bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Financial Impact of Energy Prices on Small Business
Authors: Lakhani Hyder , Phillips Bruce D. 
Published: October 2007

Hyder Lakhani and Bruce D. Phillips are respectively vice-president, EEE Research, Fairfax, Virginia, USA, and senior economist, Office of Advocacy, United States Small Business Administration, Washington DC. This paper is based on research contract No. SBA-7177-AER-83 to EEE Research from the Office of Advocacy of the SBA. The authors are grateful to Thomas Gray and Raymond Marchikitus of the SBA for their valuable comments. The views and errors are those of the authors and not of the SBA. The objective of this paper is to analyse the economic impact of fuel costs and non-fuel costs on profits and sales of small business firms in ten Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the US. The review of the literature (in Section 1) concludes that existing studies use industry aggregates from Census of Manufacturing data which exclude 80 percent of small firms so that the impact on small firms cannot be determined. Also, the studies fail to analyse the impact of fuel costs on profits and sales and arrive at contradictory conclusions. The authors develop an econometric model of the impact of energy costs on profits and sales in Section 2. The data on small business firms are developed from a survey report completed for the SBA (Section 3). Empirical estimates reveal that a one percentage point increase in fuel costs tends to reduce profits in the range of 0.009 to 0.07 percent and sales in the range of 0.01 to 0.06 percent. Increases in payroll and operating costs are correlated with increases in profits and sales because of labour- intensiveness of the small firms in the sample (Section 4). Policy implications of this paper are that small firms have not fully adjusted to the 1979 increase in fuel prices, or cannot adjust any further. Further, small firms must increasingly substitute non- fuel for fuel inputs or if that is not possible, then purchases of the least energy- intensive plant and equipment should be made, including energy conservation devices.
United States Small Business Administration's Role in Small Business Training
Authors: Solomon George , Carney Mark 
Published: October 2007

Dr. George Solomon currently is a member of the staff of the Associate Administrator for Management Assistance and a member of the faculties of George Washington and Georgetown University in the United States. His major role is the development of new counselling and training programmes for small businesses and he is responsible for the formulation and administration of research studies designed to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the SBA's management assistance programmes. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors, International Council for Small Business. Mark Carney is a Management Analyst with the US Small Business Administration and served on the team which conducted the survey this article is based upon. The SBA, the leader and innovator in small business training and education in the United States, decided in the summer of 1983, to conduct a national overview on the "State of Small Business Training and Education". The intent of this examination was to determine the usefulness and relevance of current programmes and to develop new methods and ideas for meeting the ever-growing future challenges of small business management training and education. In order to accomplish this national study, a multifaceted training overview was developed by the staff of the Office of Management Assistance.
Business Death and Firm Size in the UK
Authors: Stewart H. , Gallagher C. C. 
Published: October 2007

Professor C. C. Gallagher and H. Stewart are with the Department of Industrial Management at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Although the number of firms forced out of business in the UK by financial problems has increased dramatically in the current recession, less firms have ceased to trade. In parallel, surprisingly, firm creation rates have risen almost continuously over the same period. The different statistics used to examine trends in the number of firms ceasing to trade give conflicting results. Liquidations and bankruptcies show a sharp increase over the period 1979-83, while figures for 'business deaths', based on VAT data, show a slight decline from the peak figures of 1976-78. An explanation is that in more prosperous times many options exist for profitable business, and many entrepreneurs will choose to switch to what they perceive as more profitable opportunities. However, in the recessionary years of 1981-83, contrary to popular perception, less firms ceased to trade. While insolvencies increased there was less voluntary switching to other activities. There was actually less 'churning' in the economy due to 'deaths'. Thus the recession, while having a major effect on increasing flexibility in the labour process, may have actually reduced the flexibility of capital and had the effect of freezing some inefficiencies present in the market.
Growth and Change in Black Minority Enterprise in London
Authors: Wilson Peter , Stanworth John 
Published: October 2007

