Análisis de control interno de activos fijos de acuerdo a las normas de control

This research aimed to improve the understanding of business development in SMEs. In the literature, BD is seen as crucial for the development and execution of the company’s strategy (Giglierano, et al., 2011) and as an important contributing factor to growth processes (Davis and Sun, 2006). Without a common understanding of what the concept means it is difficult to assess what effective BD is and which of its activities contribute to the growth of a firm and increase its profitability (Sørensen, 2012b). This research aimed to contribute to the literature in the following ways: 1) by assessing current scientific literature on BD to determine current academic perspectives; 2) by interviewing SMEs on how they perceive and organize BD and what the results of their efforts are; and 3) by comparing the literature to the results from the interview and develop propositions abour relations between BD variables. 1. Current academic perspectives on BD in SMEs

According to the literature BD can be defined as ‘activities that aim to create growth, value and revenue by deploying resources to identify and exploit opportunities.’ BD opportunities can be internal or external to the firm and lead to developments in one or more parts of the business. BD can be distinguished from other business areas because it has a unique focus on growth opportunities. The literature streams on firm growth, internationalization and entrepreneurship are closely related to the BD literature and findings in these areas may be relevant for BD. The literature review combined research on BD, growth, internationalization and entrepreneurship and lead to the following findings on the organization of BD: 1) the BD process can be continuous or divided in several projects; 2) the BD process in large firms in the biotechnology industry is often highly structured, but this may be different for SMEs, although the process always starts with the identification of an opportunity; 3) the degree of implementation of a business development function is usually dependent on the stage of the organization’s development or managerial awareness of its importance; 4) the best practices for BD found by Lorenzi (2013) are a basis to which results obtained from the interviews can be compared to identify differences between BD in large firms and SMEs; 5) usually the BD function is carried out by an integrating generalist who should ideally have a business and scientific background; 6) the most important skills that are identified for BD are communication, creative thinking and listening. Considering the results of BD, it was found that BD can have a variety of goals and these goals are different for different companies. In all cases it is important that the ways of measuring results is in line with the goals of BD, which in turn should be in line with the company’s overall objectives. One way of measuring BD results is assessing the amount of opportunities that are identified.

2. SMEs perspective on BD in SMEs

It is found that different companies have different perceptions of BD, but in its core it comes down to continuously evolving parts of the company to adapt to trends in the environment and perform better in the market. However, adapting to developments can occur in a wide variety of ways. Regarding the organization of BD, it is found that the steps in the BD process are different for all companies and are highly dependent on the BD example that was given. Despite the differences, some general steps in the BD process can be distinguished, starting with opportunity identification. Opportunities come ad hoc or are the result of an active and systematic search. One of the biggest sources for new opportunities appears to be a company’s network. After an opportunity is identified, an evaluation takes place to determine whether resources

are committed to the exploitation of this opportunity. In six companies BD occurs implicitly and for three companies BD is an institutionalized function. A determining factor appears to be the size of the company. The results of BD are different for companies depending on the objectives and can be categorized in overall objectives and specific BD project objectives.

3. Propositions about relations between BD variables

Current academic perspectives on BD are compared to perspectives of nine Dutch SMEs. Based on this comparison it can be concluded that current BD theories apparently fit the context of SMEs quite well. The logical next step would be to test these theories on a larger scale to test if there are significant relations between BD perceptions, BD organization and BD results. Based on this research several of such relations are expected to occur and these are listed below in the form of propositions. Proposition 1: The age of an SME influences the content of BD activities.

Proposition 2: In more dynamic and volatile industries, the BD function becomes more institionalized compared to more stable and predictable industries.

Proposition 3: A more formalized, structured and systematic BD process leads to more identified opportunities compared to less formalized and unstructured BD processes

Proposition 4: In larger SMEs, the BD function is relatively more institutionalized compared to smaller SMEs in which the function occurs more implicitly.

Managerial recommendations

Based on the findings of this research, several recommendations for practice can be given. First, it is important for practitioners to acknowledge the fact that BD occurs in many different forms. Discussions on BD only make sense when there is a common understanding of what the term refers to. Second, managers and entrepreneurs should be aware of the fact that opportunity recognition is a key part for developing the business and try to stimulate a pro-active attitude towards identifying these opportunities. Using a proactive and systematic way of looking at developments in the market is expected to result in more identified opportunities. Third, small companies may lack resources to constantly monitor developments in the environment and therefore it pays off to invest in setting up and maintaining relations with other actors. A company’s network is an important source for information and new opportunities. Fourth, a too rigid process for BD can have a negative effect on the creation and exploitation of ideas, but a basic structure could be beneficial. For example, doing more market research up front, setting up an R&D team and involving the finance department to include objective numbers in the BD process. Fifth and final, measuring results of BD is different for different BD objectives. The measurement should fit with the goals of BD which in turn should fit with the overall goals of the company. A potential useful measure is the amount of identified opportunities.