US small retail businesses’ perception of competition: Looking through a lens of fear,confidence, or cooperation

The U.S. retail industry has undergone dramatic changes, leading to the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores on a large scale. Understanding perceived market competition among small retail businesses may help explain why certain businesses survive or fail in the altered retail environment. This study investigates small retail businesses' perceptions of competition within/outside the community, underlying reasons for their perceptions, and variations in perceptions by different business characteristics. Contrary to common expectations, we found that more than half of businesses interviewed were optimistic in the face of competition. Our data reveal two salient underlying reasons for pessimism and five for optimism. These perceptions tended to differ by operational locality (urban clusters vs. urban areas), business revenues, and innovativeness. Based on the findings, we developed propositions and a framework of small businesses' perceived competition and sustainable competitive advantage. We discussed theoretical and practical implications for small retail businesses’ sustainable growth in the challenging retail environment.     

A situational analysis of consumer science skills used to improve incomes and create self‐employment in the Limpopo province,South Africa

A two‐phase study was conducted in the Mopani and Vhembe Districts of the Limpopo Province of South Africa to identify types of small‐scale businesses used by households to improve their income. The study sample was made up of 240 households from 16 villages and members from 16 organizations working with households in small‐scale, business‐related activities. Phase one of the study collected data on the types of small‐scale businesses carried out by households and organizations assisting them. Phase two developed training manuals and offered training to households. The findings revealed that self‐employment from sales of prepared and processed foods provided the main source of income for most households. Clothing and needlework and housing and art/craft were also used by families to generate income. Problems experienced included lack of technical/management skills, lack of marketing/business skills, inadequate operational funds, low profit margins, unavailability of raw materials and competition from big businesses. The findings highlighted the importance of consumer science‐related skills in poverty alleviation programmes targeting low‐resource households.     

Small business economics: A perspective from The Netherlands

Conclusion In the analysis of economic phenomena either within or across industries there is room for integrating the role of small business. This contribution can be made by aggregation or generalization of the findings at the meso level, which again are partly based upon analyses at the micro level.The Netherlands has a long history in macro model building. A recent discussion among Dutch macro-economists considered the future of econometric model building at the macro level, and considered how best to improve this model building. The explicit integration of scale effects, however, was not mentioned. I am convinced that improvements in this respect are possible. In particular, I have in mind the role which small businesses play in certain areas such as wage structure, employment or investments. The dissection of macro prognoses into a small business component and a remaining component is a traditional practice in The Netherlands. Finally, there is much concern in The Netherlands for the calculation of regulatory effects, decomposed into effects for small and large businesses. If anywhere in the world there is a solid foundation for studying scale effects in both macro and sectoral models, it most certainly has been in The Netherlands. There is a strong tradition of macro-econometric model building; groups of econometricians specialized in small business research exist; Dutch policymakers show concern and the required research apparatus is available.

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The economic impact of the Canada small business financing program

This paper investigates the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) using the 2004 edition of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises. To avoid the usual self-selection problem associated with voluntary participation in such programs, the financing behavior of the business and its intention to grow are used as control variables. Based on this analysis, participation in the CSBFP would have increased growth in salary, employment and revenues by 12, 12, and 7 percentage points, respectively, between 2004 and 2006. Furthermore, CSBFP would have induced around 5,000 jobs, approximately 3.8% of those created in that time span by small private businesses.     