Peter Wilson is a partner in New Enterprise Development, a small business training and research organisation based in London. Professor John Stanworth is head of the Small Business Unit at the Polytechnic of Central London and Director-General of the Small Business Research Trust. Against a background of growing concern for the welfare of ethnic minority communities in Britain, attention is now firmly focused on the opportunities for business development among black groups. Racially motivated recruitment and promotion practices in large organisations restrict employment opportunities for black minorities, increasing the need to seek economic self-reliance through business ownership. This has been a traditional route for disadvantaged minorities. But contemporary economic and social conditions require new solutions to the crisis in which recent immigrant groups find themselves. It is the purpose of this paper to examine recent evidence of change in business ownership in the Asian and Afro- Caribbean communities in London, to compare and contrast their business performance and to identify the determinants of any revealed differentials. The paper concludes with some implications for policy formulation and for business development initiatives.
The Export Trading Company Act: Structural and Attitudinal Barriers to Implementation
Authors: De Noble Alex F. , Amann Robert J. , Moliver Donald 
Published: October 2007

Dr. Alex F. De Noble is an assistant professor of management at San Diego State University, USA; Dr. Robert J. Amann is an assistant professor of management at Florida International University, USA; and Dr. Donald Moliver director of international business studies at Monmouth College, New Jersey, USA. The magnitude of United States trading deficits in recent years influenced Congress to pass the Export Trading Company Act in 1982. This legislation was designed to expedite greater involvement of domestic firms in international trade by encouraging the formation of export trading companies through related anti-trust and banking regulations. Five years after its passage, however, the Act has not led to the performance levels envisaged by its proponents. This paper discusses the key reasons for the lack lustre performance of domestic firms in international trade, in general; identifies the key factors peculiar to smaller firms which contribute to the reluctance of such firms to engage in international trade and use export trading companies for launching exporting programmes; and offers some suggestions for overcoming these problems. Essentially, this paper argues that the primary responsibility for failing to penetrate foreign markets more effectively lies with the small to medium-sized business sector of the economy and the export trading companies.
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.
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 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.
Combustion, Corrosion and Fouling Aspect of Energy Recovery From Municipal Waste
Authors: Defeche J. 
Published: October 2007

The characteristics of municipal waste as a fuel is marked mainly by its heterogeneous composition and relatively poor heating value. Two solutions have been proposed for its combustion, namely, in the form in which it is delivered, or after some type of preparation. Whichever solution is chosen, refuse boilers must contain certain features aimed specifically at the prevention of corrosion and fouling. Studies and investigations carried out over a 10-year period have achieved installations characterized by high and stable efficiency, excellent availability, and low maintenance costs. After a research of curative measures to be applied to existing plants (shield block, refractory concrete), the survey has been directed towards a research of preventive measures to be taken for new plants. These surveys have been principally based upon statistics in existing plants, evolution of the thermal balance-sheets in current operation, the physico-chemical analysis of fly ash, research of correlation between measurements of combustion chambers and phenomena of corrosion and fouling in convection banks.
City of Chicago Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery Techniques
Authors: Nigro E.F. , Ryder W.C. 
Published: October 2007

This paper deals with a comparison of the two resource recovery systems most often utilized for refuse disposal in the United States; mass burn incineration and refuse-derived fuel. The City of Chicago has designed, constructed and operated facilities incorporating both of these systems. The primary purpose of these facilities is the disposal of refuse. For either of these systems to be financially competitive with the most commonly used disposal method, sanitary landfill, resource recovery of materials and energy is an imperative. Mass burn incineration utilizes a system of specially designed equipment to combust unprocessed refuse, i.e. without presorting or separation prior to firing. Products of resource recovery are ferrous metals and energy as steam, electricity and hot water. Refuse-derived fuel production utilizes equipment borrowed from other industry applications to presort and size reduce refuse to derive a dry fuel for later firing, sometimes co-firing with other fuels, in utility or dedicated boilers. Products of resource recovery in this two stage process are similar to those of mass burn incineration with the possible addition of glass and aluminium depending on the availability of the market for these items. The two systems are examined with regard to state of the art, economics, markets and management control. Mass burning technology has proven to be reliable and efficient relative to maintenance, air pollution control and volume reduction of the solid waste. The plant to produce refuse derived fuel was shut down following preliminary operation at 60% of its rated capacity because it was an economically unfeasible operation.
Fate of Coxsackievirus B3 During Aerobic and Anaerobic Sludge Stabilization‡
Authors: Nielsen Anne L. , Lydholm Birgit 
Published: October 2007

