This book questions the belief that patronage explains poor governance and weak organizations. So intimately connected is it with the health of democracy and effective organizations that attempts to eradicate patronage only harm social, organizational and democratic life.

This book considers how small businesses stir up changes in social relationships and what these changes mean for wider society. If there is a watchword for development practice, then it is acceptance - acceptance of more social, less prescriptive, and far more experimental modes of working.