This paper identifies and analyzes some recurring problems generally experienced by small businesses. It reviews performance studies made of fifty-two companies sponsored by the Small Business Administration over the period 1977 to 1981 to determine whether some broad operational patterns can be observed. An analysis of the key performance variables used in identifying major problems confronting the firms is presented here. The main problem areas are considered for the firms as a group and then as they fall in manufacturing, retailing, and service sectors. Findings are evaluated so that some general guidelines can be suggested for solving typical management problems.

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Electronic Business (EB) on the Internet is an attractive technology for traditional business organizations to improve their financial performance. The Web-based economic model is supposedly more efficient at the transaction cost level. It also provides cost-effective marketing, global market access, and a disintermediation of costly distribution channels. The current paper uses super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the financial performance of e-business initiatives in the retail industry. Because of the possible infeasibility of the super-efficiency DEA model, the use of super-efficiency DEA model has been restricted. This paper demonstrates that if super-efficiency is interpreted as input saving or output surplus achieved by a specific efficient DMU, infeasibility does not necessary indicate the best performance. A new approach is applied to correctly characterize and rank the performance of a set of EB companies and non-EB companies in the retail industry. This analysis indicates that the EB companies perform better in some areas than their non-EB counterpart.

In this paper we describe a network-enabled platform for an application oriented to reducing hospital emergency room or emergency department waiting times. The platform itself is extensible, incorporating systems engineering practices and available resources, and is suitable for data collection and analysis opportunities such as those found in a networked aggregation of emergency departments or clinical settings. The content provided is described in general terms and reflects a healthcare related emergency room scenario. We demonstrate the efficacy and rationale of the platform within a service oriented architecture based framework for an RFID real time location system. Value added information mining is also indicated by extracting queuing parameters, thereby providing some degree of qualitative monitoring of service and waiting times that would otherwise be unavailable.