Peter L. Jennings

The performance and competitive advantage of small firms: a management perspective

PETERJENNINGS, NOW WITH SOUTHAMPTON Institute, England, was at the time of writing with Sheffield Hallam University, England, and Graham Beaver is with Nottingham Trent University, England. Successful small firms practice strategic management either consciously and visibly or unconsciously and invisibly. Failure and success are interpreted as measures of good or indifferent management and are usually defined rational criteria which ignore stakeholder aspirations. Many owner managers pursue personal objectives which inhibit the probability of success if measured using these rational criteria. The majority of existing studies of small business performance tend to focus on either the symptoms arising from problems within the firm or upon the reason cited for failure. Comparatively little analysis of the ingredients that promote and sustain competitive advantage has been undertaken. Notwithstanding the fact that generic skills and abilities are required, the management process in small firms is unique and cannot be considered to be the same as professional management in larger organisations practised on a reduced scale. The multiplicity of roles expected of the owner-manager as the principal stakeholder often causes dissonance which enhances the probability of poor decision-making and inappropriate action. The authors consider that the root cause of either small business failure of poor performance is almost invariably a lack of management attention to strategic issues.

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.

Competence based training for small firms - an expensive failure?

Abstract This article addresses the issue of how to develop and implement strategies for organizations which are in a turbulent environment. In this situation strategic leadership is about managing radical change to achieve a dramatic improvement in performance, and business strategy is the simple business logic which management use to explain to shareholders and other stakeholders how they see the environment changing and how their organization will survive and grow. For companies which are experiencing rapid change, traditional approaches to corporate planning are too bureaucratic. They need to be supplemented with new approaches which enable management to take charge of strategy and to develop strategies for implementation.

Management competence development for professional service SMEs: the case of community pharmacy

Over the last two decades there has been a substantial increase in the number and range of service sector SMEs. The management competence of the owner‐manager and/or senior staff is crucial to their success. Developing appropriate competencies presents a particular challenge for professional service SMEs, since the key players are more likely to be motivated by the perceived attractions of professional practice than the commercial and managerial aspects of the enterprise. Drawing upon the experiences of community pharmacists in the UK as an empirical frame of reference, consideration is given to the key management competencies, both operational and strategic, which are required to operate a professional service enterprise successfully. Issues concerning the provision of management training for community pharmacists are also highlighted.

The abuse of entrepreneurial power—an explanation of management failure?

An analysis of the positional power of entrepreneurs and an evaluation of the misuse of that power with detrimental affects on other stakeholders.

Human resource development in small firms: the role of managerial competence

This paper offers a critique of existing approaches to training in small firms. It is primarily concerned with the relationship between organizational and managerial development and examines the contribution and value of training processes. The underlying premise is the belief that training can and should be a powerful agent of change, facilitating and enabling a company to develop its capabilities, thus enhancing profitability.

The impact of capital taxation upon UK unquoted companies

The authors present findings from the initial phase of an ongoing externally funded research project into senior executive perceptions of the impact of capital taxation upon unquoted companies incorporated in the United Kingdom. Open-ended interviews were conducted with the senior executives of six unquoted companies which are also multigenerational family businesses. The interviews guided the executives to explore the history of their company; the values and aspirations of the founding or owning family(ies); the impact of capital taxation regimes, previous and current, both on ownership and on management succession; and strategies being pursued. Using content analysis to identify key themes, the authors suggest that their findings indicate that capital taxation may have a major impact both on ownership and on management succession as well as on succession planning. However, the current capital tax regime in the United Kingdom is perceived to be more favourable than that of previous regimes and vis-à-vis the regimes currently operating in most European countries. Capital taxation is not thought to influence strategic or operational decisions either positively or negatively. Companies use taxation-planning devices, frequently involving trusts, in order to reduce the actual burden of capital taxation falling upon individual shareholders at ownership succession. The present capital taxation regime, which includes gift relief and business asset taper relief within capital gains tax, and 100% business property relief within inheritance tax, eases succession planning. Business asset taper relief also facilitates shareholder exit strategies.

Open Learning Versus Lecturing

The increasingly competitive environment of higher education (HE), especially in the UK, has led to an overall reduction in the per capita unit of resource available to institutions for teaching purposes. This has arisen from a continuing upward trend in student recruitment combined with a continuing downward trend in government funding (THESIS, 1996). As a result, HE institutions are faced with the challenge of developing, designing and delivering effective teaching, more efficiently, to increasing numbers of students. The effect of diminishing resources, in particular time, has impacted severely upon individual tutors and has adversely affected the student learning experience. A study by Simpkins (1994) undertaken at Sheffield Hallam University drew attention to the increased class sizes arising from resource constraints and commented that “... further increases in seminar/tutorial sizes would be counter-productive....” Gibbs (1996) suggests the average number of teaching hours on courses has halved over the last decade and now accounts for only 25% of total student learning time. In an effort to safeguard educational standards tutors have had to use the resources which they do have at their disposal more creatively.

Facilitating regeneration through new enterprise creation

This paper undertakes a comparative study of intervention strategies and the resultant impact upon new enterprise creation in the UK and Hungary. Firstly, secondary data is used to compare and contrast the actions of, and support provided by, major employer organisations faced with the need to downsize and restructure in the light of changing economic circumstances. Parallels are drawn between the need to support the local economy in specific regions of the UK, which faced extreme recession following the decline of major industries and the need to support local economies in Hungary, which face an uncertain future, but new opportunities, following the liberalisation of economic policy. Secondly, the paper reports the results of interviews with entrepreneurs and owner-managers in both countries who have received and who are receiving support and assistance to establish, grow and develop new enterprises. For many this marks a significant transition from employment to self-employment and requires the acquisition of new skills and competences together with the acceptance of high levels of risk and exposure not previously experienced. Thirdly, the paper assesses the impact of changing relationships within the local economy. This is especially significant where newly established SMEs operate as sub-contractors to the supporting organisation which takes the opportunity to out-source services and/or production which was previously undertaken in-house. The paper concludes with specific recommendations concerning the role of facilitators in influencing attitudes towards entrepreneurship and actions, which may be undertaken to encourage regeneration through the creation of new enterprises.