Drawing on studies and expertise from around the world, this work describes the transition from research to policy and covers the pre-requisites to succesful new firm formation policies. At a time when a new firm formation is promoted by central and local government, business development agencies and the private sector this book questions the economic dependence on small firms and explores the relevance of networking, information and advice.

This volume is a product of the Interstratos project which brought together research teams from across Europe to study the strategic behaviour of small and medium-sized industrial firms, the determinants of their behaviour, and the impact on performance. The book uses information from annual surveys of companies in Europe during the period spanning the formation of a single European market. It addresses issues affecting small businesses such as marketing, entrepreneurship, export strategies and the single market, on an international basis. The book also contains detailed case studies of...

This book is the first to seriously consider quality issues in smaller firms, based upon well-conducted research and careful theorizing. Subjects covered include:
* the relevance of formal quality standards such as BS 5750 to small firms
* definitions and implementations of 'quality' in a business context, from formal standards to Total Quality Management
* interviews with a selected sample of over 150 owner-managers
* detailed case studies of small firms
* analysis of self-generated quality strategies
* the variety of formal methods of quality control.

Since the start of the 1980's there has been a significant rise in the number of forms of collaborative pressures in the global market-place. One form of collaboration is Corporate Venture Capital Investment, or Corporate Venturing. This involves large, non-financial companies taking minority equity stakes in small unquoted firms, and can be beneficial for both parties. The levels of corporate venturing are, however, reportedly low in the UK, particularly when compared to levels in the USA. This volume addresses the lack of academic and practical research into corporate venturing by examining...

This work addresses the fundamental questions concerning the economic reinvigoration of society through policies aimed at encouraging the development of small enterprises. Governments in Europe, the rest of the industrialized world and developing countries are increasingly including small enterprise development as a central feature of economic and social policies. Nowhere was this more evident than during the 1980s in Britain, as the Conservative government sought to establish an enterprise culture. However, despite an impressive growth in the numbers of people turning to self-employment,...

This is a detailed empirical study of how small business owners finance their enterprises, which compares the experiences of women with those of men. The author redresses an over-reliance on subjective and anecdotal evidence of discrimination in this area with a controlled study of 40 matched pairs of male/female owners and their strategies for raising finances. The research reveals the importance of adopting a theoretical framework in which the role of gender in the financing of small businesses is considered and the practical implications for female entrepreneurs, banks and policy makers.

Recent development experience points to the way businesses can be the key to a dynamic small business sector, especially where those links are built on high trust co-operative relations. This book reviews different types of small-business network, illustrated by an international selection of case studies, including: Chinese family business networks; ethnic minority business networks; Japanese and South Korean business group networks; Taiwan's subcontracting networks; and European industrial districts. Network promotion initiatives in Singapore, New Zealand, Scandanavia and the UK are each...

Intellectual property protection is increasingly becoming a central issue for businesses. This book provides a wealth of original research on intellectual property management in small and medium sized enterprises, while also addressing the context of innovation and knowledge management.

It is estimated that family businesses comprise between 60-90 per cent of all firms in Europe and the United States. This book makes a contribution to the understanding of small family firms by bringing together a number of key themes in management/organization studies.

The majority of employees currently working in the private sector are now employed in small firms, yet little is known about their working conditions. This collection of essays addresses this gap. Based on theoretical analysis supported by contemporary empirical evidence, the book explores key areas of the employment relationship adding a new perspective to our understanding of contemporary work.