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Small Businesses (small + businesses)
Selected AbstractsWork and Employment in Small Businesses: Perpetuating and Challenging Gender TraditionsGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2000Susan Baines More and more women and men are becoming dependent on some form of small business activity for all or part of their livelihoods but there is little research offering insight into gender and working practices in small businesses. In this article we assess some theoretical approaches and discuss these against an empirical investigation of micro-firms run by women, men and mixed sex partnerships. In the ,entrepreneurship' literature, with its emphasis on the individual business owner, we find little guidance. We argue that in the ,modern' micro-business, family and work are brought into proximity as in the ,in between' organizational form described by Weber. The celebrated ,flexibility' of small firms often involves the reproduction within modernity of seemingly pre-modern practices in household organization and gender divisions of labour. This is true in the Britain of the 1990s in a growing business sector normally associated neither with tradition nor with the family. Tradition, however, is never automatic or uncontested in a ,post-traditional society'. A minority of women and men in micro-enterprises actively resist traditional solutions and even traditional imagery of male and female behaviour. For this small group alone new economic conditions seem to bring new freedom. [source] Cultivating small business influence in the UK: the federation of small businesses' journey from outsider to insiderJOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2003Grant Jordan Abstract This case study charts the classic transformation of a small business organisation from being a vehicle of protest that attracted a reasonable but transient membership into a much larger group with a more stable membership and a group with an effective insider policy style. The paper asserts that the change in style and the change in recruiting success are not causally linked, and, indeed, it claims that an insider style may harm recruiting. In the case of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), however, any potential damage through adopting an insider style was more than offset by the separate decision to market the group door to door with a package of selective material incentives (Olson 1965). The paper describes the predominant insider politics style of political representation and finds that while the FSB has moved in that direction, it does not fully fit the stereotype. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications [source] The Complementary Effects of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Profitability in Small Businesses,JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009William E. Baker Market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) are correlated, but distinct constructs. MO reflects the degree to which firms' strategic market planning is driven by customer and competitor intelligence. Entrepreneurial orientation reflects the degree to which firms' growth objectives are driven by the identification and exploitation of untapped market opportunities. When modeled separately, research has reported direct effects of both constructs on firm profitability. When modeled simultaneously, however, the direct effect of EO has disappeared. This has led some scholars to postulate that EO is an antecedent of MO. The results of this study contradict this presumption and suggest that EO and MO complement one another, at least in small businesses, to boost profitability. The major difference between this and previous studies is the inclusion of innovation success, which captures an indirect effect of EO on profitability. At least in small firms, the results suggest that EO complements MO by instilling an opportunistic culture that impacts the quality and quantity of firms' innovations. [source] Ethical Attitudes in Small Businesses and Large Corporations: Theory and Empirical Findings from a Tracking Study Spanning Three DecadesJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006Justin G. Longenecker This study offers a theoretical framework of ethical behavior and a comparative analysis of ethical perceptions of managers of large, mostly publicly traded corporations (those with 1,000 or more employees) and the owners and managers of smaller companies (those with fewer than 100 employees) across 17 years. The primary research provides basic data on the changing standards of ethics as perceived by leaders of large and small businesses where the cultures frequently fall into sharp contrast. Our findings reveal the extent to which the message of business integrity is gaining or losing ground within large and small companies. It does this by means of respondents' judgments of acceptable responses to 16 scenarios profiling common business situations with questionable ethical dimensions. Based on responses from over 5,000 managers and employees (from firms of all sizes) to our scenarios at three points in time (1985, 1993, 2001), we tested two research questions. First, for firms of all sizes, have business ethics improved or declined between the years 1985 and 2001? Second, comparing responses of large and small firm executives across the 1985,2001 time frame, is there a discernible difference in their ethical standards? Our results suggest that business leaders are making somewhat more ethical decisions in recent years. We also found that small business owner,managers offered less ethical responses to scenarios in 1993 but that no significant differences existed with large firm managers in 1985 and 2001. Implications of our findings are discussed. [source] Multiple Conceptualizations of Small Business Web Use and Benefit*DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 3 2003Kurt A. Pflughoeft ABSTRACT Small businesses play an important role in the U.S. economy and there is anecdotal evidence that use of the Web is beneficial to such businesses. There is, however, little systematic analysis of the conditions that lead to successful use of and thereby benefits from the Web for small businesses. Based on the innovation adoption, organizations, and information systems (IS) implementation literature, we