Lew Perren

Small firms, R&D, technology and innovation in the UK: a literature review

Abstract The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in economic growth has made them a central element in much recent policymaking. Of particular interest have been policies designed to promote and facilitate the operation of the innovation process within SMEs, and there has been substantial expansion of this kind of effort. Despite this interest, the knowledge base about how SMEs actually undertake innovative activities remains limited. This paper reports on a literature survey of UK work over the past decade and tries to characterise the state of knowledge about SMEs and innovation. It concludes with a discussion of gaps and weaknesses in the literature and some requirements for future research in this field.

Case-Study Method in Small Business and Entrepreneurial Research Mapping Boundaries and Perspectives

The case-study method has a long and respected history in the mainstream management literature. The philosophy and implications of the case-study method have received considerable attention and there are a number of standard texts on the approach. The method is also gaining acceptance, along with other qualitative methods, within the small business and entrepreneurial research community. Yet there has been little discussion of the distinctive philosophical consequences of applying the case-study approach in this area. This article will address this gap by mapping the paradigms adopted by small business and entrepreneurial case-study researchers. This will provide a platform upon which to explore the consequences of the paradigmatic position that researchers adopt.

Small Business and Entrepreneurial Research Meta-theories, Paradigms and Prejudices

Small business and entrepreneurship has emerged as an important area of research over the past 40 years. Much of this development has been achieved by drawing on and adapting the theoretical frameworks of disciplines from outside. However, such diversity of disciplinary foundation does not necessarily result in a diversity of underlying meta-theoretical assumptions within an area. Other areas of the social sciences have benefited from the consideration of the meta-theoretical foundations of their research and as a consequence they have been able to extend their research into new agendas. There has been some meta-theoretic discussion of small business and entrepreneurial research, yet the review conducted for this project found no recent articles that provided a systematic analysis of contemporary research. This article will address this gap by employing Burrell and Morgans (I1979) paradigmatic taxonomy to conduct a systematic meta-theoretical analysis of articles published in the year 2000 by leading authors in key small business and entrepreneurial journals. The analysis shows a dominance of the functionalist paradigm that pervades the elite discourse of research in leading journals and acts as a potential barrier to other perspectives. Whether a Hegelian or Kuhnian perspective on knowledge production is taken, it is clear that the health and future development of research in this area requires a broadening of perspectives to enable debate, friction, creativity and ultimately new theories and understandings.

Government discourses on entrepreneurship: issues of legitimization, subjugation, and power

The belief in market–driven ideology and the assumption that new business ventures create jobs and foster innovation has embedded entrepreneurship into political discourse. Academics have analyzed government policies on entrepreneurship, but they have tended to share the same underlying beliefs in the function of entrepreneurs within the economic machine. This article explores selected dimensions of the impact of those beliefs by using critical discourse analysis to show how government websites around the world portray entrepreneurs and their role in society. Discourses of government power and self–legitimization are revealed that manifest themselves in a colonizing discourse of entrepreneurial subjugation. The article concludes by challenging government rhetoric on entrepreneurship and questioning the motives underpinning the agenda of government involvement in supporting entrepreneurs.

Factors in the growth of micro‐enterprises (Part 1): developing a framework

This research examines micro‐enterprises pursuing gradual growth. While very little research has been targeted specifically at the growth of micro‐enterprises, there are a host of possible influencing factors suggested by the rather broader small business literature. Less research has attempted to integrate the factors that influence growth of small firms into some form of model. Those models that were found had a number of shortfalls when it came to understanding the development of micro‐enterprises. A framework has been developed through this research that addresses these shortfalls. First, it has targeted specifically gradual growth micro‐enterprises; secondly, it is rigorously under‐pinned through empirical research; thirdly, it attempts to comprehensively cover the range of factors that influence development; fourthly, it focuses on the complex interaction of factors that may influence development. The research findings and implications are presented in two parts. Part 1 develops an empirically verified framework that explains how growth is influenced by a myriad of interacting factors. This leads to a discussion of the policy implications of the framework. Part 2 is presented in the next edition of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development (JSBED) and will explore the managerial implications of the framework. This will provide a diagnostic toolkit to help micro‐enterprise owner‐managers and advisers pursue growth. The paper is derived from research conducted initially for the submission of a PhD thesis at the University of Brighton (Perren, 1996).

