To date self-regulation efforts in the tourism sector have resulted in little evidence that the industry is capable of capacity building without external planning and intervention. With increasing ICT literacy of prospective customers, consumer expectations on product information are rising. In light of this development there is general agreement that SME managers of the future will need to have both business acumen and skills in information and communication technologies (ICT) if they want to exploit its full potential. SME will be lost in the marketplace unless they are assisted in the usage of the tools necessary to participate in the digital economy.
Education + Training, 2006
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industr... more Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industry capacity building via flexibly delivered online skilling and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach -An online research survey approach was employed, involving a sample of 64 micro tourism operators. Findings -The paper finds that the major benefits perceived by operators across the pilot region, were the time saving aspects demonstrated in the smart form concept. Operators were also drawn in by the best practise examples and direct links to the online resources to bring and keep them up to date with industry information and developments.
Tourism entrepreneurship of the micro operator is a research area that has not received a great d... more Tourism entrepreneurship of the micro operator is a research area that has not received a great deal of attention. This paper examines some of the key characteristics of tourism entrepreneurs and argues that these characteristics of tourism entrepreneurship derive from the lack of barriers to entry accompanied by the very low skill base of industry entrants. To highlight the difficulties of applying accepted concepts that relate to small firm entrepreneurship and tourism innovation, a review the tourism literature on entrepreneurship in a range of foreign and Australian settings is combined with a series of in-depth interviews conducted with six key stakeholders representing tourism industry manages and small business advisory and management services in Victoria, Australia.
Skills augmentation, through individual and collective learning, building destination relationshi... more Skills augmentation, through individual and collective learning, building destination relationships and network linkages through knowledge sharing and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers for regional growth in general and the tourism industry in particular. The aim of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into regional tourism industry network and capacity building via online skilling and knowledge sharing. Applying an ICT and Internetenhanced platform for the delivery of business skills, this paper discusses an online learning pilot for micro tourism businesses in regional Australia designed to offer tourism information and skills development towards industry accreditation. While a tripartite university-government-industry partnership was successfully established to share knowledge towards regional capacity building and industry benchmarking, the authors also highlight silo politics, cultural differences, lack of leadership and lack of trust as some of the main barriers to effective and bilateral knowledge sharing towards regional industry capacity building.
This paper examines the role of entrepreneurship and ICT as the basis for sustainable livelihoods... more This paper examines the role of entrepreneurship and ICT as the basis for sustainable livelihoods and empowerment for rural women entrepreneurs. The research adopted a social constructionist epistemology and an integrated framework for its qualitative data collection. The study found pervasive use of mobile phones to support entrepreneurship and strong links between gender empowerment and cooperative entrepreneurship. Communities that are organised into cooperatives are more empowered than when women entrepreneurs go it alone. Such communities have champions with mobile phones who act as the main conduit to access markets. Where cooperative entrepreneurship exists, there is strong social capital, increased productivity and income, which in turn empowers and strengthens the position of women. From a theoretical perspective, this paper makes a contribution to the women’s entrepreneurship discourse, moving away from contemporary theoretical assumptions on the female entrepreneur as a lone rider to women’s entrepreneurship from a networked perspective as a means for social change.
In Gender Empowerment, E. Surjadi (Ed). Sriya Hakapan Jagra: Jakarta, pp. 553-570.
It is widely accepted that technological change underpins a global economy and that geographic lo... more It is widely accepted that technological change underpins a global economy and that geographic location and concentration is of foremost importance for tourism development and competitive advantage. This paper discusses the role of tourism networks, clustering and destination value chains for micro and small and medium size tourism enterprises (SMEs) in freely assembled destinations. In discussing destination benefits and barriers surrounding SME clustering, SME positioning and performance are highlighted. It is proposed in this paper that SME clustering and value are not always naturally established. Successful destination clusters may be created by upgrading SME performance, analysing local value chains and matching both tangible and intangible sources of value, such as systems, leadership, relationships and brands with demand-side value segmentation.
Economic stimulation on the local level is increasingly being recognised as the key to regional r... more Economic stimulation on the local level is increasingly being recognised as the key to regional resilience. As such, regional capacity building initiatives have moved into endogenous development models that build on the local economic context, embedded competencies and social structures.
© Dr Patrice Braun. Report or sections thereof may be used for research or reference purposes onl... more © Dr Patrice Braun. Report or sections thereof may be used for research or reference purposes only with appropriate acknowledgement. For further information please contact the author. accessing services and learning. As such, mobile technology is a powerful enabler for women´s empowerment.