The survival of viruses has been measured in bench scale stabilization units. A strain of coxsackievirus B3 was seeded in sludge and recoveries were measured at intervals from 1 h to 70 days. Mesophilic anaerobic digesters were operated at 33°C with detention times of 15 and 33 days. Thermophilic digesters were operated at 50, 53 and 56°C with detention times of 4 to 10 days. Aerobic stabilization was carried out at 5, 20 and 33"C (with detention times of 30, 20 and 15 days, respectively. Controls were run at the same temperature in Hanks' balanced salt solution. Inactivation of virus was slower in thermophilic anaerobic digesters than in the controls and the rate of inactivation often fell off with time (tailing). In mesophilic anaerobic digesters and aerobic stabilization units, the rates of inactivation were greater than in the controls. The rates are, nevertheless, very much faster at the higher temperatures. Up to 3 log units of destruction might be obtained if the interval between feeding and drawing at 53°C were 10 h and 5 log units if it were 24 h. Retention times would have to be serveral days at 33°C to obtain similar reduction in virus content.
The Origins of Municipal Solid Waste: the Relations Between Residues From Packaging Materials and Food
Authors: Alter H. 
Published: October 2007

Data for the composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) from around the world are used to further examine a previously reported statistical correlation between the fraction of food residues and the fractions of paper and board, metal, glass and plastics residues in MSW. For data from many locations, these correlations are statistically significant; multiple linear regressions are computed. The fraction of food waste decreases as the fractions of waste from paper and board, metals and glass increase. The situation in the U.S.A. is examined further for just packaging waste. Similar correlations are established for the fraction of food residues and the fractions of paper and board and plastics packaging residues for predicted compositions for 1980 to 2000. Similar correlations for the U.K. are not statistically significant. Some reasons for this are postulated. The results of the statistical analyses predict that a strategy for decreasing the fraction of food waste in MSW is to increase the use of food packaging by some amount, especially plastics and metals, contrary to conventional wisdom.
Land Disposal of Mixed Human and Animal Wastes: A Review
Authors: Snowdon Jill A. , Cliver Dean O. , Converse James C. 
Published: October 2007

Combining septic tank effluent and animal wastes (mixed wastes) for eventual application to land is being proposed as an alternative wastewater disposal system. Both types of waste are spread on land separately, and private practice may be to mix and spread them together, but in most of the United States mixing of these wastes for land disposal is illegal. No research has been done to assess the hazards associated with spreading mixed wastes on land. The concern is with the impact on public health of adding septic tank effluent to animal wastes for disposal as animal wastes. The effects of pathogens already present in animal waste are presumably allowed for in current U.S. regulations. Pathogens in mixed wastes include viruses, bacteria and parasites. Viruses are not always present in on-site waste disposal systems, but when present are in high numbers. Most viral particles will pass through the septic tank and will remain viable. Transmission will be prevented if these particles are retained in soil or other solids until any of several factors deprive them of infectivity. As animals are the chief reservoir of most enteric bacteria that are pathogenic to man, no additional hazards from bacteria are expected in a mixed waste system. Some parasite eggs and cysts will settle into the bottom of the septic tank, but significant numbers will pass through and will remain viable. Retention with solids will minimize transmission through food and water. In all instances it is important to match land use and waste disposal carefully.
Co-Disposal of Hazardous and Municipal Wastes in Landfills: Experimental Work
Authors: Rushbrook P.E. 
Published: October 2007