On the survival prospects of men's and women's new business ventures

In this study, we examine the relationship between owner and business characteristics and business survival. Our findings are based upon analyses of the Census Bureau's 1982 and 1987 Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) survey data on a sample of white male and female sole proprietors. Two aspects of this study distinguish it from any related studies to date. First, we separately examine issues affecting the survival prospects of female-owned businesses, whereas previous studies have focussed solely on businesses owned by men. Second, we use data on cohorts of businesses started or acquired in two different time periods, namely 1980–1982 and 1985–1987. Overall, the mean survival rates of male-owned businesses in these two cohorts are 4- to 6% higher, respectively, that those of businesses owned by women.We hypothesize that wage employment provides opportunities for men and women to acquire the financial and human capital necessary for success in business ownership. In fact, most male and female business owners had some prior spell of employment in the wage sector. But there are gender differences in the status of wage workers that, we further hypothesize, could differentially impact the survival prospects of men's and women's new business ventures. First, women's lower average wage earnings may imply more binding financial constraints on the initial scale of women's businesses relative to men's. Second, we find that female owners in both cohorts are less likely than their male counterparts to have had any prior managerial experience or to have 10 or more years of general, prior paid employment experience, which may imply that female entrepreneurs are more constrained in the amount and quality of human capital that they acquire during wage employment. Female entrepreneurs' access to debt and equity capital has not been overlooked by policy makers. What has been largely overlooked are possible gender differences in the amount and quality of human capital of new entrepreneurs. Women's fewer years of general work experience and lesser exposure to managerial occupations may indicate a role for remedial education or mentoring of would-be female entrepreneurs.Women in both cohorts tended to use less financial capital to start or acquire their businesses than men did, and for the 1982 cohort, business survival is found to be positively related to the amount of start-up capital, other factors held constant. The survival prospects of both male- and female-owned businesses are greater for owners with 10 or more years of prior work experience and/or 4 or more years of college. So at least in terms of education and quantity of work experience, female entrepreneurs are at something of a disadvantage relative to their male counterparts. We find that prior managerial experience has no systematic positive or negative effects on the survival prospects of either men's or women's new business ventures, however.Finally, our research indicates that issues concerning business formation and survival must be considered within the context of prevailing macroeconomic conditions. For example, we find that the survival rates of both male- and female-owned businesses started in the 1985–1987 time period were considerably higher than those of businesses started in 1980–1982. Moreover, we uncover systematic differences in owner and business characteristics between our 1982 and 1987 cohorts, as well as differences in how these characteristics influence business survival. Specifically, both male and female owners in our 1982 cohort were better educated, were more likely to have had prior, paid managerial experience, and had more years of prior, paid employment experience, in general. Researchers interested in assessing the survival prospects of businesses over a given time period must consider changes in both product and labor markets over that period. Strength of demand in product markets will have an obvious, direct effect on business viability. The tightening and loosening of labor markets imply changes in potential wage earnings (an opportunity cost of being self-employed) and in this way can affect business dissolution.     

Determinants of Small Business EDI Adoption: An Empirical Investigation

Given the importance of widespread adoption for the success of electronic data interchange (EDI) and the "much-slower-than-anticipated" growth of EDI adoption in small businesses, in this study we aimed to identify the key determinants of small business EDI adoption. Based on prior research on IT/EDI adoption in large/small organizations, a model that incorporates 7 factors that are hypothesized to have influence on the EDI adoption decision was developed and empirically tested against data collected from 627 small businesses, with 38% of them having already adopted the technology. The findings suggest that in the eyes of small businesses, EDI still is not considered as something that enables a business to gain major strategic benefits or competitive advantages. Although perceived costs are found to be major impediments to adoption, small businesses tend to have an "unbalanced" treatment between direct and indirect benefits, focusing more on those that are immediate and direct rather than on long-term, indirect benefits. Furthermore, prior EDI experience and perceived level of support from the vendor are also important determinants of EDI adoption in small businesses. Implications to Internet-based EDI systems are also discussed.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In</Emphasis>flexible Wages and Prices? Evidence in the Current Recession

The 2008/9 recession period brought the most massive and quickest response of fiscal and monetary policy in modern economic history. At the same time, small businesses (that produce half of private GDP) exhibited the most rapid adjustments in wages, prices, and inventories recorded in the past 35 years of data collected by the National Federation of Independent Business. The notion of “sticky” wages and prices plays a key role in arguments favoring government intervention to rebalance supply and demand for labor and output. The faster wages and prices (and therefore employment and output) adjust to a “shock” to the economy, the less the need for government intervention.     