identify a set of variables that are related to adoption, use, and benefits of information technology (IT), with particular emphasis on small businesses. These variables are reflective of an organization's contextual characteristics, its IT infrastructure, Web use, and Web benefits. Since the extant research does not suggest a single theoretical model for Web use and benefits in the context of small businesses, we adopt a modeling approach and explore the relationships between "context-IT-use-benefit" (CIUB) through three models,partial-mediator, reduced partial-mediator, and mediator. These models posit that the extent of Web use by small businesses and the associated benefits are driven by organizations' contextual characteristics and their IT infrastructure. They differ in the endogeneity/exogeneity of the extent of IT sophistication, and in the direct/mediated effects of organizational context. We examine whether the relationships between variables identified in the literature hold within the context of these models using two samples of small businesses with national coverage, including various sizes, and representing several industry sectors. The results show that the evidence for patterns of relationships is similar across the two independent samples for two of these models. We highlight the relationships within the reduced partial-mediator and mediator models for which conclusive evidence are given by both samples. Implications for small business managers and providers of Web-based technologies are discussed. [source] A small business perspective on regulation in the UKECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2001Ian Fletcher Despite 15 years of initiatives the issue of regulation remains near the top of the business agenda. This article explores the history of the issue, the drivers of government regulation, the success and failure of previous initiatives, research on the impact of regulation, the current scene and areas where there is scope for improvement. The slant is on small businesses and the need to bring more of a small business focus to policy-making. [source] Bank Mergers and Small Firm Finance: Evidence from Lender LiabilityFINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 2 2008James E. McNulty As a merger approaches, the value of repeat business for the target bank can drop sharply, so loan relationships between this bank and small businesses are often disrupted. Small firms sometimes experience serious value destruction as a consequence of this sudden lack of credit. This paper shows that lender liability may result from bank mergers and bankers involved in mergers often engage in aggressive, scorched-earth defense tactics to discourage further litigation. I summarize six lender liability cases to illustrate these points. Bank mergers have been shown to reduce credit availability in a number of studies. Since small firms depend on credit for their daily existence, owners of small firms do have a reason to fear a merger of their bank with a larger institution. Analyzing merger effects with survey data of firms obtained after a bank merger, an empirical strategy used in a number of studies, raises problems since the only firms considered are the ones that survived the bank merger. Suggesting that the problem will cure itself in the long run, an argument advanced in other studies, ignores small firms' daily dependence on credit. In the long run we are all dead. Bank examiners need to evaluate an institution's litigation experience and measure a bank's organizational architecture , its ethical climate. Banks which are repeatedly involved in lender liability lawsuits should be denied future mergers until there is a change in organizational architecture. To assist in evaluating organizational architecture, banks should be required to report their litigation expense on their call reports. Furthermore, regulators should seriously consider the recent suggestion of Carow, Kane and Narayanan (2006) that they take steps to ensure that participants in bank mergers preserve target bank relationships. Otherwise negative effects on small business lending and economic growth will continue as bank consolidation proceeds. [source] Work and Employment in Small Businesses: Perpetuating and Challenging Gender TraditionsGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2000Susan Baines More and more women and men are becoming dependent on some form of small business activity for all or part of their livelihoods but there is little research offering insight into gender and working practices in small businesses. In this article we assess some theoretical approaches and discuss these against an empirical investigation of micro-firms run by women, men and mixed sex partnerships. In the ,entrepreneurship' literature, with its emphasis on the individual business owner, we find little guidance. We argue that in the ,modern' micro-business, family and work are brought into proximity as in the ,in between' organizational form described by Weber. The celebrated ,flexibility' of small firms often involves the reproduction within modernity of seemingly pre-modern practices in household organization and gender divisions of labour. This is true in the Britain of the 1990s in a growing business sector normally associated neither with tradition nor with the family. Tradition, however, is never automatic or uncontested in a ,post-traditional society'. A minority of women and men in micro-enterprises actively resist traditional solutions and even traditional imagery of male and female behaviour. For this small group alone new economic conditions seem to bring new freedom. [source] SCHIP's Impact on Dependent Coverage in the Small-Group Health Insurance MarketHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1 2010Eric E. Seiber Objective. To estimate the impact of State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansions on public and private coverage of dependents at small firms compared with large firms. Data Sources. 