• Entrepreneurship
• SMEs and the Competitive Environment

The reports should describe and discuss the past innovations, the present initiatives, efforts, and contributions, as well as the future developments and prospects in the industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors.
Each report should approximately be 2000 words with a 5% window of more or less words. Also, the title of the report should accurately reflect the meaning of the report’s content.
Content and Structure
Essay Report (2000 words total)

• Introduction (Background information about your topic – discuss issues concerning an industry, country or region -, research purpose (i.e., aim) and objectives) (300 words, ± 5%)
• Literature review (700 words, ± 5%) (case should be from within the UK)
• Critical evaluation of secondary data (Comparable analysis of previous research findings)

(700 words, ± 5%)

• Conclusion & Recommendations (300 words, ± 5%) (add suggestions and how will the small businesses get affected by Brexit)
• Reference List (APA Referencing style)
• Appendices

i will upload outline and rubric
Essay Report (2000 words) Brexit and SME’s
All countries are epitomized by highly uncertain and unpredictable business environments. From the vagaries of the economy through to varying degrees of social unrest to the impact of adverse weather, businesses of all forms and sizes must cope with ongoing change, uncertainty, and risk. How SME’s will react to the imposed changes is a subject that is going to be discussed in this book. The market reaction to these changes is also examined in an attempt to predict future implications. The book also aims to investigate the significance of long-term planning for SMEs in order to maximize the return of their limited resources and remain competitive in today’s highly competitive environment.
Start-ups have emerged in recent years as thought leaders in a variety of encouraging ways throughout the business world, changing the game worldwide in fascinating ways. They have
transformed office culture by embracing flex time, innovative workspaces, informal networks, and work structures among many things. Building a great organizational culture at the early stages of forming a business as in a start-up is about creating an identity. The World Economic Forum community observes that start-ups are social systems which are very attractive for their enhancing of personal creativity and social inclusion.
Arguably the vast majority of UK micro and small businesses are artisan, lifestyle or tick-over enterprises. Many are ‘here today gone tomorrow’ operators’ content on supplying poor quality or sub-standard products or services to an unsuspecting customer base. For such small businesses, the concept of the learning organization and the inherent characteristics and behaviors that the concept propounds will always be foreign and inappropriate or at best applied in an ad hoc, non-conscious manner. Even the more growth-seeking and growth-achieving enterprises which make up the remainder of the UK micro and small business stock have either never encountered the concept of the learning organization or perceive its application of little or no utility.
Arguably, strategic management is a somewhat highfalutin or grandiose term and activity that is outside the reach of resource and time-strapped small businesses. Yet the contemporary external operating environment is ingrained with uncertainty and unfolding change situations that are frequently unpredictable and unknowable in terms of timing and consequences and that thus demand some form of strategic awareness capability of organizations of all sizes. In short, an ability to identify and act upon externally imposing potential enabling and constraining forces and factors and integral development opportunities or threat to existing business activity.
Institutions, such as laws, currencies, political system, etc., shape the political and economic structure in a society. A vast amount of literature has progressively established a strong and positive link between the quality of institutions and the economic performance of nations. For a firm, institutions are the political, economic and legal constraints that set the framework for production and trade. Corruption, Property Rights, the Rule of Law and other aspects of institutional quality and cultural values have a significant impact on the operations of a business and its expansion. In this chapter, we turn our attention towards the impact of institutional environment on the operation of SMEs.
Presently, organizations are experiencing considerable skill shortages and talent mismatches: the skills that organizations are looking for do not align with the ones available in the labor market. That means that matching available candidates on the market with job vacancies is unlikely. In addition, the increasing wage pressure in occupations linked with the most in-demand skills and in high-skills industries has also become a reality. That the immaterial assets of a business, such as the competencies and the skills of its workforce and leaders, are the most significant elements in providing a competitive advantage is a fact no one in the present era would argue against. While big corporations dispose of more resources and capabilities to deal with these challenges, small medium enterprises (SMEs) – considered the foundation of many healthy communities – have limited assets to face such global and complex dynamics.
The field of Higher Education is constantly evolving, particularly in the era of Globalization. With the expansion and influence of Western paradigms, the influence of transnational education in the developing world has been gaining significant traction and impact. In light of the skills gap facing the ‘old’ world, it is becoming increasingly important to identify trends and possible talent pipelines that organizations will be able to tap. This is even more accentuated for SMEs, particularly given the specific contextual factors that shape their recruitment, selection and retention strategies.
Electronic business (e-business) is an essential strategic tool that attracts many companies in turning their traditional business strategy to e-business and as a more complex concept of inter- firm co-operation. Nowadays, adoption of e-business is rapidly growing among business organization throughout the world. Organizations involved in e-business not only limited to large companies but also includes small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is mainly due to the availability of internet technology and the benefit of information technology (IT) to enhance their business. E-business value depends on how rapid growth can SMEs expand IT resources, strategic planning, and business partnerships to develop e-business capability and business process competence which help these companies to achieve outstanding business performance.
The issue of skills shortages within the UK context has risen in prominence over the last years, particularly given the impact it carries for productivity and overall performance, both at individual and organizational context. The impending exit of the UK from the European Union has also served to aggravate an already volatile situation. This chapter attempts to draw on pertinent literature to sketch out, and map, the correlation between the so-called ‘skills gap’ and the challenge Brexit poses for organizations and HR managers. Compared to other countries’ structure, Greek SME’s represent the overwhelming majority of all companies, accounting for more than 95% of the total. The major goal of this chapter will be to shed light on the alternative choices that these companies have to finance their operations, beyond the traditional banking channel. In a country that has gone an enormous financial adventure, and with a destroyed banking system that has undergone three re-capitalization processes, domestic companies had nothing to expect from this source.
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organization to give their best each day. The result is that the staff is committed to their organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Although Employee Engagement is evidenced as bringing improved productivity to SMEs and while 87% of the UK small to medium enterprises (SMEs) claim they are taking active steps to improve employee engagement, only 12% of SMEs list it as a business priority.
Leadership is an essential element in the management of any organization and is even crucial when it comes to SMEs. In particular, both the structure and specific stage of development of an SME determine the need for an evolving style of leadership. Unlike their counterparts at larger organizations, SME leaders usually have a higher level of hands-on involvement across multiple areas of responsibility including strategic decision making and financial management, as well as team leadership and motivation.
The reports should describe and discuss the past innovations, the present initiatives, efforts, and contributions, as well as the future developments and prospects in the industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors. Each report should approximately be 2000 words with a 5% window of more or less words. Also, the title of the report should accurately reflect the meaning of the report’s content.