Some characteristics of employment, labour relations and knowledge utilisation in small and medium-sized enterprises (in macro-, meso- and micro perspectives). Research report - Part II

Part II of the Research Report dealing with the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises summarises the experiences of case-studies focusing on the sector and companies. Members of the international research project, extending over eight countries have studied the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises in the following three sectors: processing industry, servicing and areas of activity intensively using ICT. Those sectors are involved that represent activities equally characterising the 'old' as well as the 'new' economy. Members of the Hungarian research team have made sector, as well as company-level case-studies of activities in the field of textile garments, tourism and interactive media. While presenting the economic and employment characteristics of the different branches, the researchers have significantly relied on the opinion of stakeholders involved in the development of the field of activity, besides utilising the available statistical data and documents. The case-studies of companies venture to analyse and assess the following areas: management/ownership strategies, the structure of product and service market, labour organisation, patterns of the utilisation and development of knowledge.