Ethics in Small Minority Businesses

The management literature is replete with studies on business ethics. Unfortunately, most of these studies have dealt exclusively with ethics in large businesses. Although a handful of studies can be found on small business ethics, none has paid attention to the issue of ethics in small minority businesses. Similarly, several studies on ethics have utilized the Wood et al. (1988) 16-vignette ethics scale, although reliability and validity issues associated with the scale have never been fully addressed. In this study, a purification (via content analysis) of the above mentioned scale was performed. Three reliable factors were extracted from the purified scale. They were used to investigate the ethics in small minority businesses. The study found an association between business ethics and demographic and company-related variables. In the case of age of respondents, findings ran counter the usual relationship of age being positively related to ethical attitudes. The implications of these findings are also discussed.     

Examination of US Hispanic-owned,small retail and service businesses: an organizational life cycle approach

The importance of Hispanic-owned small businesses to the US economy has grown in recent years, yet, many of these businesses lag behind the performance of mainstream firms. One problem may be the lack of research on the strategic issues central to these businesses. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the characteristics of Hispanic-owned small service and retail firms through the employment of the Churchill and Lewis (1983, Business Review, 30–50) organizational life cycle model. Five stages of business growth, typified by business performance indicators, problems, structural characteristics, and Hispanic owners’ demographics, were identified. Growth stages were found to be similar to those experienced by majority-owned small businesses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The roles of the private and public sectors in poverty reduction

There are two major actors involved in tackling the challenge of poverty: private businesses and government. Unfortunately, both actors have tended to view each other through the lens of negative stereotypes, and each actor (or its proponents) dismisses the contributions of the other player and minimises its role. Unusual compared to most past literature, Khare and Varman in their article 'Kafkaesque institutions at the base of the pyramid' in this journal in 2016 reject both the private and the public sectors. By contrast, in this article, I argue for an ideologically eclectic approach, and suggest appropriate roles for both business and government in poverty reduction. The private sector needs to focus on creating employment opportunities for the poor and the government should focus on providing basic public services to the poor.     

Financial bootstrapping in small businesses: Examining small business managers' resource acquisition behaviors

In recent years, small businesses have received much attention from policy makers and researchers, in that these businesses are considered important for economic growth and job creation. At the same time small businesses are assumed to face major problems in securing long-term external finance, which is regarded as restraining their development and growth. Small business managers are assumed to use institutional finance as a means of meeting the need for resources, and as a consequence the major part of the research on small business finance has focused on constraints in the supply of institutional (market) finance.As we see it, most small business managers handle the need for resources using means other than external finance by applying different kinds of financial bootstrapping methods. Financial bootstrapping refers to the use of methods for meeting the need for resources without relying on long-term external finance from debt holders and/or new owners. However, these other means of resource acquisition have, with few exceptions, not been focused on within earlier research on small business finance. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to describe small business managers' use of different financial bootstrapping methods, and, more importantly, to develop concepts that can help us better understand small business managers' financial bootstrapping behaviors.The research process was initiated with a number of unstructured interviews conducted with small business managers, accountants, consultants, bank officials, and researchers, in order to identify different financial bootstrapping possibilities. On the basis of the interviews and an earlier study on financial bootstrapping, resulting in the identification of 32 bootstrapping methods, a questionnaire was constructed and sent to 900 small business managers in Sweden. Given the limited knowledge within the area of financial bootstrapping, the study is based on explorative factor analysis and cluster analysis.From the cluster analysis six clusters of bootstrappers were identified, differing from each other with respect to the bootstrapping methods used and the characteristics of the business. On the basis of this information the different clusters were labeled: (1) delaying bootstrappers; (2) relationship-oriented bootstrappers; (3) subsidy-oriented bootstrappers; (4) minimizing bootstrappers; (5) non-bootstrappers; and (6) private owner-financed bootstrappers. The groups of financial bootstrappers show differences in their orientation toward resource acquisition, representing different aspects of an internal mode of resource acquisition, a social mode of resource acquisition, and a quasi-market mode of resource acquisition. We find that the delaying bootstrappers, private owner-financed bootstrappers, and minimizing bootstrappers all represent an internal mode of resource acquisition. The relationship-oriented bootstrappers follow a socially oriented mode of resource acquisition, whereas the subsidy-oriented bootstrappers apply quasi-market oriented resource acquisition.This study contributes to our empirical understanding by providing knowledge about the financial bootstrapping methods used in small businesses. Furthermore, by developing concepts this study contributes to the conceptual development of our knowledge about financial bootstrapping. The implication of this study is that financial bootstrapping is a phenomenon which deserves more attention in future research on small business finance. At the same time, financial bootstrapping behavior is probably a more general phenomenon, appearing in different contexts, such as R&D activities in large businesses, financing start-ups, etc. Finally, the study points out implications for small business managers, consultants, teachers, etc. Practitioners often tend to focus on market solutions to resource needs. This study shows, however, that this strong focus can be questioned. Resources needed in small businesses can in many situations be secured using financial bootstrapping methods, referring to internally oriented and socially oriented resource acquisition strategies.     

Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review

The impact of smaller firm size on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is ambiguous. Some contend that small businesses are socially responsible by nature, while others argue that a smaller firm size imposes barriers on small firms that constrain their ability to take responsible action. This paper critically analyses recent theoretical and empirical contributions on the size–social responsibility relationship among small businesses. More specifically, it reviews the impact of firm size on four antecedents of business behaviour: issue characteristics, personal characteristics, organizational characteristics and context characteristics. It concludes that the small business context does impose barriers on social responsibility taking, but that the impact of the smaller firm size on social responsibility should be nuanced depending on a number of conditions. From a critical analysis of these conditions, opportunities for small businesses and their constituents to overcome the constraining barriers are suggested.Jan Lepoutre is a PhD candidate in Applied Economics at Ghent University, Belgium. His dissertation focuses on the competences associated with small business social responsibility.Aimé Heene is a professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University, Belgium. He teaches strategic management for private and for public organizations and currently focuses his research on (competence-based) management in public and social profit organizations.     

Threats and opportunities faced by private businesses in China

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the environment experienced by private businesses in China through examining their relationships with the major stakeholders—namely government, supplier, employee, customer, and competitor.Since the announcement of the economic reform in 1978, substantial political and economic power has been delegated from the central government to the regions. Endowed with this power, local governments have crucial influence on the size of the private sector within their jurisdiction. Being outside the state allocation plan, private firms have less access to raw materials and credit. In the volatile political climate of China, they are vulnerable to attack during political campaigns. Maintaining a cordial relationship with local cadres, through paying bribes and various charges, is thus a prerequisite for survival. Having solicited political backing, a private entrepreneur can not only run his business more smoothly, but also may be more tolerated in his illegal activities such as tax evasion, profiteering, and selling banned products. In short, the whole situation can be described as a collusion of local governments and private businesses at the expense of the central government's interest.Under the economic reform, the distribution system has become less rigid than before. It is easier for private firms to secure supplies, whether raw materials or manufactured goods. Labor input is also not a problem for most private firms which are small in size and employ mainly unskilled workers. However, large private enterprises have to compete with state, collective, and foreign enterprises for managerial staff who are in short supply.There have been marked changes in the consumption pattern since the early 1980s. People spend less on staple foods and more on non-staple foods, consumer goods, and services. Moreover, China is experiencing a consumption boom. Altogether this offers great opportunities to the private sector, which has been expanding its share of industrial output and retail sales very fast. On the other hand, competition is becoming much keener. State enterprises are improving their efficiency and giant multinational corporations are rushing in. As there are few entry barriers, private entrepreneurs are also competing fiercely among themselves.The ideological contradiction of having labor exploitation by private entrepreneurs in a socialist country has prevented the Chinese government from actively encouraging private business. The private sector has been assigned a supplementary role in the dominant public economy. This status has led to discrimination against private firms in obtaining factor inputs, accounting partly for their vulnerability to bureaucratic harassment by local cadres. This will continue to hamper private business development. It is concluded that ideological and political reforms, in addition to the economic reform, are required for providing a more conducive environment for private businesses. The Chinese experience of liberalizing the private sector offers useful insights to governments of other developing countries.     

