bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Strategies for Small Domestic Firms in Decline Industries
Authors: Parker Barbara
Published: October 2007

DR.BARBARA PARKER IS AN ASSISTANT professor of management and international business at Florida Atlantic University, U.S.A. Her interest in organisational responses to decline led her to the research described in this paper on how smalloperate when domestic decline occurs because of increased international competition. The main purpose of the work is to apply a general management framework of decline to small firms. Strategies of efficiency, entrepreneurship and expediency were measured for small domestic textile firms in two industrialised countries: Britain and the United States. The paper also examines relationships between strategies and job growth for firms studied. The results indicate that single, unified strategies of efficieincy or entrepreneurship exist in this industry but that firms also pursue expedient. i.e. mixed, strategies. The latter do not show meaningful numerical relationships with the outcome measure exainined, suggesting that single, unified strategies are more useful than expedient or mixed strategies for small firms in decline indtustries. This suggests that ageneral management model of decline can be applied to small firms; the implications for management are discussed.
The Survival and Growth of Worker Co-Operatives: A Comparison with Small Businesses
Authors: Thomas Alan , Cornforth Chris
Published: October 2007

ALAN THOMAS AND CHRIS Cornforth are with the Co-operatives Research Unit at the Open University, England. There has been a good deal of theoretical debate and general speculation about the performance of worker co-operatives. However, there has been a shortage of good empirical work has been restricted to case studies or surveys of producer co-operatives formed during the early years of the century in Britain. This paper helps to rectify that situation. It draws upon a complete database of all worker co-operatives formed between 1946-86 in the UK to detail their spread and distribution, and goes on to analyse the survival rates of worker co-operatives, and briefly, their growth rates. Contrary to much of the speculation it concludes that co-operatives have similar survival rates and patterns of growth to those of other small businesses. However, co-operatives tend to be concentrated in certain sub-sectors and their survival rates also vary between sectors, tending to confirm those writers who suggest that despite good performance once set up, co-operatives will tend to have a limited role in the economy.
Entrepreneurship Education: More Than Just an Adjustment to Management Education
Authors: Vesper Karl H. , Ed McMullan W. , Ray Dennis M.
Published: October 2007

Professor Vesper is with the University of Washington, USA and W Ed McMullan and Dennis M. Ray are with the University of Calgary, Canada. At least half of the business schools in the United States and Canada now offer courses in entrepreneurship. In those schools the typical pattern is to offer one three- credit cours in the subject. Such a course ordinarily centres around preparation by students of a detailed plan of steps to be followed for creating a new business enterprise. Class activities usually include some lectures by entrepreneurs as well as the instructor; plus review of prior business plans by other entrepreneurs, often combined with case studies. A few schools have gone on to offer more than one course, possibly a second course in which those students who wish to do so can carry further forward their business plan. A still smaller number of schools, around a dozen, have enough different entrepreneurship courses to permit students to major in the subject. A next step, already being explored by two or three schools, would seem to be development of an entrepreneurship degree programme.
Modelling the Adoption of Advanced Manufacturing Technology by Small Firms
Authors: Liberatore Matthew , Titus George J. , Varano Michael W.
Published: October 2007

Varano are with villanova university, pernsylvania,USA andGeorge. J. Tituts iwtth Temple unviersity, philadelphia, USA. Rapdi technological changes and intesified cmpettition are reqquireing samll manufacturing firms to consider the adoption of computer controlled machine tools. thisempirical study investigated those factors reltedto the adptiondecison and developed a multivariate modelsbased on data collected from 169 machiine shops. The most lkely adopters were largel shops that engaged primiarily in parats fabrication, where size is measured by sales and total tools employed. An importtant iimplicaton of thiis research isthat small shps which have not yet adopted computer -controlled tools shhould reconsider theri decision for survival and or growth. The parper concludes with aseries of recommendation for futeru reserarch based on the study's findings.
The Co-Operative as a Fringe Firm and the Notion of Self-Exploitation
Authors: Welford Richard
Published: October 2007

RICHARD WELFORD LECTURES AT THE Management Centre, University of Bradford, England. This paper recognises that many co-operatives, because of the small size, will be operating in markets populated largely by traditional capitalist firms and seeks to explore the idea that this dominance will force co-operatives into a position of self-exploitation in order to survive. It begins by looking at the operation of small co-operatives as fringe firms in the marketplace and goes on to explore the notion of self-exploitation, examining specifically the argument that it is dominance by capitalist firms which forces co-operatives into this role. Having built up some clear hypotheses, the author examines some empirical evidence and finds no hard evidence to support the view that dominance by a large capitalist counterpart is likely to lead to self-exploitation. He suggests that the acceptance of a discount on earnings taken in exchange for working in a co-operative environment cannot be termed self-exploitation.
Export Factoring: A Strategic Alternative for Small Exporters in Singapore
Authors: Huu-Phuong Ta , Soo-Jiuan Tan
Published: October 2007