In line with global economic innovation trends, regional development literature and policy docume... more In line with global economic innovation trends, regional development literature and policy documents reflect the importance of network connectivity and clustering; collaborative learning; cooperative relationships through the coordination of complementarities; and community building. Another central concept that permeates and underpins today's economic development is change. Technological change, constantly expanding knowledge, globalisation, new markets, political pressures, customer preferences, social expectations, and changing beliefs and values typify the nature of our techno-economic climate and combine with other aspects of the environment to cause the turbulence faced by regions and communities.
To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for small and medium size enterprise... more To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) has focused on individual business barriers to information and communication technologies (ICT) and e-business adoption. Such research has shown that SMEs tend to be time and resource-poor, with their size being their main disadvantage vis-à-vis ICT adoption. Government intervention designed to overcome such barriers and facilitate adoption of ICT has not markedly increased the uptake of e-business by SMEs. In this discussion paper, the authors posit that the current approach to ICT adoption interventions fail to take into account the incremental nature of the SMEs e-business learning processes. An incremental learning model adapted from Earl is presented that positions ICT adoption as an evolutionary process and stresses the need for continuous learning and change. To help small business owners articulate, value and meet their evolving e-business needs, the authors suggest that ICT adoption strategies should focus on facilitating not only the acquisition of skills and knowledge, but also the development of e-business networks which underpin the SME ICT adoption process.
To create competitive advantage in today's economy, lifelong learning is essential and knowledge ... more To create competitive advantage in today's economy, lifelong learning is essential and knowledge must be relevant, applicable and actionable. This puts new demands on us all. On the side of managers it calls for collaborative learning approaches to knowledge creation and knowledge transfer between organisations. On the side of academics, it calls for engaged scholarship aimed at facilitating learning and knowledge transfer. In meeting these changing conditions, bilateral knowledge trading or the formation of interactive knowledge creation relationships between practitioners and researchers is essential. With competitive advantage embedded in collaboration, knowledge sharing has been taking place through collaborative learning environments such as communities of practice, inter-organisational networks and virtual environments. However, to satisfy the collaborative and knowledge-based expectations that typify the nature of our economic climate, favourable conditions for both face-to-face and virtual collaborative learning must be in place. Action researchers have long advocated collaborative learning processes as the way forward, despite the fact that working within an environment that aspires for knowledge to be become applicable and actionable can be complex and challenging. In discussing the concepts of collaborative learning and the creation of actionable knowledge, this paper highlights prevalent actionable knowledge creation practices and presents enabling environments that enhance conditions such as trust, reciprocity; social capital, and participation required for effective collaborative learning relationships.The paper concludes with a brief exploration of additional directions that may help to augment collaborative learning activities.
This paper discusses elements of inter-entrepreneurial trust in regional networks and clusters in... more This paper discusses elements of inter-entrepreneurial trust in regional networks and clusters in terms of influencing business processes and economic viability in today's economy. The message that can be extracted from the literature is that competitive advantage strongly depends on interfirm collaboration and that networks with a high degree of trust lead to entrepreneurship and innovation. The paper highlights two local Victorian network studies, one in the grains industry and one in the tourism industry, and explores trust based relations in these regional networks. Contrasting sectoral results indicate that social network cohesion and trust were found to be present in the grains community but were absent in the tourism community. Borrowing from the economics and leadership literature, it is proposed that trust fosters certain types of inter-entrepreneurial networks. A description of these networks and related policy implications conclude the paper.
Implementing new business models to achieve competitive advantage in the technoeconomic innovatio... more Implementing new business models to achieve competitive advantage in the technoeconomic innovation paradigm bring to the fore ICT adoption, strategic planning and network issues. Building on the concept that global positioning and competitive advantage for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) may be achieved through connectivity and clustering, this article discusses research into the adoption of networked technologies by SMEs. In considering small business perceptions of affordability and growth opportunities for their business, this article explores the conditions for small business network formation underpinned by technology and discusses the results of an action research study with a regional Australian SMEs tourism network seeking to establish a virtual e-marketing and e-commerce portal environment.
The Internet provides tourism industry businesses of all sizes with far-reaching opportunities to... more The Internet provides tourism industry businesses of all sizes with far-reaching opportunities to offer virtual tourism product and develop or enhance relationships with their customers. In many parts of the world, small and medium sized tourism firms (tourism SMEs) make up the majority of the tourism industry and therefore make a substantial contribution to regional economies. This article discusses the adoption of e-commerce technologies by regional tourism firms in general and by regional Australian small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in particular.