During the past 15 years considerable research has taken place in the U.K. to investigate the decomposition processes occurring within municipal waste landfills. This, in turn, has led to a better understanding of the environmental fate of many industrial wastes currently, or formerly, co-disposed with municipal refuse. Co-disposal is defined in this paper as the disposal of chemical wastes in an admixture with domestic waste so that full advantage is taken of the attenuation and biochemical processes operating within a landfill to reduce the environmental impact to an insignificant level. Central to this philosophy is the maintenance of a balanced input of different wastes to ensure that attenuation and degradation processes are not overwhelmed. It is contended that co-disposal is an effective disposal option for a wide range of industrial wastes at correctly sited and well managed landfills. Co-disposal research findings for three selected industrial waste types are presented and related to the scientific basis for the prohibition, or continuation of their disposal to landfills.
Development and Operation of a Waste Management System in Alberta, Canada
Authors: McQuaid-Cook J. , Simons C.S. 
Published: October 2007

The successful hazardous waste treatment facility siting program in the Province of Alberta, Canada, provides an impressive example of comprehensive planning and implementation. Near Swan Hills, 250 km northwest of Edmonton, North America's first integrated Province (or State)- wide treatment and disposal facility, sited by both environmental and social criteria, was officially opened in September of 1987. Alberta's program is unique in that the public was involved from the outset and played a major role in the decision-making process. The $CDN 50M facility receives organic and inorganic wastes from Alberta generators. Treatment by incineration, physical/chemical treatment and stabilization destroys approximately 15,000 tonnes of waste annually. Inert residues are landfilled and treated wastewaters disposed of down a deep well. The facility is fed directly from large industry and indirectly, from small industry and households, via a system of collection and transfer stations located throughout the province.
An Analysis of a European Hazardous Waste Transport Registration System (EARS)
Authors: Bartels J. , de Bruin W. , van der Meer K. , Koppelaar H. , Sol H. , de Walle F. 
Published: October 2007

In this study a system analysis is presented for a European registration system for hazardous waste shipment notifications. The administrative procedures for the notifications according to the European Community (EC) directives are in use in several Member States, among others the Netherlands and Belgium. The new system should enable efficient notification procedures, without the large number of forms and the delays in obtaining transit and import permissions that are currently observed. Only one form is needed for each hazardous waste transport within the EC, accompanying the transport. The system also allows the generation of compiled information for all EC Member States by using a database structure. Rather than manually administrating the information of the forms, this information is transmitted and stored electronically. With an estimated number of 100,000 transfrontier transports of hazardous waste per year in the European Community, this greatly decreases time and costs for aggregating hazardous waste transport data. This aggregated information is necessary for the implementation, evaluation and further development of a coherent EC waste management policy for hazardous waste treatment and disposal.
Landfill Leachate as Irrigation Water for Tree and Vegetable Crops
Authors: Wong M.H. , Leung C.K. 
Published: October 2007

The effects of landfill leachate (from Gin Drinker's Bay landfill, Hong Kong) on the growth of tree and vegetable crops were studied in a greenhouse. Higher yields were obtained for Brassica chinensis (Chinese White Cabbage) and B. parachinensis (Flowering Chinese Cabbage) with 5, 10, 20 and 40% leachate dilutions than in the non-leachate control. Yield was reduced for Acacia confusa (Acacia) under all concentrations of leachate treatments. Inhibition of root growth was also observed in the three species with 40% leachate treatment. Leachate-treated soil had elevated levels of electrical conductivity, total-, ammonia) and nitrate-N, exchangeable Na and P. For all heavy metals analysed, only Mn significantly ( p < 0.05) accumulated in soil after leachate irrigation. Uptake of N, Na, Fe and Mn was evident for all test species after leachate irrigation. The degree of uptake was positively correlated ( p < 0.05) with the leachate concentrations used for irrigation.