The role of e‐mentoring in entrepreneurial education and support: a meta‐review of academic literature

This paper draws upon policy‐based research that was conducted for the SBS South East to provide a meta‐review of academic literature that examines the role of e‐mentoring in entrepreneurial education and support. Four education and training relevant themes are explored: What is e‐mentoring in SMEs? How effective is e‐mentoring in SMEs? What examples are there of e‐mentoring in SMEs? What advice is there on introducing e‐mentoring for SMEs? The article concludes that current research falls short of a robust evaluation; nevertheless, by drawing upon a range of associated e‐mentoring research it has been possible to provide some helpful examples of practice and tentative advice on the introduction of such schemes.

The evolution of managerial information, control and decision‐making processes in small growth‐oriented service sector businesses: exploratory lessons from four cases of success

Research into management information, control and decision‐making in small businesses appears on the surface to be contradictory. Some research suggests that small businesses have little management information, poor control and that decision‐making is ad hoc. Other research suggests that small businesses acquire effective information and control through informal means, and that decision‐making can be sophisticated. This research addresses these apparent contradications by conducting a longitudinal, in‐depth exploration of the management information and decision‐making processes in four service sector businesses that have recently broken through the micro‐enterprise barrier. Multiple sources of evidence were used to construct a longitudinal history of information provision and decision‐making in each case. These included taped, oral, accounts of each owner‐manager’s life, focused semi‐structured interview questions and documentary evidence. The quality of the data has allowed a cross case causal network to be constructed which synthesises the evidence. This traces the chains of causality from the informal systems at the start of the businesses through to the later developments of more formal systems. This leads to a consideration of implications for small businesses, practitioners and policy makers.

Factors in the growth of micro‐enterprises (Part 2): exploring the implications

This research examines micro‐enterprises pursuing gradual growth. The research findings and implications are provided in two parts. Part 1 was presented in Volume 6, Number 4 of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development (JSBED) (Perren, 2000). It developed an empirically verified framework that explains how growth was influenced by a myriad interacting factors; this led to a discussion of the policy implications of the framework. Part 2 explores the managerial implications of the framework. A diagnostic toolkit is systematically developed to encourage micro‐enterprise owner‐managers and advisers to explore the influences on the interim growth drivers identified in part 1. It is hoped this will help them to highlight ways of “compensating” deficits in particular factors and to think creatively about growth opportunities. The audience has changed from academics and policy‐makers to owner‐managers, so the diagnostic toolkit avoids technical language and employs a Socratic questioning approach to encourage free‐thinking and self‐analysis.

The role of non‐executive directors in UK SMEs

Influential reports combined with media attention on directors’ remuneration has sparked academic and practitioner interest in the whole area of corporate governance. Cadbury’s suggestion to strengthen the independent governance role has led to particular interest in non‐executive directors (NEDs). More recently, the role of NEDs in the governance of small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs) has started to generate attention, and a number of registers of NEDs are established. Indeed, the role of NEDs in SMEs received special attention in the recent Hampel report (1998). Until recently, only two papers directly addressed the role of NEDs in SMEs; both papers were by Mileham and used data obtained from a survey concerned with the role of NEDs carried out with Institute of Management members. This research made a useful contribution, but had a number of limitations. More recently, the increased interest in the role of NEDs in SMEs has sparked further research, but there is still a need for an overall picture of NED and mentor involvement in UK SMEs. The research in this paper addresses this need by presenting the results from a survey sent to 5,279 UK SMEs selected from the Yellow Pages Business Database. The questionnaire was designed to provide a general overview of NED and mentor involvement in SMEs and to allow the following questions to be answered: How many SMEs have NEDs, and are there any firm size patterns? Are there firm age patterns? Are there firm sector patterns? Does firm size influence the formality of NED procedures? What does the managing director believe NEDs add? Are firms with NEDs more successful than those without a NED? Does the profile of the managing director matter? Does a firm’s size influence NED involvement? How do firms acquire NEDs? Why do some SMEs not have NEDs? The paper presents these findings and explores the implications for SMEs and policy advisors.

Resistance to change as a positive force: its dynamics and issues for management development

Explores the notion of resistance to change as a positive force within organizations. Suggests that such resistance can be seen as a “natural” survival mechanism within organizations, which tests, adapts and sometimes stops decisions made by fallible and often ill‐informed senior managers. Reports ten cases of positive resistance to change and presents a matrix of styles of exercising resistance. Discusses the implications of positive resistance for management developers and those pursuing organizational change.