IT HAS BEEN GENERALLY ACKNOWLEDGED DR. TA HUU-PHUONG AND TAN SOO-JIUAN are with the Faculty of Business Administration at the National University of Singapore. It has generally been acknowledged that small and medium-sized enterprises are major providers of technological innovation and entrepreneurship. The small-scale advantage permits them to respond more rapidly to market forces than larger firms and to become more competitive in international trade. However, Singapore's SMEs only account for 30 per cent of the country's annual exports. This paper addresses the issue of how export factoring can be used as a strategic alternative in overcoming some of the major export barriers which have been found to inherit small and medium-sized firms in Singapore from initiating and expanding their export operations. The analysis is based on interviews with major financial institutions providing export factoring services in Singapore and on responses to a survey of 1,200 exporters in the manufacturing and services sectors.
Modular Training in the Post-Start-Up phase in the Small Business Sector in Northern Ireland
Authors: O'Neill Charles
Published: October 2007

DR. O'NEILL IS RESEARCH FELLOW at the Northern Ireland Small Business Institute, University of Ulser at jordanstown

The Northern Ireland Small Business Institute (NISBI) recently conducted a survey anmongst post-start-up businesses in ordei to determine the demand for modular training pr-oganramnes. This survey 7as prompted by the 8substantial number of businessmen who are wvilli'rig but unable to attend longei progrinnmres due to time constrairnts and a desire to expand services to the small busines community.
Government Consultation with Small Business Owners: Empirically Evaluating Communications Strategies
Authors: MacMillan Keith , Curran James , Downing Stephen
Published: October 2007

KEITH MACMILLAN IS PROFESSOR OF management studies and director of special projects at Henley, the Management College, Brunel University, London, England; James Curran is Midland Bank professor of small business studies and director of the small business research unit at Kingston Polytechnic, England; and Stephen Downing is a research associate at Henley, the Management College. This paper describes the results of a research project aimed at finding out why government information aimed at and policies for small firms do not get through fully and effectively to business owners and managers and assesses ways of improving the situation. They looked at the networks of contacts of owner-managers and found that the commonest were accountants, bankers, customers, suppliers, trade associations, chambers of commerce and local educational institutions. Small firms lobby groups hardly figured. Consultations through personal interview emerged as a preferred means of communication, especially where there was feedback. The researchers suggest that a way of overcoming the problem of lack of communication between government and small firms is to make use of 'communications brokers', who in practice were likely to be accountants and trade associations.
The role of Small Business in the Development of Network Organisation: The Case of France
Authors: Pache Gilles
Published: October 2007

GILLES PACHE IS ASSISTANT Professor of Business Logistics at the Troyes Institute of Technology, University of Reims (France). He has published many journal articles and three books (in collaboration). His research interests include new technology applications to logistics and strategy of small- and medium-sized business. In this research note, the author shows that some big industrial firms nowadays try, rather than vertical integration, to increase market transactions with small- and medium- sized businesses. They sub-contract especially the manufacturing of components, semi-products or even the integral elaboration of finished products. Through the analysis of French actual cases, the author notes that these strategies converge to the emergence of new organisational pattern, the network. Logistics management here plays a principal part in the co-ordination of externalised operations by small- and medium-sized businesses.
Executive Characteristics, Strategic Choices and Small Firm Development: A Three-country Study of Small Textiles and Clothing Firms
Authors: Pitt Martyn , Szarka Joseph , Bull Anna
Published: October 2007

MARTYN PITT LECTURES IN THE School of Management at Bath University, England; Anna Bull and Joseph Szarka are lecturers in the School of Modern Languages at Bath University. This paper describes the results of recent three-country comparative research into the value-chain and networking structures in localised textiles communities. It links structures with firms' strategies and the managerial roles/styles of individual entrepreneurs. There are detailed comparisons of these communities and one conclusion is that each manifests a characteristic and probably unique development path. Community structures arise from (and now condition) a limited number of distinct success recipes or postures which individual firms can pursue. It is suggested that the overarching characteristic of a strong industrial community is the recognition and implementation of a genuine mutuality of self-interest among firms, based on complementarity of these recipes. In sum the postures of firms in Lyons, France, and Como, Italy, exhibit coherence as seen from the community perspective; in Leicester, England, this is less obviously true. Nonetheless there are sufficient similarities among individual firms and executives to suppose that productive managerial styles and approaches may be transferable, even though the development path of a community itself may be unique. The paper reviews the nature of these styles and concludes that further systematic research in this area offers a real prospect of advancing small firm policies and practices in the post 1992 European Community.
The State of the Art of Small Firm Failure Prediction: Achievements and Prognosis
Authors: Keasey Kevin , Watson Robert
Published: October 2007

