Dean Patton

All Credit to Men? Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Gender

Availability of, and access to finance is a critical element to the start–up and consequent performance of any enterprise. Hence, any barriers or impediments to accessing appropriate levels or sources of funding will have an enduring and negative impact upon the performance of affected firms. Although findings have been somewhat inconsistent, there is support for the notion that women entrepreneurs entering self–employment are disadvantaged by their gender. This argument is evaluated through a theoretical analysis of gender using the example of accessing both formal and informal sources of business funding to illustrate how this concept impacts upon women in self–employment.

Managing the Employment Relationship in the Smaller Firm: Possibilities for Human Resource Management

Sue Marlow and Dean Patton are with Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. The authors would like to thank Adam Strange of Warwick Business School for his assistance in preparation of this paper.

The Relationship between Training and Small Firm Performance; Research Frameworks and Lost Quests:

DEAN PATTON IS PRINCIPAL LECTURER in corporate strategy, Sue Marlow is principal lecturer in industrial relations, and Paul Hannon is academic director at the Leicestershire Centre for Enterprise, all at de Montfort University, England. In recent years it has been acknowledged that the take-up of training and development opportunities within the United Kingdom has been generally poor and that this has had a detrimental effect upon national productivity and competitiveness (Keep and Mayhew, 1997). It is noticeable that smaller firms in particular are reluctant to engage with formal training initiatives regardless of the incentives offered (Maton, 1999; Jennings and Hawley, 1996; Stanworth and Gray, 1992). To support greater take-up of such initiatives, policymakers and academics have sought to find a relationship between training and the performance of firms. The extant literature on this subject is inconclusive and a number of criticisms have been made witlh reference to the research design and methodology employed (Westhead and Storey, 1997). This paper proposes that a more focused research design to the subject is required and puts forward a model that would address many of the concerns raised (Westhead, 1996; Westhead and Storey, 1997). It is suggested that the search for statistical significance may actually be inappropriate, given the number of variables in the relationship. The model would, however, provide a framework within which the importance and interaction of such variables can be more clearly analysed and evaluated.

Minding the gap between employers and employees: the challenge for owner-managers of smaller manufacturing firms

The empirical evidence which underpins and illustrates labour management theory has been drawn from a range of case studies across industrial sectors sited, usually, within the corporate sector. This fails to recognise the importance of the smaller firm as an employer. At present, the study of the employment relationship is grounded within a segment of the economy that no longer employs the majority of private sector labour within the UK. To reflect contemporary change within modern developed economies, the manner in which labour is managed in smaller firms must be explored. This paper considers why smaller firms might be excluded from this debate and reviews some of the limited literature pertaining to managing the employment relationship in such firms. One area in particular is then focused upon in more depth, the manner in which labour compliance and control is addressed in smaller manufacturing firms. On the basis of empirical evidence drawn from a study of the impact of employment regulation on smaller manufacturing firms, it is suggested that there are blurred divisions between employers and employees. Through necessity or choice, when the owner of the firm also takes the role of co‐worker this can create shared social relationships and group working which is advantageous to the owner, but has implications for managing labour discipline.

The determinants of management training within smaller firms in the UK. What role does strategy play

It is agreed that within the UK there is a poor level of investment in formal training and development. This is particularly evident within the small firm sector. The literature, which considers this issue, concludes that there are a number of reasons why small firm owners are, on the whole, reluctant to invest in such training for themselves and their employees. Such reasons include, ignorance of benefits, time issues, fear that training will enhance employee mobility and, critically, that there is little evidence to indicate that investment in training and development leads to enhanced firm performance. On the basis that there has been some debate and empirical investigation regarding why training does not take place, this paper takes an alternative stance and considers what issues and processes might underpin the decision to invest in training ‐ particularly management training. Findings are drawn from empirical research on a sample of firms where investment had been made in such training in the last 24 months; the indications being that such investment was not strategic or proactive but prompted by problems which threatened business performance.

