Densil A. Williams

• University of the West Indies

Urbanization is becoming a grave concern for city planners. Globally, as the urban population continues to grow and places greater demands on resources, citizens require quick, efficient, and cost-effective services, among other things. Critically, city planners must provide relevant infrastructural support to make their city run effectively. These...

Purpose This paper aims to provide a parsimonious but rigorous model to assist decision-makers to determine critical factors which can lead to higher graduation rates amongst higher education institution (HEI) participants. It predicts the odds of dropout amongst university students, using HEI data from a developing country. This is used as a basis...

Purpose Executives who are engaged in strategic planning for higher education generally complain about the process and the lack of clear outcomes from the strategic plan. They generally argue that the process is complex and sometimes confusing and the end result does not justify the time spent in preparing the plan. The extant literature on strateg...

Despite the extensive literature on small business growth and performance, relatively little is known on the features of firms that have been prosperous for a long period of time. Adopting Storey’s determinants of growth framework, this study explores the characteristics of the entrepreneur, the firm, and the firm’s strategy contributing to the pro...

This paper, using a flexible and more robust analytical tool, neural networks models, analyzes the most important factors in determining business failure among small, high-technology firms. Using the resource-based view and organizational ecology as the theoretical lenses through which to view the problem, the paper modeled a number of variables th...

Hot Mama’s is a small company in Belize which operates in the sauces and spice sub-sector of the tough manufacturing sector in that country. It has become a household name in short order and has seen tremendous success in a tough marketplace. This case traces the early beginnings of the firm, its expansion over time, and provides insights into the...

Island Moldings, a small furniture manufacturing company which produces moldings, windows, and doors in St Kitts and Nevis has been surviving and prospering in the tough manufacturing sector in the small country of just over 60,000 people. The case outlines the early beginnings of the firm, its expansion over time and provides insights into the fut...

Perishables Jamaica Ltd is a small firm which manufactures and sells tea locally and internationally from its home base in Jamaica. It is one of many small manufacturers in the difficult manufacturing climate in Jamaica which is not only surviving but prospering against all odds. The case highlights the early beginnings of the firm, its expansion o...

Caribbean Flavours and Fragrances produces and sells fragrance to wholesale and retail customers who use the products in various food items that they produce such a sodas, syrup, and so on. The company started from a humble beginning and has become highly profitable; it carved out a space in the very difficult manufacturing sector in Jamaica. This...

The case of Spur Tree Spices provides a detailed description of how a small firm that manufactures sauces and spices in Jamaica is able to survive and prosper alongside larger and multinational firms that offer a similar product in the marketplace. The case traces the early beginnings of the firm, its expansion over time and also takes a look at it...

The case of Yono Industries traces the development of a small detergent manufacturing plant in the manufacturing sector in Jamaica over the years to better understand the factors that contribute to its survival and prosperity over time. The case traces the early beginnings of the firm, its expansion over time and provides insights into the future o...

The Conclusions and Lessons Learnt chapter provides a synthesis of the material covered in the text and highlights the common lessons that lead to the survival and prosperity of all the small firms that participated in the study. The chapter puts forward the following as common lessons that have resulted in small firms that compete against multinat...

Competing against Multinationals in Emerging Markets provides a comprehensive set of lessons which successful small firms have adopted in order to survive and prosper in an increasingly hostile competitive manufacturing sector where large firms are mostly dominant.

Failure among SMEs has been attributed to size, age, location and being part of particular industries and not part of a network. These determinants, if used as surrogates for resources, suggest firms that lack such resources are more susceptible to failure. Using the resource-based view of the firm, this paper aims to do a post-mortem examination o...

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically explore the TOE (technology-organisation-environment) factors influencing small to medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs') adoption of enterprise applications (EA). Design/methodology/approach – Direct interviews were used to collect data from a random sample of SMEs located in the northwest of England. Using par...

