Researching the Small Enterprise

Curran, James; Blackburn, Robert

doi:10.4135/9781849209847

Cited by 411 publications

(291 citation statements)

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“…Under financial constraints, small and small and medium-sized enterprises are likely to perform poorly on a contract [91]. Based on findings reported by Dowla [92], Harris & Rae [93], Hadaya & Pellerin [94], Mc Adam, Moffett, Hazlett & Shelvlin [95] and Curran & Blackburn [96], the key reason why the majority of newly established firms go out of business in the first three years following establishment is their inability to raise the finance needed for the completion of projects.…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Factors That Affect the Long-Term Survival of Small Businesses in Pretoria, South Africa

Worku¹

2013

JDAIP

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The paper is based on a 5-year follow-up study (2007 to 2012) of a random sample of 349 small business enterprises that operate in and around the city of Pretoria in South Africa. Data were gathered from each of the businesses on socioeconomic factors that were known to affect the long-term survival of small businesses. The objective of the study was to identify and quantify key predictors of viability and long-term survival. Pearson's chi-square tests of associations, binary logistic regression analysis and the Cox Proportional Hazards Model were used for screening of variables, and for estimating odds ratios and hazard ratios of key predictors of viability and long-term survival. The study found that 188 of the 349 businesses that took part in the study (54%) were not viable, and that the long-term survival and viability of small businesses were adversely affected by lack of entrepreneurial skills, lack of supervisory support to newly established businesses, and inability to operators running newly established businesses to acquire relevant vocational skills.

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Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Factors That Affect the Long-Term Survival of Small Businesses in Pretoria, South Africa

Worku¹

2013

JDAIP

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“…While there is much disagreement on the definition of small and medium sized enterprises in the literature (Curran & Blackburn, 2001), there is a reasonably clear proposal from the European Union, as shown in Table 1. Following this definition, there are 19 million small and medium sized enterprises in the region representing 99.8% of all EU enterprises and employing more than 74 million people (European Union, 2009b).…”

Section: Defining Smesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drawing together much of the previous work on SMEs in this field in Europe, the following aspects can be identified as important (adapted from Spence, 2007): l a lack of codification of social responsibility in small businesses (Jenkins, 2004;Spence, 1999); l personal motivations for taking socially responsible initiatives are more important than marketing, strategic, or public relations approaches (Jenkins, 2004;Spence, 2000b); l owner-manager acts as both principal and agent of the firm (Quinn, 1997;Spence & Rutherfoord, 2001); l small businesses are often embedded in their local communities (Perrini, 2006;Tencati et al 2004); l flexibility, personal service and reputation are important competitive factors for SMEs (Spence, 1999;2000b;; l employees are the key stakeholders (Janjuha-Jivraj, 2003;Jenkins, 2004;Spence, 2000b); and l sector context is particularly important (Curran & Blackburn, 2001;.…”

Section: Ethics/social Responsibility Practices Within Smesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice and politics: Ethics and social responsibility in SMEs in the European Union

Spence

Perrini

2014

AJOBE

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AbstrAct. In this paper we outline the status quo of ethics and social responsibility in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU). Social issues and SMEs is an established topic of research and subject of policy-making in Europe, and thus in this paper we are able to draw on existing activities to summarise what we know about the topic. We describe the important position given to SMEs and entrepreneurship as drivers of the economy through job creation, social inclusion and issues such as employee health and welfare. We note that the ethics/social responsibility practices and strategies of SMEs tend to be greater than expected, but are informal and local community-based rather than replicating large firm approaches. To demonstrate the variety within Europe, we provide some nation-specific perspectives on social responsibility and SMEs with a closer look at Denmark, Italy, the UK and central and eastern Europe and the Baltic States.

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“…• Curran and Blackburn (2001) indicate that case studies in small business research are often fewer than ten.…”

Section: Deciding the Number Of Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Interpretive Qualitative Case Studies for Exploratory Research in Doctoral Studies: A Case of Information Systems Research in Small and Medium Enterprises

Ponelis

2015

IJDS

159

111

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The use of the case study method has gained mainstream acceptance in both entrepreneurship and information systems research to develop conceptual and theoretical models that are novel, yet grounded in the literature. In spite of many texts on the case study method and the growing acceptance and use of thereof, there are relatively few examples that discuss how to apply the case study method. The purpose of this paper is to provide such an example by drawing upon the author's research for her doctoral dissertation in the discipline of information systems and entrepreneurship research. First, the use of qualitative case studies as research method is motivated, then the importance of the research paradigm is discussed and the interpretivist research paradigm justified followed by a detailed discussion of the research design. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned and recommendations based on the author's experience with using the case study method. The practical yet theoretically founded approach of this paper may be useful to doctoral students who are considering or using the case study method. Equally, supervisors and others involved in research training may find this paper useful as an illustrative example of the case study method for their students.

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Researching the Small Enterprise

Cited by 411 publications

References 0 publications

Analysis of Factors That Affect the Long-Term Survival of Small Businesses in Pretoria, South Africa

Analysis of Factors That Affect the Long-Term Survival of Small Businesses in Pretoria, South Africa

Practice and politics: Ethics and social responsibility in SMEs in the European Union

Using Interpretive Qualitative Case Studies for Exploratory Research in Doctoral Studies: A Case of Information Systems Research in Small and Medium Enterprises

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