KEVIN KEASEY IS PROFESSOR OF accounting and finance at Leeds University, England, and Robert Watson is a member of the School of Management at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, England. The main purpose of this paper is to review and assess the progress in developing small firm failure prediction models. It highlights a number of issues that are of particular importance in evaluating small firm failure prediction models and indicates where future research might be usefully directed. The authors conclude that while it is not yet clear whether they are worthwhile tools in many decision contexts, the present general models may provide material benefits as relatively cheap and simple-to-use preliminary screening devices for routine credit/lending decisions. This is because the classifications accuracy of even relatively simple quantitative models have been shown to outperform consistently human decision makers. If, however, predictive model is required as an input into more strategic decision making, then the utility of existing empirical models is much less certain.
Management Succession and the Stages of Small Business Development
Authors: ClifFord Megan , Nilakant V. , Hamilton R.
Published: October 2007

MEGAN CLIFFORD IS CURRENTLY employed by the Bank of New Zealand in Wellington and was previously a post-graduate student at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Drs. V. Nilikant and R. T. Hamilton are staff members of the Department of Management at the University of Canterbuty. The main purpose of this paper was to confirm through replication the importance of management succession as a cause of organisation chage in family businesses and to do so within a general small business framework which assimilates what are usually and wrongly perceived as separate strands in the small business development process.
Self-Employment in a British City: An Analysis of Household Survey Data
Authors: Mason Colin , Pinch Steven , Storey Angele
Published: October 2007

Colin Mason and Steven Pinch are both lectures in geography and directors of the urbanpolicy research unit, university of Southpmton,england. Anglele storey is a research fellow in the urban policy research unit. this paper provides a case study of self-employement in an important british city. southampton. it has three main objectives first to present inforamtion on aspects of the self employed population that are not providedby the united kingodm General hoursefhold survey and Labour force survey, which are the main sources of inforatmion on the self - employed and the motivation of those entering self-employment and third, to identify the proportion of individuals classifed as self-employment who are 'quasi employees'.
Government and Technology Transfer: The Case of Singapore
Authors: Yong Yeong Wee , Keng Kau Ah
Published: October 2007

DR. YEONG WEE-YONG AND ASSOCIATE professor Kay Ah-Keng are both with the faculty of business administration, National University of Singapore. In order to sustain the high economic growth Singapore has enjoyed in the last two decades and to face the new challenges ahead, the Singapore government has recently reviewed its economic development strategy and formulated several new plans. One of the steps Singapore is taking is to encourage all industries to exploit and apply new advances in technology. This paper reviews the Singapore government's role in technology transfer and the assistance it provides to small and medium enterprises in the upgrading of their operations. Two case studies are also given to illustrate how local small companies have benefitted from the new programmes.
Franchising as a Strategic Partnership: Issues of Cosoperation and Conflict in a Global Market
Authors: Falbe Cecilia M. , Dandridge Thomas C.
Published: October 2007

DR. TOM DANDRIDGE IS DIRECTOR OF the Small Business Institute at the State University of New York at Albany, United States of America, and has been working with Dr. Cecilia Falbe on research relating to franchising and to organisational theory for four years. They have increasingly attended to international franchsing and to the important issues of strategy formation and franchisors across national borders. They have also been involved in programmes fro ecnonomic development in Eastern Europe and it is from this combination that the paper emerges. The first part of the paper provides a basic overview of franchising as it has developed in the United States while the second part is conderned with managing the strategic partnership of franchisors and franchisees in a global market.
Corporate Enterpreneurs in the People's Republic of China: Problems Encountere and Respective Solutions
Authors: Siu Wai-Sum
Published: October 2007

WAI-SUM SIU IS A LECTURER IN THE department of marketing at the Hong Kong Baptist College School of Business. This exploratory study describes an attempt to depict contemporary socialist entrepreneurs in the People's Republic of China and a definition for the PRC's socialist entrepreneur has been constructed. Personal documents, one type of ethnographic approach, has been adopted as the data collection instrument. Ideologies, problems encountered, respective solutions and success factors of the Chinese corporate entrepreneurs are identified and discussed. The author found, for example, that such entrepreneurs considered working hard, loyalty to the Party, strong determination and innovation as their success factors. They placed the development and advancement of their country as a high priority and placed less emphasis on their individual wealth. Further research directions are suggested to gain a deeper understanding of the actions, meanings and intentions of China's socialist entrepreneurs.
Networks and Small Firms: Constructs, Methodological Strategies and Some Findings
Authors: Curran James , Jarvis Robin , Blackburn Robert A. , Black Sharon
Published: October 2007

