The Local Provision of Small and Medium Enterprise Advice Services

Haughton, Graham

doi:10.1080/00343409312331348025

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The timing of the advice in this article is before the founder starts their business, when most advice is sought and taken (Blair and Marcum, 2015; Greene et al., 2008; Haughton, 1993; Kösters and Obschonka, 2011). In the established view, taking advice reflects a perceived knowledge gap (Chrisman et al., 2005).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Take-up and variation of advice for new firm founders in different local contexts

Mole

Capelleras

2017

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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Although business advice has been linked to entrepreneurial outcomes, it is subject to information asymmetries and market failure. We argue that the knowledge concerning from whom to take advice before starting a new firm is more easily accessed in areas with high start-up rates which therefore ameliorates market failure. The study is based on surveys of 599 new firm founders in England and 381 new firm founders in Catalonia. A series of probit and heteroskedastic probit models are employed to investigate not only the probability of taking advice but also the variance in that probability, which reflects uncertainty. Supporting our view, the findings show that the taking of advice in the places with higher start-up rates exhibit less variation compared to other localities. We also find differing effects of place on the take up and variation of private sector and public sector advice. Implications from the findings are discussed

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Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Take-up and variation of advice for new firm founders in different local contexts

Mole

Capelleras

2017

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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“…Nevertheless, locally-based development agencies may have personally communicated to employers the benefits of a highly skilled and trained workforce. Many locally-based development agencies are business advisory centres (Haughton, 1993) which signpost to owners/managers sources of professionally qualified business advice (Dunsby, 1996) and training assistance from a variety of public agencies and private sector training providers (for a dissenting view see Curran et al, 1996). Based on the aggregate statistical evidence presented in Table IV, we can speculate that public subsidies directed towards local development agencies may have directly as well as indirectly encouraged the provision of training (particularly, planned on-the-job training) by employers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with the provision of job‐related formal training by employers

Westhead

1998

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior &Amp; Research

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Introduction In many countries there has been a gradual reduction in the number of massproduction jobs with increasing job complexity and skill requirements now being characteristic of all employees. Policy-makers are aware that recruitment difficulties and skill shortages may reduce the competitiveness of small and large firms (Campbell and Baldwin, 1993). In order to move from a low skill equilibrium (Finegold and Soskice, 1988), policy-makers are aware that: Major investments in human capital, both in the form of education and workforce training and in the form of research and development activities, appear to be an increasingly indispensable condition for enabling firms to move towards new markets and up-scale market segments that yield higher economic returns than standardised mass-commodity markets… (Buechtemann and Soloff, 1994, p. 243). To meet changing requirements and market challenges, governments throughout Europe have introduced a number of policy instruments to encourage the survival and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Education and training support is now one of the leading measures to increase the skill level of the workforce (Blundell et al., 1996), to ensure stronger long-term national economic performance (Worswick, 1985; for a dissenting view see Shackleton, 1992), to reduce labour mobility (Elias, 1994), to improve employee motivation (Heyes and Stuart, 1995), to improve the internal efficiency of SMEs (Addison and Siebert, 1994; Department of Trade and Industry, 1996), to improve business factor productivity (Bishop, 1994; Steedman and Wagner, 1989), to improve business performance (Lynch, 1994) and to achieve accreditation for BS 5750 British quality standard (Vickerstaff, 1992). In the UK, the provision of training to SMEs has become a central issue of economic policy (Miller and Davenport, 1987) and is a major indirect small firms policy initiative. Training provision by an employer is, however, one of a range of

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“…A review of studies which have examined the value of information and support services was recently provided by Haughton [22]. He notes that participation rates are generally low (and there are no a priori reasons for expecting hospitality industry rates to be at variance with this finding [23]) and that the perceptions of clients vary significantly; in some studies up to 65 per cent of the sample have considered the support available to be very useful or crucial to the development of their businesses, whereas others reveal predominantly negative perceptions.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Policy: Business Information and Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public policy and small hospitality firms

Thomas

1995

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

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For many years the British government has pursued policies designed to stimulate and support the development of small firms. Following an outline of current policy and its rationale, examines the likely impact of these measures on the hospitality industry, a sector characterized by small enterprises. Argues that the paucity of available empirical evidence means that reaching firm conclusions is inappropriate. Calls for a new research agenda so that those engaged in giving advice on the effective management of small hospitality organizations might do so from a secure knowledge base and to ensure that the deliberations of policy makers are informed by sector‐specific considerations.

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The Local Provision of Small and Medium Enterprise Advice Services

Cited by 15 publications

References 5 publications

Take-up and variation of advice for new firm founders in different local contexts

Take-up and variation of advice for new firm founders in different local contexts

Factors associated with the provision of job‐related formal training by employers

Public policy and small hospitality firms

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