In the agricultural sector of Huila, particularly among SMEs in coffee, cocoa, fish, and rice subsectors, the transition to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is paramount yet challenging. This research aims to offer management guidelines to support Huila’s agricultural SMEs in their IFRS transition, underpinning the region’s aspirations for financial standardization and economic advancement. Utilizing a mixed-methods managerial approach, data was gathered from 13 representative companies using validated questionnaires, interviews, and analyzed with SPSS and ATLAS.ti. Results indicate that while there is evident progress in IFRS adoption, 12 out of 13 firms adopted IFRS, with rice leading in terms of adoption duration. While 77% found IFRS useful for financial statements, half reported insufficient staff training. The transition highlighted challenges, including asset recognition and valuation, and emphasized enhancing institutional support and IFRS training. Interviews revealed managerial commitment and expertise as significant factors. Recommendations for successful implementation include leadership involvement, continuous professional development, anticipating costs, clear accounting policies, and meticulous record-keeping. The study concludes that adopting IFRS enhances financial reporting quality, urging entities to converge their reporting practices without hesitation for improved comparability, relevance, and reliability in their financial disclosures.

As digital technologies continue to shape the economy, countries are faced with increasing scrutiny in the use of digital transformation to aid productivity and improve performance. In South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Small and medium-sized businesses’ (SMEs’) uptake of digital technologies, as many businesses had to shift their operations online and adopt new digital tools and technologies to solve the challenges posed by the pandemic. This has led to an increased focus on digital transformation mechanisms among South African firms. Therefore, the study examines the effect of digital transformation on the productivity of firms using cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) (2020). The survey was based on firms and is a representative sample of the private sector in the South African economy and covers a wide variety of business environment themes, such as infrastructure, competitiveness, access to finance, and performance indicators. We found that digital transformation improved productivity of South African firms. Furthermore, empirical findings are reassuring robust to the IV-2SLS and quantile regression model, size of business, sectoral and provincial analysis. Finally, we recommend that policy makers should develop and implement initiatives to improve digital infrastructure, including high-speed internet access and reliable connectivity, especially in rural and underserved areas.

This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial orientation and green innovation on the performance of SMEs. This research explores the wood waste industry in Ngawi, an area that has never been studied before, thus providing a new perspective and unique local relevance. These findings underscore the critical role of entrepreneurial orientation and green innovation in driving sustainable business growth and improving SME performance. The results show that both entrepreneurial orientation and green innovation having a positive and significant link with SMEs performance. Further, the study reveals that the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and green innovation having a positive and significant link with SMEs performance mediated by knowledge-sahring. The study also highlights the importance of larger sample sizes, and external factors to provide more comprehensive insights for practitioners and policymakers.

This paper examines the sustainability practices implemented by healthcare establishments, mainly Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs), We focus on identifying opportunities with challenges involved. This systematic literature analyses 47 studies that explore sustainability practices in the healthcare system globally. The finding from the studies reveals that healthcare organizations with SMEs adopt diverse measures like renewable energy, a reduction, and a response procurement in minimizing the impact on the environment and ensuring financial stability. The challenges SMEs face comprise limited financial resources, lack of expertise, with difficulties accessing information and support. Furthermore, we suggest opportunities for SMEs to enhance sustainability practices with partnerships with other organizations and investing in educating employees. Implementation of sustainability practices will improve the financial stability, and environmental impact, with the wellbeing of healthcare stakeholders. The empirical evidence, comparative studies with cross-disciplinary are needed in exploring the effectiveness of the different suitability practices, potential trade-offs, synergies between sustainability and other organizational goals, the effect of sustainability practice in the financial with non-financial performance on SMEs in healthcare establishment are positive, with cost-effectiveness, efficiencies operations, improving brand reputations and engaging the employee. Established factors like regulating frameworks and government initiatives play a major role in the influence of adopting sustainability practices with cultural factors.

This paper presents a practical approach to empowering software entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia through a unique course offered by the Software Engineering department at Prince Sultan University. The course, SE495 Emergent Topics in Software Engineering: Software Entrepreneurship, combines software engineering and entrepreneurship to equip students with the necessary skills to develop innovative software solutions that solve real-world problems. The course covers a range of topics, including platform development, market research, and pitching to investors, and features guest speakers from the industry. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deep understanding of the software development process and its intersection with entrepreneurship and will be able to develop a working prototype of a software solution that solves a real-world problem. The course’s practical approach ensures that students are well-prepared to navigate the complexities of the digital and software sectors and succeed in an ever-changing business landscape.