JAMES CURRAN IS MIDLAND BANK Professor of Small Business Studies, Robin Jarvis is Reader in Accounting and Finance, Robert A. Blackburn is Midland Bank Research Fellow and senior lecturer and Sharon Black was formerly research officer, all at the Kingston Business School, Kingston U-niversity, Surrey, England. This paper examines critically the methodological strategies of previous researchers investigating small business owner networks and networking and goes on to suggest an alternative strategy based on a thematic approach and a critical incident analysis. This approach is applied to a sample of 350 owner managers. Initial findin-gs from the original interviews with the 350 owners are followed by findings from the 45 critical incident interviews. Panel sessions, with some respondents and other interested parties, were used to corroborate the findings and interpretations generated from the i -iterview data. The conclusions question the extent of networking between the simall business owner and others within the wider economic environment and suggests these ielations hiave been overstated previously.
Integration of Micro/Small Business Support Agencies and Clients to Strengthen the Private Sector in the Dominican Republic
Authors: Miller Alan , Masten John
Published: October 2007

DR. ALAN MILLER IS A PROFESSOR OF Business Administration at Tennessee State University, Nashville, United States, and Dr. John Masten is a professor of Economics and past dean of the School of Business at the same institution. This paper deals with the design and organisation of micro and small business support agencies in the Dominican Republic. Information for the paper was obtained in 13 in-depth interviews. Attention is given to the degree of confruence between people, structure, and process of the assistance agency and the client enterprise. Special attention is given to examining divergencies between client and agency characteristics. The authors then demonstrate that some of the agency activities reflect attempts by agencies to compensate for these divergencies. These adjustments integrate client and agencv performance in order that they better meet organisational objectives by expanding resources, providing more effective service, equating personal and organisational success, and providing a greater contribution to the economy.
Diversification Strategy and Practice in Small Firms
Authors: Robson Geoffrey , Gallagher Colin , Daly Michael
Published: October 2007

GEOFFREY ROBSON AND COLIN Gallagher are with the School of Business Management at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Michael Daly is senior statistician at the Department of Employment, England, at the time the paper was written with its Small Firms Division. In this paper, using the United Kingdom file of the Dun and Bradstreet credit rating organisation, the authors examine from a variety of standpoints the effect on small firm performance of either being or becoming diversified. The definition used is that a firm is classified as being diversified if it draws ten or more per cent of its total income from a secondary line of business. The period under examination is from December 1987 to December 1989. In a number of instances marked discrepancy is identified between the empirical findings of the study and the commonly accepted large firm diversification theory. Some hypotheses are put forward to explain the observed behaviour and some broad implications of the study for entrepreneurs are outlined. The major findings, however, was that a diversification strategy may only be useful to those small firms which have first built a strong foundation in their primary line of business; otherwise it is likely to endanger a firm's survival prospects and be a hindrance to future growth.
Happy Families or Poor Relations? — An Exploration of Familial Analogies in the Small Firm
Authors: Holliday Ruth , Letherby Gayle
Published: October 2007

RUTH HOLLIDAY IS WITH THE University of Central England in Birmingham and Gayle Letherby with Staffordshire University, England. The empirical data for this paper were collected as part of a wider project looking at the nature of operations management in the smaller manufacturing firm. The study uses ethnography in a number of small companies for periods of up to two months at a time. In these companies references by both owners and employees to the company being like a family were frequently made and this led the researchers to wonder why the analogy was used and what exactly was meant by it. Much work exists which either states that small firms are like "a happy family" or that they are "not happy and are therefore not like a family". The researchers thought that perhaps the family analogy was a useful one and could be used to explain authority structures, working relationships and exploitative practices within the small firm, particularly where these are to the detriment of women workers. They found that the description was small firms being "like a family" usually appeared to be used in a positive sense but as in the family the reality of daily life did not meet the ideal.
Enterprise Culture and Education
Authors: Gibb Allan A.
Published: October 2007

PROFESSOR ALLAN A. GIBB IS chairman of the Small Business Centre, Durham University Business School, England. The overall objective of this paper is to produce a clearer understanding of the meaning and process of enterprise education, in particular as it has been developed as a distinctive model within the education system in the United Kingdom. It seeks to remove the confusions relating to the links of enterprise education with small business and entrepreneurship education and training, with personal transferable skills and with the political ideology surrounding certain notions of the enterprise culture. It defines enterprise education as concerned with encouraging certain enterprising behaviours; skills and attributes associated with self-reliance and through this process also providing students with greater insight into subjects studied.