Effects of Entrepreneurial and Environmental Sustainability Orientations on Firm Performance: A Study of Small Businesses in the Philippines

Why do small businesses in developing countries embrace sustainable business practices and what are the effects on their performance? We address these questions by drawing on the natural‐resource based view of the firm to argue that the environmental sustainability orientation of small businesses can be explained by their entrepreneurial orientation. Our study of 197 small businesses in the Philippines shows that an entrepreneurial strategic orientation enables them to develop a more proactive stance toward environmental sustainability practices which lead to superior firm performance. The implications of the findings for future research and for public policy for small businesses are also discussed.     

中国家族企业何去何从

中国民营经济企业中实行家族式管理的企业占到企业总数的比例,有的统计认为达到70％,有的认为达到了90％。不可否认,中国民营企业中家族管理占有绝大多数。至今为止,民营家族企业的管理还是备受争议。主要表现在产权机制,决策机制,职业经理人等等问题。对于处于成长型的小企业而言,反而因为决策迅速,员工凝聚力高,管理成本低等成为小企业发展的优势。但随着企业规模的不断壮大,原来的优势随着规模的扩大,管理难度增大而成为劣势,甚至严重制约了企业的进一步发展。因而有人提出中国家族企业"能不能长大,能不能活长"这一尖锐问题。的确,如何解决这些问题,对于家族企业,特别是具有相当规模的企业是值得深思的。     

Mapping the university technology transfer process

Transfer of technologies from the universities to the private sector is increasingly regarded as playing a significant role in new business starts, growth of existing businesses, and new job creation. Further, there are monerous models describing the process of technology transfer. Some of the existing models represent this process as a linear progression of steps: from idea generation and technology development at the university, to patenting the technology and then establishing a university-private firm link through a formal search process. The process culminates in patent rights transfer. Other models describe technology transfer in terms of networking arrangements and emphasize not so much formal search as the role of long-term relationships between the two parties. Still other studies indicate that it is possible to combine the two approaches—formal search and informal networking arrangements—to ensure successful transfer.Business firms involved in transfer also may be classified into several groups. Transfer could occur between the university and an established firm, between the university and a recently created new venture, or transfer could result in the creation of a new company. Technology, for example, could be transferred to a large company that uses the transferred technology as a basis for just one of many product lines, or to a small firm that makes the transferred technology a cornerstone of its product strategy.Are there any differences among the transfer processes used when large or small firms are involved, or when technology is transferred to an existing company, or results in the creation of a new firm? To address these questions, we mapped the technology transfer processes of 23 different technologies developed at the University of Minnesota from 1983 to 1993.More than half of the technologies studied went to large companies and were used either to upgrade existing products or to extend existing product lines. In eight cases technologies were transferred to small firms. In three cases technologies were transferred to venture capital firms or intermediaries and had not been commercialized at the time the study was completed. In the rest of the cases new firms were created by the inventors/university scientists themselves and served as vehicles for marketing their inventions. None of the firms of the latter group have grown beyond a part-time employment opportunity for the inventors, and only one firm provided evidence that additional hiring would be necessary in the near future.Only four cases involved transfers of technologies that have been developed and patented by the university to firms that did not have any relationships with the university prior to the transfer. In these four cases the firms used some form of search strategy to find a needed technology. However, there is no evidence that any of the firms had a well-developed formal search procedure. In the overwhelming majority of cases some form of relationship existed between the university (or individual inventors) and the private firm prior to the transfer. These relationships ranged from long-term friendships and/or cooperation to such less involved forms as interaction at research seminars and university-sponsored events. Further, in four cases, the technologies were initially developed by private companies, whereas the university's role was to assist in refinement or testing of the technology.The research yielded a number of additional findings that deserve further investigation and discussion. Specifically, the study did not provide any evidence that the successfully completed technology transfers made any substantial contribution to either new business creation or the generation of new jobs. This finding suggests that scholars and policy makers should proceed with caution before accepting a notion that new or high technology firms will have any direct economic impact.The study findings hold specific implications for entrepreneurial behavior and public policy. The “formal search and shopping” for a technology model suggests that both business and academic/government laboratories publicize, respectively, their requirements and offerings, and that opportunities for creative brokerage ought to exist. We found that in the majority of cases technology was transferred not through formal search, but through some prior relationships among individuals. This observation suggests that the ability to build extended networks of relationships not only within the business world but also with the university community is an important skill that owners and managers of the technology-based businesses need to possess. Entrepreneurs seeking to start businesses based on new technologies may need to reevaluate how much of their limited time to allocate to build and maintain networks and cooperative relationships, and how much time to shop for new technologies through formal channels. Further, public policy and the efforts of the university transfer agencies intended to facilitate transfer may need to shift their emphasis from facilitating “shopping” by organizing and/or paying for “publicity” (which is currently the major emphasis) to providing assistance in network building and relationship marketing efforts.     