SMEs and environmental regulations: a study of the UK screen-printing sector

In the literature of corporate greening, the regulatory domain has been identified as a key influence on the environmental behaviour of firms and has been linked to actions beyond compliance and to the pursuit of competitive advantage. That said, studies of the environmental performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) suggest that, on the whole, smaller firms tend to take a more reactive and compliant stance with regard to environmental legislation, with little evidence existing to suggest that regulation provides a strong baseline for internally driven change. The authors report the findings from empirical research undertaken to assess the impact of environmental legislation upon the activities of SMEs within the screen-printing sector in the United Kingdom and explore the motivations that have driven responses to such legislation. The aim of the research was to examine the extent to which regulation was a factor in explaining SME environmental behaviour, and to identify the nature of corporate responses to environmental change. In addressing these issues a hybrid methodology was adopted, based on a quantitative survey of 200 firms in the UK screen-printing industry and a qualitative analysis of five organisations chosen from the survey respondents. The results of the survey—which had a usable response rate of 33%—and from the case-study interviews shed important light on SME attitudes, awareness, and responses to existing regulatory requirements. The authors comment on how far the evidence supports the propositions in the extant literature and examine possible policy implications of the findings.

ETHNIC MANAGERIALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS

Encouraging ethnic minorities to engage in a ‘culture of enterprise’ is a feature of New Labours small-firm policy agenda. One manifestation of this is the increased activity on the part of ‘ethnic brokers’ involved in enterprise support. These developments appear to be detached from discussions in sociological circles alluding to the relational and contingent nature of ethnicity, and the concomitant inadequacy of racial categories that flourish in policy circles. This article examines how the notion of ‘ethnic minority businesses’ is constituted in policy and practice, and assesses how the tensions of working with fluid notions of ethnicity are handled. Through the medium of a case study undertaken in an ethnically diverse English city, the activities of a variety of different actors involved in a project on ‘ethnic minority businesses’ are assessed. The tensions inherent in working ‘with’ and ‘against’ categories of ethnicity in a policy context are reflected upon.

Managing the locals: employee relations in South Asian restaurants

This paper examines the management of employee relations in South Asian firms in the UK independent restaurant sector. Key working practices pertaining to the employment relationship are examined in a particular socio-economic and spatial context. Acknowledging such contexts facilitates an appreciation of how ethnicity and employment relations interact, rather than abstracting culture from the material context in which it operates. Consistent with this analytic focus, a mixed embeddedness perspective (Kloosterman et al. 1999) is adopted which recognizes the importance of both economic and social aspects of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. A qualitative methodology, drawing upon 23 case histories (involving both employer and employee perspectives) is deployed. The indications from this research suggest that the employment relationship is an outcome of the fluid interaction of social, economic and geographical contexts. This renders problematic both culturalist and purely economic approaches to ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Future research should carefully consider how the employment relationship is influenced by its embeddedness within specific communities.

Realising potential: The impact of business incubation on the absorptive capacity of new technology-based firms

This article explores the potential of university technology business incubators to enhance the absorptive capacity of new technology-based firms. The research pursues three critical themes: it employs the absorptive capacity construct to analyse and evaluate the potential of incubation to strengthen the business model of new technology firms. It then explores the interaction between founders and incubator directors, mentors and business advisers to assess how this might enhance absorptive capacity. Finally, it indicates how such interactions can facilitate the transition from potential to realised absorptive capacity. The article interrogates the incubation process by using the absorptive capacity framework to evaluate how it might strengthen the business model of new technology firms. The qualitative findings suggest that where founders, advisers, mentors and incubator directors engage collaboratively to create an iterative dialogue which informs the development of a viable business model, the process by which potential absorptive capacity can be fully realised is substantially strengthened.

University technology business incubators: helping new entrepreneurial firms to learn to grow

With this paper we explore how differing forms of entrepreneurial learning are facilitated within the context of business incubation. To support new technology venturing, university business incubators offer their tenants professional support and advice plus exposure to entrepreneurial networks with the objective of assisting them to address associated liabilities of newness. Accordingly, new venture founders are offered access to a range of resources to assist them in learning how to commercialize technological ideas. Entrepreneurial learning can be deemed explorative or exploitative; we explore how business incubation assists entrepreneurs to leverage these differing learning approaches to generate a secure resource base within the firm. From case-study evidence we suggest business incubation is effective in aligning a balance of learning approaches which support future growth prospects and add competitive advantage to young, fragile firms. We conclude by suggesting that incubator managers are critical actors in facilitating appropriate learning environments for new technology entrepreneurs.