The links with small business are explored through the development of a model which demnonstrates how the basic organisational essences of the small firm task structures and learning modles within the business stimulate enterprising behaviour. It then demonstrates how these components are embodied in a model of enterprise education which can be applied to any subject context in education. The relationship of enterprise education to broader educational goals is explored. The links with the so-called enterprise culture are examined and thereafter a nuumber of challenges — to industry and education management, and to small business and entrepreneurship education and training — are discussed. The paper concludes by reference to a number of steps that need to be taken to place, more accurately, the enterprise concept within the education system.
The Theoretical Relationship between the Strategic Objective of Sales Growth and the Financial Policy of the Entrepreneurial Firm
Authors: Merikas Andreas , Bruton Garry D. , Vozikis George S.
Published: October 2007

ANDREAS MERIKAS IS WITH THE Department of Finance, Mississippi State University, Garry D. Bruton with the Department of Management and Marketing, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and George S. Vozikis holds the Alvan H. Chapman Jr. Chair in Business Administration, at The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, all in the United States of America. The purpose of this paper is to develop a simplified theoretical model which integrates an entrepreneurial firm's strategic objective of sales growth with its capital structure and dividend policy objectives. Several theoretical relationships are developed betweent hese strategic and financial objectives, showing their strong interdependency, and the fact that the ultimate goal should be the management of this relationship rather than the maximisation of sales growth.
Venture Capital in Japan
Authors: Ray Dennis M. , Turpin Dominique V.
Published: October 2007

PROF. DENNIS M. RAY IS WITH THE SCHOOL of Accountancy and Business, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Prof. Dominique V. Turpin is with the International Management Development Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland. This paper examines the background, development, and strategic significance of the venture capital industry in Japan. It is based on historical, aggregate data, interview and survey data collected over a number of years in Japan. The paper reports on a survey completed by eighteen Japanese venture capitalists, representing more than two-thirds of all venture capital funds inJapan. This survey builds on the pioneering research of Professor Ian MacMillan and associates with regard to 27 decision criteria used by venture capitalists in evaluating potential portfolio clients. Comparisons with the United States venture capital community are made in this study. The cognitive models used byJapanese venture capitalists in evaluating prospective portfolio clients are also explored.
Attitudes towards Graduate Employment in the SME Sector
Authors: Johnson David , Pere-Verge Laure
Published: October 2007

Dr. David Johnson is lecturer in entrepreneurship and Laure Pere-Verge a reserch assistant at Durham University Business School, Durham, England.
Intra-Industry Size Differences in Founder-Controlled Firms
Authors: Tuck Peter , Hamilton R. T.
Published: October 2007

Intra Tuck Recently completed his post-graduate study in the Department of managment, Univeristy of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zeland. Bob Hamilton is associate professor in the department with research and teaching interest in small business development and strategic managment. the main purpose of the paper is to apply a general framework of small business development in order to identify the cause of size diffrence with a group of long-established, founder controlled firms operating within the same industry(furniture making) and in the same location (urban Christchurch).
The Job Creation Effects of Small and Large Firm Interaction
Authors: Robson Geoff , Gallagher Colin
Published: October 2007

Geoff Robson is a lecture and Colin Gallagher is emertius professor of managment at the school of busienss managment, univeristy of newcastle upon tyne. England, in this paper, the effect of the interaction between small and large firms on the creation of jobs in the united kingdom over the period 1971 to 1989 are examined in detail. the result of four recent studies are used to assess the contribution of different size of firms to aggregate employment change. small firms have a greater ability and potential to create jobs than do large firms. the advantages which account for this extra ability, both due to the nature of small firms themselves and to the nature of the intereaction which take place between small and large firms, are identified and evaluated. Governement funding for small firms should be directed in that manner by which the nation will gain the most. it would therfore be wise to target those firms which are based in the wealth creating parts of both manufacturing and service sectors, which have eitehr grown idependently of large firms or whose growth would not adversely affect large firm growth and in particular, those small firms in which new innovations and technologies are likely to be developed should have priority for aid. the practical problem to date is taht of our inability to identify successfully those firms, however there is a danger that by viewing the small firm sector in isolation from large firms, sub-optimal economic and political decision may be reached. Although small firms in jobgeneration terms are iherently advangeaged and thier perfomace numerically dominant, it is important that small meaningfull, changes in large firm perfomance should not as a result be overlooked.
Policy Support for SMEs in Poland
Authors: Karwowska Maria Anna , Mrozinska Elzbieta
Published: October 2007