En este artículo se analiza la relación entre los estándares internacionales y el comercio internacional entre Estados Unidos, una economía desarrollada, y países de Caricom, una iniciativa de integración regional de economías en vía de desarrollo en el Caribe. La literatura empírica sobre la relación entre el comercio estándar e internacional es m...

This paper investigates the relationship between technology and the export performance of small, locally-owned firms in the Jamaican economy. The literature argues that technology is an important variable in influencing the export performance of small firms given its technological ability to generate competitive advantage for the firm. However, the...

This paper analyses the impact of size and age on small firms’ export behaviour. A review of the literature reveals that the extant conclusions are fragmented, inconclusive and limited in geographical scope. This study aims to address these limitations by analysing small, locally owned firms’ export behaviour from a novel location that has never be...

The objective of the conference was to explore, uncover and impart a deeper understanding of applied strategies for enhancing the competitiveness of Jamaican firms, society and economy for successful participation in the Global Knowledge Economy, in support of Jamaica’s national development; and more generally, the transformation of the economy of...

This paper reports the findings of an empirical investigation into the factors that influence small, locally-owned firms that export their outputs. Because these firms are generally constrained by limited resources, they are normally unable to take advantage of all the export market opportunities that exist. Given their limited resources, they are...

Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio de “benchmarking” sobre la posición de competitividad de Jamaica en relación con otras economías pequeñas similares en el Caribe. Enmarcado en el modelo “Dual Double Diamond” y la metodología de “Rank Xerox Benchmarking”, el trabajo analiza la posición competitiva de Jamaica a nivel internacional...

This study reports on an empirical investigation into how small, familyowned businesses in Jamaica raise financing for business start-up and business growth. Access to finance has been one of the most critical issues affecting the growth and survival of these firms in the Jamaican economy but very little empirical work has been done in this area. T...

The major tourist generating countries for Jamaica's tourism industry were the most heavily hit by the global financial crisis. With home foreclosure and job losses on the rise in these supplier markets, luxury goods such as travel are likely to be significantly reduced. The response of the Jamaican government has been to intensify advertising camp...

This paper examines the impact of personal factors in the decision of small, locally-owned firms from an emerging economy to enter into exporting. It drew on the logistic regression model to analyze the probability of a firm entering into exporting given its founder/owner possesses certain personal attributes. The results reveal personal attributes...

This study reports on an empirical investigation into the factors that impact the longevity of small, family-owned firms from a developing economy. There is a dearth of empirical literature on the factors that influence longevity of firms in developing economies. Using variables from other empirical studies in other geographical jurisdiction, this...

Problem statement: Although there is a burgeoning literature on the rise of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) from developing economies, comparatively less work exists on MNEs from small, developing economies. Given the precipitous rise in the level of outward foreign direct investments from small, economies, it is still not clear in the academic li...

The level of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the hotel sector of the tourism industry in Jamaica is unprecedented. This study seeks to understand the motivation for such investments using the extant theories of FDI as the conceptual framework. To achieve this aim, the study draws on the qualitative analysis of data gathered through face-to-face...

This paper reports the findings from an empirical investigation into the export stimulation behaviour of micro- and small locally owned firms. It investigates whether the decision to initiate exporting in these smaller firms is a result of a systematic planned investigation into foreign market opportunities or is a mere response to fortuitous circu...

The rapid liberalization of the world's trading system has obliged all firms (micro, small, medium and large) to participate in the international trading system. The competitiveness of these enterprises is very important if developing economies are to secure their economic survival in this era of rapid market liberalization and erosion of trade pre...

This study examines the efforts of many developing countries to promote their economies as sites for foreign direct investment. It develops a model of determinants of foreign direct investment flows to test the extent to which countries are able to differentially attract foreign direct investment through promotional activities. The statistical stud...

This paper examines the impact of Personal factors on the internationalization of micro and small, locally-owned firms from an emerging economy. It drew on the logistic regression model to analyse the probability of a firm internationalizing given that its founder/owner possesses certain personal attributes. The results reveal that personal factors...