1996,2007 Annual Demographic Survey of the Current Population Survey (CPS). Study Design. This study estimates a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model for four insurance outcomes that instruments for SCHIP and Medicaid eligibility. Separate models are estimated for small group markets (firms with fewer than 25 employees), small businesses (firms under 500 employees), and large firms (firms 500 employees and above). Data Collection/Extraction Methods. We extracted data from the 1996,2007 CPS for children in households with at least one worker. Principal Findings. The SCHIP expansions decreased the percentage of uninsured dependents in the small group market by 7.6 percentage points with negligible crowd-out in the small group and no significant effect on private coverage across the 11-year-period. Conclusions. The SCHIP expansions have increased coverage for households in the small group market with no significant crowd-out of private coverage. In contrast, the estimates for large firms are consistent with the substantial crowd-out observed in the literature. [source] Self-awareness of mastery and improvability of entrepreneurial competence in small businesses in the agrifood sectorHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2010Thomas Lans An important assumption of entrepreneurial competence is that (at least part of) it can be learned and developed. However, human resources development (HRD) practices aimed at further strengthening and developing small-business owner,managers' entrepreneurial competence are complex and underdeveloped. A multisource assessment of owner,managers' entrepreneurial competence in a well-defined sector was conducted to provide an answer to the research question: How do self-assessments about mastery and improvability of entrepreneurial competence made by owner,managers relate to the same assessments made by significant others in the small-business work environment? The data show that owner,managers rate their own mastery of entrepreneurial competence significantly lower than internal assessors in their work environment do. Furthermore, the assessors indicate many possible areas for improvement of owner,managers' entrepreneurial competence. Nonetheless, mastery and improvability patterns differ considerably between the assessors. Multisource assessments as adopted in this study can help owner,managers raise their self-awareness, and consequently help them bypass some of their often costly trial-and-error learning. [source] Management development in small firmsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 3 2006Nerys Fuller-Love This paper is a review of the literature concerning management development in small firms. It looks at the benefits in terms of growing a small firm and whether the lack of management skills contributes to their failure. In addition, this paper looks at some of the barriers to management development, including the attitudes and characteristics of the entrepreneur, and also looks at learning models that may be appropriate for small firms. The paper also looks at the authors' views on the effectiveness of management development for small firms, the barriers to learning as well as the skills required. Management development programmes are now widely accepted as a means of improving the competitiveness of firms and the economy as a whole. Although management education and training has, in the past, been designed mainly for larger firms, there is a growing awareness of the requirements of small businesses. Government initiatives designed to encourage start-ups and to boost the growth of small firms have emphasized the importance of management development. This review of the literature shows that, on balance, management development programmes are effective for small firms. The main benefits appear to be survival and growth, reduction in failure and improvement in performance. The skills required include leadership and management, developing management systems and techniques and team building. Other skills include planning, delegation and financial management. The paper concludes that there is a need for further research into the effectiveness of management development programmes, the skills required and the barriers to learning in small firms and, also, whether they have an impact on the survival, growth and profitability of small firms. [source] A warm welcome for destination quality brands: the example of the Pays Cathare regionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 4 2003Megan Woods Abstract In this paper, the salient complexities characterising quality management at the tourism destination are outlined, and in light of these, a number of quality principles are deemed particularly appropriate for the further investigation of destination quality management (DQM). The complexities include the significant number of services provided at the destination, the highly fragmented nature of the tourism destination product and the large number of small businesses that go to comprise this product. General principles are drawn from the SERVQUAL, Kano and EFQM Business Excellence models in order to provide a tentative framework for investigating how one destination has striven to overcome these challenges. The example of the Pays Cathare Region in southern France, which has been recognised by the European Commission as an example of best practice in integrated quality management (IQM), shows how these quality tenets can be translated from the theoretical framework into actual practice by means of its destination quality brand. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd. [source] Unlocking the potential to influence government skills policy: a case study of the UK construction industryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2008Arthur Morgan Despite a series of national policy initiatives aimed at addressing skills shortages in a number of sectors, little evidence of longer-term change is apparent. This paper examines concerns expressed by small businesses that their local views are not sought or considered when national training policies and initiatives are either being developed or being implemented, and that the investment in skills development does not appear to adequately represent their skills needs. The research was carried out on the UK construction industry, which is characterized by a small number of large contractors who employ mainly managerial and professional staff, and a large number of small, micro- and self-employed firms that provide, on a subcontract basis, the majority of the industry's demand for a skilled manual workforce. The identification and delivery of vocational education and training at an industry level rests firmly on