Dr Maria Anna Karwowska and Ezbieta mrozinska are with teh Torun business school, university of Nicolaus copernicus, Torun, Poland, This paper presents an overview of small business activity in poland following the moves towards a market econmoy which started in 1989/90. The title of the paper suggest it is about the special regulations helping small and mediume-sized enterprises in poland but as yet there are in fact no such regulations. SMEs operate according to different criteria than state enterprises but this lasw refers to the private sector as a whole. Small business development in Poland is connected with teh transformation to a market economy, as part of the privatisation process, and is naturally the part which is much easier to achieve than the privatiation of large, state-owned enterprises. SMEs are in fact receiving all the support that is being given to the private sectors. small-scale privatisation refers to small firms, mainly in the retail trade but also to some extent in the industrial sectors. in these cases, privatisation is accomplished mainly by transfering ownership to the firm's workers.
Coping with Recession: The Impact upon the Entrepreneur
Authors: Brennan Shirley , McHugh Marie
Published: October 2007

Shirley Brennan is a Research Officer and Marie McHugh is a Lecturer at the University of Ulster; Northern Ireland. This research note reports findings from an exploratory study which investigated the impact of recession upon decision making, personality and stress among 30 small business owners in Northern Ireland. A case study approach was adopted; participants took part in a semi-structured interview and completed two psychological tests. Findings highlight the personal impact of the recession on small business owners. They are discussed in terms of their potentially negative impact on key entrepreneurial characteristics, future activities and long-term prospty.
The Rise of the Reluctant Entrepreneurs
Authors: Boyle Emily
Published: October 2007

DR. EMILY BOYLE IS A LECTURER IN Organisation Studies and Management at the University of Ulster atJordanstown in Northern Ireland. The dramatic rise in the number of self-employed businessmen in the United Kingdom over the last fifteen years has provided an impetus for research into the causes of 'entrepreneurship'. Much of this research has centred on the effects of psychological, sociological and economic factors on the individuals concerned. In this article, however, it is argued that the recent mushrooming of self-employment has to some extent been contrived by big business as a response to the growing uncertainty and hostility in their environments. Many large firms have found it advantageous to lay-off whole classes of employees and then sub-contract their work back out to them as self-employed businessmen.

This article is based on a case study of one such class of workers, namely the milk deliverymen of Dale Farm Dairies in Northern Ireland who were laid off as full-time employees (along with the milkmen from the other major dairies in the province) in 1984/85 and enfranchised as self-employed businessmen. The article examines both the theoretical and practical reasons for the actions of the dairies and analyses the circumstances under which the self-employed milkmen now operate.
Capitalists and Entrepreneurs in Owner-Managed Firms
Authors: Shailer Gregory
Published: October 2007

Gregory Shailer is a senior lecturer in the department of comer ce at the austalian National Univeristy, Australia. Many contemporary publications in the small business arena refer to the enterprenerurial function of roles of small busines... Often they mean manager, risk bearer, or some otehr specific function. Most of the risk in small firm is borne by the party providing the cpaital, that iis the capitalist. Small firms are often highly levered and tehr is some question concerning who fulfils the role of the capitalist. where there is no structural debt such that all capital is effectively provided by the owner-manager. This paper consders the role of the capitalist and existence of enterprenuers in the context of owner-managed firms with formal debt allowing the question of who serves the capitalist function to be addressed in a reasonably narrow context. Some simple empirical observation regarding the effective transfer of capital risk are provided in this context. The general conclusion is that while nearly all owner-manager are obliged to assume the role of capitalist. only a minority will act as enterpreneru. some recommendation for future work in this area are offered.
Unravelling Social Networks in Ethnic Minority Firms
Authors: Ram Monder
Published: October 2007

Dr Monder Ram is a senior lecturer in the mangment department, univerisity of Central England, Birmingham, England, and autohor of manging to Survive; working Lives in small firms (Blackwell). The concept of 'social networks' has underpineed much of the debate on the trajectory of ethnic minority enterprise. In the form of teh family and the community, such network are often presented as critical to the start-up, development and 'competitive advantage' of ethnic business. Drawing on interview with 50 Asian employers in the typical inner city areas of wolverhampton, England, this paper argues that the significance of socialnetworks needs to be assessed gainst the wider context of racism in which ethinc business. Drawing on interviews with 50 Asian employers in the typical innner city areas of Wolverhampton, England, this paper argues that the significance of social networks needs to be assessed against the wider context of racism in which ethnic minority firms often operate. furthmore, social networks are notan uncomplicated resourcws;they have the potential to act as a constraaint on mangment. family and commuicty networks were iportant in explaining the start up and markt position of ethnic minority business; but it was the opeation of racial constraint that propmted many to turn to self employment and often confined them to 'closted' market location. the importance of the the family to the management of the worplace was considerable but the primacy attached to this network actually hindered the possibility of more econoically ' rational' forms of organisation. moreover, the social network masked the differetials nature ofgenderrelation in such settings; women's contribution to the business was rarely acknowledged.
Entrepreneurship in Emerging Versus Mature Econom ies: An Exploratory Survey
Authors: Kolvereid Lars , Obloj Krzysztof
Published: October 2007

