The paper proffers a tentative conceptualisation of the``small business strategic learning process'', demonstrating the complexity of the small firm learning and management task. The framework, built upon personal construct theory and learning theories, is elaborated through the grounding of relevant areas of the strategic management literature in an understanding of the distinctive managerial and behavioural features of the small business. The framework is then utilised to underpin consideration of the concepts of``organisational learning'' and the``learning organisation'' within a small firm developmental context. It is suggested that whilst organisational learning may be a key and effective small business management approach to underpin sustainable development, the learning organisation, as currently conceived in the mainstream literature, fails to recognise and address the idiosyncrasies, problems and constraints relating to sustainable small business development. There does appear, however, to be great potential for extending understanding of the learning organisation concept into the small business context. An indicative research agenda is suggested.

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The concept of empowerment has received a great deal of attention in recent years. However, the empowerment knowledge base is predominantly large company‐oriented with little evidence of understanding what empowerment means in a small business context. It is inappropriate to treat the small firm as a microcosm of a large organisation. The small business is qualitatively as well as quantitatively different and this article propounds that it is questionable whether the concept of empowerment and its various dimensions as portrayed in the literature are readily transferable to small businesses. It is suggested that empowering management approaches are key features of successful growth‐oriented small firms but the current body of empowerment literature fails to encapsulate the idiosyncrasies and informalities of the small business operation, and thus convey understanding of the unique and novel forms of empowerment which facilitate sustainable development. Case study insight is used to support these propositions.

Co-founder, The Future Foundation. The Future Foundation is a future-oriented commercial think-tank which advises companies on better ways to market to, and communicate with, their customer base. The Future Foundation research into changing social values and consumer behaviour began in 1996 with Changing Lives, proprietary research into emerging values. It continued in 1997 with The 24-Hour Society, a review of the extending hours of consumer culture, undertaken on behalf of First Direct and BT. This was followed in 1999 with What Next, an exploration into the key trends in society and consumption, and then iSociety, an analysis of the structural and attitudinal shifts which shape the new social era, both on behalf of First Direct. Jane MasonMarketing Consultant and co-founder, The Future Foundation. AbstractThis paper looks at how society has changed over the past ten years in terms of individual values, aspirations and consumer behaviour patterns, and relates these to underlying demographic, economic, technological and social trends.It summarises ®ndings of research undertaken by the Future Foundation. The research identi®es six`I' factors, which, together, help to explain the different ways in which individuals are choosing to take control over an increasing number of areas of their lives. The most prominent of these are the desire for and reality of independence; individuality Ð the growing politics of difference; the changing nature and sources of identity; and interconnectedness Ð access to and use of information. The others are interactivity and imagination.It concludes that High`I' values, although realised by a minority today, are aspired to by the majority and that all the economic, technological and attitudinal conditions are ripe for the`iSociety', as it is called, to¯ourish and develop substantially over the next decade.