addressing the skills needs of the small and micro-type organizations and not those of the large construction firms, although it is the voice of the larger firms that appears to dominate the skills and training development agenda. The public policy model that articulates the requirements for training and skills development in the UK is based on sector-specific skills councils. This model is examined in relation to the construction sector by drawing upon the experiences of the South Wales region as a case study. Findings indicate that the current construction skills framework, upon which public policy is formulated and delivered, fails to adequately reflect the structure, skills and training priorities of the industry. The tensions that exist in this system are highlighted and the implications for reform of public policy articulation with regard to sector skills councils are discussed. [source] Rethinking UK small employers' skills policies and the role of workplace learningINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2008John Kitching Small business employers in the UK are widely perceived as adopting a reactive, ad hoc approach to employee skill formation. Employer reliance on workplace learning is often treated, explicitly or implicitly, as evidence of such an approach. Small employers' approaches to skill creation are investigated using data from two employer samples. Three main conclusions challenging these arguments are presented. First, small employers' skills policies are highly diverse: strategic, tactical and restrictive policies are distinguished. Second, employers perceive particular benefits in enabling workplace learning; simplistic views that a reliance on workplace learning necessarily constitutes an inferior last resort for those employers unable to provide access to external training are rejected. Third, enabling workplace learning is important to strategic employers, as well as to those attaching a lower value to skills. For some employers, the workplace is the primary source of new knowledge and skills because they are unavailable elsewhere. The prevalence, diversity and significance of workplace learning in small businesses require a reappraisal of UK small employers' skills policies. The implications for research, practice and policy are discussed. [source] Bank Relationships and the Value Relevance of the Income Statement: Evidence from Income-Statement ConservatismJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 7-8 2007Wooseok ChoiArticle first published online: 10 MAY 200 Abstract:, This study examines the effects of a firm's debt financing decision on the informativeness of the income statement. This study specifically examines the association between a firm's bank dependence and the value relevance of the income statement by investigating the income-statement conservatism of firms with bank loans. Focusing on relatively small businesses, this study finds that income-statement conservatism, measured as timely loss recognition, is increasing in a firm's bank dependence. This study also finds that the value relevance of the income statement is increasing in a firm's bank dependence. The findings of this paper suggest that the usefulness of the income statement varies with a firm's bank dependence, indicating that the value relevance of the income statement is a function of a firm's debt financing decision. The findings further suggest that bank relationships affect the value relevance of the income statement through their influence on income-statement conservatism. [source] Small Business in the Face of Crisis: Identifying Barriers to Recovery from a Natural Disaster,JOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006Rodney C. Runyan The crisis management literature has not dealt in depth with small business response to disasters. This study takes a qualitative approach to consider how small businesses respond to and recover from a large disaster, by interviewing stakeholders in five different communities in the Gulf Coast of the United States. Events that are considered to be crises in nature are usually characterized by high consequence, low probability, ambiguity, and decision making time pressure. Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath caused small business owners in the U.S. Gulf region to experience each of these. Findings include lack of planning by small business; vulnerability to cash flow interruption; lack of access to capital for recovery; problems caused by federal assistance; and serious infrastructure problems impeding recovery. [source] Promoting eco manufacturing: an Australian caseJOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2008Roumen Dimitrov This paper analyses the communication campaign of a small industry plant, the Fuji Xerox Eco Manufacturing Center in Sydney, Australia. Disproportionably to its size, it has become a national and world leader in the push for waste free, sustainable manufacturing. The rarity of the case,a resource-poor for-profit organization taking the role of an influential advocate,helps to highlight the centrality of public relations in the promotional mix. I examine ,remanufacturing' not as a one-off technical innovation, but as prolonged internal and external communication campaign. I also stress on the public character of internal communication, where public relations is instrumental from the start. I draft and discuss an alternative model of integrated marketing communications for small businesses and nonprofits. Integration happens here on personnel rather than organizational (interdepartmental) level. The more such organizations turn towards external causes and multiple publics,as in this case of industrial advocacy and public affairs,the more likely public relations transforms from a component into the organizing principle of the communication strategy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Complementary Effects of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Profitability in Small Businesses,JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009William E. Baker Market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) are correlated, but distinct constructs. MO reflects the degree to which firms' strategic market planning is driven by customer and competitor intelligence. Entrepreneurial orientation reflects the degree to which firms' growth