PROFESSOR LARS KOLVEREID IS WITH the Bodo Graduate School of Business, Bodo, Norway, and Krzysztof Obloj is with the School of Management, University of Warsaw, Poland. The main aim of this research was to investigate similarities and differences between entrepreneurs and their businesses in an emerging market economy represented by Poland, and in mature, developed economies, portrayed by Great Britain and Norway. Because Polish entrepreneurs are new entrants in the developing market economy, the authors did not have a body of theories, or models or even empirical research that could be used to develop hypotheses or research questions. Therefore, the study is primarily of an exploratory character and focused on four questions: 1) How supportive and resourceful are the environments of entrepreneurs in these countries; 2) To what extent are policy and support services available to new businesses; 3) What are the reasons leading to new firm formation; 4) What attitudes to entrepreneurship do the owners of new ventures have? The results indicate that Polish entrepreneurs, in spite of different backgrounds and starting conditions, are surprisingly similar to those in developed countries, face similar problems and resource constraints.
Small Business Entrepreneurs and Performance: Evidence from Management Buy-ins
Authors: Ennew Christine , Robbie Ken , Wright Mike , Thompson Steve
Published: October 2007

DR. CHRISTINE ENNEW IS READER IN marketing, Ken Robbie is research fellow, and Professor Mike Wright is director of the Centre for Management Buy-out Research, all at the University of Nottingham, England, and Dr. Steve Thompson is senior lecturer in business economics at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, England. Management buy-ins represent a new form of small firm, where individual entrepreneurs with institutional backing acquire an existing company. This paper examines the characteristics of entrepreneurs in a representative sample of 59 management buy-ins. The average size of the buy-ins is 147 employees, with a median of 63 employees. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and cluster analysis are used to examine types of buy-in entrepreneurs and the relationship between types and performance. Three clusters of buy-in entrepreneurs are identified -'push' (the smallest group and involving smallest firms), 'independence-draftsmen' and 'opportunist' (the largest group and the largest firms). No significant differences in performance were identified between the clusters although 'opportunists' were more likely to undertake post buy-in acquisitions.
Towards a Taxonomy of Entrepreneurial Theories
Authors: Cuevas Joaquzn Guzman
Published: October 2007

JOAQUIN GUZMAN-CUEVAS IS TITULAR professor of applied economics and director of the Small and Medium Enterprise Research Unit at the University of Sevilla, Spain. The main objective of this paper is to explore the concept of 'entrepreneur', focusing on his or her functions and identifying characteristics rather than on other aspects such as the role of entrepreneurial profit or the relationship between the role of entrepreneur and macro-economic balance, or growth processes. This analysis is focused to achieve an ordination and systematisation of the contributions of the main economic and non-economic doctrines in order to form a whole or set which embraces the fundamental parts of entrepreneurship. On this basis, three fundamental approaches are found which imply three essential functions within entrepreneurship. The thought streams, with their most representative authors, are interconnected methodically and integrated in a diagram according to criteria on which those entrepreneurial functions are outstanding on each one.
Criteria Used by Venture Capitalists: A Cross Cultural Analysis
Authors: Knight Russell M.
Published: October 2007

DR. RUSSELL M. KNIGHT IS WITH THE University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. This paper describes a cross-cultural survey of international venture capitalists to investigate the criteria they use to evaluate venture proposals. The data were taken from a United States survey of venture capital firms and the results are compared and contrasted with the original US responses. The study was done in Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific region and the responses are compared with study differences and similarities between responses from various regions. The similarities are apparent, such as the difference in emphasis on high technology around the world. High technology investments are not nearly as popular with venture capitalists in other parts of the world as in the US and high technology is even viewed as a negative criterion in many countries.
Entrepreneurs in China: Development, Functions and Problems
Authors: Chow Clement K.W. , Tsang Eric W.K.
Published: October 2007

DR. CLEMENT K W. CHOW AND ERic W. K Tsang are both lecturers at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. This paper gives an overall picture of the development, functions and problems of private businesses in China since the economic reform which was formally announced in 1978. It starts with a review of the rapid growth of the private sector. Official statistics are quoted to support the discussion. The history of entrepreneurial development during the period is then traced, with special emphasis on the change of both the laws and composition of private business owners. It is followed by a discussion of the five social functions performed by private businesses. Finally, major problems incurred and faced by these private businesses are analysed.
Internationalisation Via Co-Operation - Strategies of SME
Authors: Kaufmann Friedrich
Published: October 2007