objectives are driven by the identification and exploitation of untapped market opportunities. When modeled separately, research has reported direct effects of both constructs on firm profitability. When modeled simultaneously, however, the direct effect of EO has disappeared. This has led some scholars to postulate that EO is an antecedent of MO. The results of this study contradict this presumption and suggest that EO and MO complement one another, at least in small businesses, to boost profitability. The major difference between this and previous studies is the inclusion of innovation success, which captures an indirect effect of EO on profitability. At least in small firms, the results suggest that EO complements MO by instilling an opportunistic culture that impacts the quality and quantity of firms' innovations. [source] Impact of the Community Reinvestment Act on New Business Start-Ups and Economic Growth in Local Markets,JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009Nada Kobeissi Economic growth in the United States has historically bypassed many minorities and low-income communities. Some researchers and community advocates assert that the deterioration of these communities is in part caused by financial institutions' redlining and neglect. To rectify the situation, the government introduced the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for the purpose of encouraging banks and saving institutions to become more socially responsible and help meet the credit needs of communities in which they are located. The CRA was the government's response to bank lending discrimination. However, when passing the Act, Congress was equally concerned with reversing or at least halting disinvestment from inner-city communities and in turn revitalizing local economies. Many believe that the availability of credit to establish, refinance, and improve small businesses is critical to the well-being of local communities. Therefore, through the provision of small business loans, the CRA could be envisioned as a catalyst toward achieving that goal. Thus the aim of this paper is to investigate potential relationship between banks' CRA lending activities, and new business start-ups and economic growth in local markets. The paper proposes that new start-ups will have spillover effects that will consequently contribute to community development. After controlling for several potential variables that could have an impact on business start-ups and community developments, the study found a strong positive effect. Beside its social and economic implications, the study also considered policy implications associated with the CRA regulation as a welfare improving initiative in low-income communities. It offers ground for certain government intervention in the loan market. [source] The Question of Sustainability for Microfinance Institutions,JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2007J. Jordan Pollinger Microentrepreneurs have considerable difficulty accessing capital from mainstream financial institutions. One key reason is that the costs of information about the characteristics and risk levels of borrowers are high. Relationship-based financing has been promoted as a potential solution to information asymmetry problems in the distribution of credit to small businesses. In this paper, we seek to better understand the implications for providers of "microfinance" in pursuing such a strategy. We discuss relationship-based financing as practiced by microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the United States, analyze their lending process, and present a model for determining the break-even price of a microcredit product. Comparing the model's results with actual prices offered by existing institutions reveals that credit is generally being offered at a range of subsidized rates to microentrepreneurs. This means that MFIs have to raise additional resources from grants or other funds each year to sustain their operations as few are able to survive on the income generated from their lending and related operations. Such subsidization of credit has implications for the long-term sustainability of institutions serving this market and can help explain why mainstream financial institutions have not directly funded microenterprises. We conclude with a discussion of the role of nonprofit organizations in small business credit markets, the impact of pricing on their potential sustainability and self-sufficiency, and the implications for strategies to better structure the credit market for microbusinesses. [source] Financial Reporting of Small Business Entities in Canada,JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2006Michael Maingot Financial reporting for small business entities (SBEs) has been the subject of much debate and concern by the accounting bodies (institutes) in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. The main issue for the standard setters is whether they should have one set of standards for all companies or two sets of standards (one for big companies and one for SBEs). The main objective of our study is to examine whether SBEs in Canada should have their own new set of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or should they continue to use big GAAP used by public companies. To address this issue in the Canadian environment, we sent out a questionnaire to a sample of managers and owners of small businesses, preparers, auditors, and users of small business accounts. These stakeholders were asked to identify the purposes of SBE financial statements, their levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the present accounting standards for SBEs, the burdens imposed on the preparers of the financial statements, and the weaknesses of the present standards. Furthermore, they were asked to give the expected advantages of adopting new standards, after having ranked four models of financial reporting of SBEs. The results are quite interesting. Stakeholders indicated that financial statements of SBEs are prepared mainly for taxation purposes and borrowing. They are not satisfied with the present standards because they are costly to comply with and very complex. The burden of producing SBE financial statements can be reduced by simplifying the present standards. The new standards would mean a shorter and simpler form of financial statements. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide the standard setters in Canada and other countries with an indication of the future direction for SBE reporting and accounting. [source] Entrepreneurial Access and Absorption of Knowledge Spillovers: Strategic Board and Managerial Composition for Competitive AdvantageJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006David B. Audretsch The resource theory of the firm implies that knowledge is a key resource bestowing a competitive advantage for entrepreneurial firms. However, it remains rather unclear up to now how new ventures and small businesses can access knowledge resources. The purpose of this study was to suggest two strategies, in particular, that facilitate entrepreneurial access to and absorption of external knowledge spillovers: the attraction of managers and directors with an academic background. Based on data on board composition of 295 high-technology firms, the results clearly demonstrate the strong link between geographical proximity to research-intense universities and board composition. [source] Ethical Attitudes in Small Businesses and Large Corporations: Theory and Empirical Findings from a Tracking Study Spanning Three DecadesJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006Justin G. Longenecker This study offers a theoretical framework of ethical behavior and a comparative analysis of ethical perceptions of managers of large, mostly publicly traded corporations (those with 1,000 or more employees) and the owners and managers of smaller companies (those with fewer than 100 employees) across 17 years. The primary research provides basic data on the changing standards of ethics as perceived by leaders of large and small businesses where the cultures frequently fall into sharp contrast. Our findings reveal the extent to which the message of business integrity is gaining or losing ground within large and small companies. It does this by means of respondents' judgments of acceptable responses to 16 scenarios profiling common business situations with questionable ethical dimensions. Based on responses from over 5,000 managers and employees (from firms of all sizes) to our scenarios at three points in time (1985, 1993, 2001), we tested two research questions. First, for firms of all sizes, have business ethics improved or declined between the years 1985 and 2001? Second, comparing responses of large and small firm executives across the 1985,2001 time frame, is there a discernible difference in their ethical standards? Our results suggest that business leaders are making somewhat more ethical decisions in recent years. We also found that small business owner,managers offered less ethical responses to scenarios in 1993 but that no significant differences existed with large firm managers in 1985 and 2001. Implications of our findings are discussed. [source] The Successful Product Pioneer: Maintaining Commitment while Adapting to ChangeJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2002Mark Simon Introducing pioneering products is an important entrepreneurial activity and the lifeblood of small businesses, yet previous literature on pioneering and performance in small firms has been inconclusive. Based on data gathered from entrepreneurs in 51 small computer firms, the study found that commitment (entrepreneurial confidence) and adaptability (corporate entrepreneurship and environmental dynamism) were especially beneficial to pioneers. The other three variables (product championing, marketing emphasis, and technological newness) contributed to performance across all new product introductions but did not have modifying effects on pioneering introductions in particular. [source] Promises Made, Promises Broken: An Exploration of Employee Attraction and Retention Practices in Small BusinessJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2001Jill Kickul Entrepreneurial organizations have undergone substantial workforce changes and transformations during the last two decades in order to compete successfully on a global scale. The ability to attract and retain reliable and competent employees has become a key component in developing an effective and sustainable competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the psychological contract and the types of promises made and communicated by small business organizations to attract and retain their employees. From a sample of 151 employees within small businesses, the results demonstrate that perceived unfulfilled promises can have a considerable impact on workplace attitudes, commitment, and intentions to leave the organization. Implications and recommendations for small businesses as well as directions for future research are discussed. [source] Document classification techniques for automated technology readiness level analysisJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2008Barry L. Britt The overhead of assessing technology readiness for deployment and investment purposes can be costly to both large and small businesses. Recent advances in the automatic interpretation of technology readiness levels (TRLs) of a given technology can substantially reduce the risk and associated cost of bringing these new technologies to market. Using vector-space information-retrieval models, such as latent semantic indexing, it is feasible to group similar technology descriptions by exploiting the latent structure of term usage within textual documents. Once the documents have been semantically clustered (or grouped), they can be classified based on the TRL scores of (known) nearest-neighbor documents. Three automated (no human curation) strategies for assigning TRLs to documents are discussed with accuracies as high as 86% achieved for two-class problems. [source] Safety recommendations for small businesses and/or plants,PROCESS SAFETY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2004Lisa Long No abstract is available for this article. [source] Safety recommendations for small businesses and/or plantsPROCESS SAFETY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2004S. Urbanik No abstract is available for this article. [source] Safety recommendations for small businesses and/or plantsPROCESS SAFETY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2004K. Herrmann No abstract is available for this article. 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