DR FRIEDRICH KAUFMANN IS A is a researcher at the Institut ffir Mittelstandsforschung, Bonn, Germany. Cross-border co-operation is often the only viable form of internationalisation for SMEs. The relationships between co-operating partners and the type of co-operation are decisive for their success. Where the preconditions for a transaction cost efficient co-operation project are not fulfilled, organisation costs might easily over-compensate the benefits from expected production synergies. Based on empirical results, this paper discusses the relevant factors for success in cooperative projects. It shows that, given the basis of solid confidence, risks of cooperation can be avoided or at least can be forecast easier. Both are important for the efficiency of co-operative projects.
Networking by External Support Agencies and Financial Institutions.
Authors: Deakins David , Philpott Toby
Published: October 2007

DAVID DEAKINS IS DIRECTOR OF THE Enterprise Research Centre at the University of Central England, Birmingham, United Kingdom, and senior lecturer in economics. Toby Philpott is lecturer in economics at Staffordshire University, United Kingdom. Studies of networking between firms have revealed benefits to SMEs which can rely on their network of contacts for advice, support and finance. There has been less concern with the advantages of networking between financial and professional institutions and support agencies. A number of research studies are combined to make a comparative study of the different financing arrangements, practices and networking in two regions: the West Midlands in the UK and Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany. Networking in Baden-Wurttemberg revealed benefits in financing arrangements and practices for SMEs compared with practices in the UK The IHK or local chamber of commerce played a key role in co-ordinating support and promoting alternative sources of finance in Baden-Wiirttemberg. In addition, bank practices of risk assessment benefitted from this closer networking. Greater networking in the UK would improve practices of risk assessment, enabling the benefits of greater specialisation of staff to be realised, and improve the profiling and awareness of alternative funding schemes to specific types of small firms, such as new technology small firms, that have particular financing requirements that are not being met by existing institutions.
Looking to the Pacific Rim: Production Subcontracting and Small scale Industry in South Africa
Authors: Rogerson Christian M.
Published: October 2007

CHRISTIAN M. ROGERSON IS PROFESSOR of human geography at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and co-edited a book on the informal economy in South Africa. In this paper the focus is the question of sub- contracting between large and small-scale industry in South Africa and in particular the manner in which many policy observers are now looking to Japan and the Pacific Rim for an appropriate model in evolving such linkages. The development of sub-contracting between large and small enterprises in South Africa is a key issue on the agenda of post-apartheid economic reconstruction.
The Re-focusing of Small Business Services in Enterprise Agencies: the Influence of TECs and LECs
Authors: Bennett Robert J.
Published: October 2007

PROFESSOR ROBERTJ. BENNETT IS WITH THE Department of Geography, London School of Economics and Political Science, England. This paper assesses the change in focus of a form of British support services for small firms, enterprise agencies, as a result of their increased contracting arrangements with the government-backed Training and Enterprise Councils and Local Enterprise Companies. It is based chiefly on a representative matched postal survey of a sample of agencies which are compared in 1988 and 1992. The paper assesses the changing form of activities, services, client focus, finance and staff. It finds a substantial shift in services, finance and client focus to reflect TEC/LEC priorities both with the unemployed through business start-ups for self-employment, and with larger established businesses. The paper also demonstrates that changes stimulated by TECs towards a stronger output focus follow similar stimuli from private sector sponsors as evidenced particularly by the targetting of resources through secondments. The result has been a more concentrated, more highly focused structure of enterprise agencies and their resources which, under financial pressures, is likely to lead to concentration into a smaller number of agencies in the future, a process being accelerated by the development of another government initiative, Business Links.
Helping Small Firms: The Contribution of TECs and LECs
Authors: Vickerstaff Sarah , Parker Kim T.
Published: October 2007

DR. SARAH VICKERSTAFF IS SENIOR LECTURER in industrial relations (human resource management) in the Canterbury Business School; Dr. Kim Parker is lecturer in operational research in the Maths Institute, both at the University of Kent at Canterbury, England. This paper reports on recent survey research investigating how the new employer-led Training and Enterprise Councils and Local Enterprise Companies, established to spearhead a change in training and enterprise attitudes and activity in Britain, are organising in order to reach and address the particular problems of the small business sector. In the past, small businesses have often believed that government initiatives on training and enterprise fail to address the realities of the small business owners' situation. The paper identifies the problems that TECs/LECs may face in gaining the confidence of small businesses and reveals that many TECs/LECs appear to recognise the need for a specifically targeted approach to SMEs. However, the analysis suggests that TECs/LECs need a range of mechanisms to reach the diverse population that constitutes the small business sector and that connections with industrial organisations may be more significant for reaching small firms than has been assumed.