Women business owners in traditional and non-traditional industries

Small businesses continue to grow in importance to the national economy. According to the Small Business Administration, America's 22 million small businesses generate more than half of the nation's Gross Domestic Product and are the principal source of new jobs. The National Foundation for Women Business Owners reported that between 1987 and 1994, the number of women-owned businesses grew by 78% and women-owned firms accounted for 36% of all firms. Although the growth in the number of women-owned businesses is encouraging, the size of such businesses remains small in terms of both revenues and number of employees, especially in comparison to male-owned businesses. One explanation for this disparity is that female business ownership is concentrated primarily in the retail and service industries where businesses are relatively smaller in terms of employment and revenue as opposed to high technology, construction, and manufacturing.One of the most fruitful streams of research in women's occupational choice has been based on social learning theory. Specifically, self-efficacy has been found to relate to both type and number of occupations considered by college men and women, and with regard to traditional and non-traditional occupations. Entrepreneurship researchers have also used social learning theory to study entrepreneurial intentions. This study builds on that background of women's career development and entrepreneurial intentions to examine differences between traditional and non-traditional women business owners. We examine 170 women business owners in various traditional and non-traditional businesses in Utah and Illinois. Questionnaires were the primary method of collecting data, in addition to 11 in-depth interviews from a sample of the survey respondents. Using a careers perspective, based on social learning theory, we hypothesized that women in these two different categories of industries would differ on levels of self-efficacy toward entrepreneurship or venture efficacy, their career expectations and their perceived social support. A second analysis was also done that explored the relationship between the same independent variables and success or performance of the business. The results offer support for using this integrative model to understand differences between women in traditional and non-traditional industries. The first analysis revealed that significant differences exist between the two groups on several of the independent variables. Traditional business owners had higher venture efficacy for opportunity recognition, higher career expectations of life balance and security and they reported that the financial support received from others was more important to them than those in non-traditional businesses. On the other hand, the non-traditional owners had higher venture efficacy for planning and higher career expectations for money or wealth than the traditional group.The second analysis explored whether success, as measured by sales, was affected by differences in venture efficacies, career expectations, or perceived support received by women in traditional businesses as compared to those in non-traditional ones. This analysis revealed that traditional women business owners might have different factors that contribute to their success than non-traditional owners. Specifically, for the traditional owners, venture efficacies for opportunity recognition and economic management as well as the career expectation of autonomy and money (or wealth) were positively related to sales. For the same group efficacy toward planning and the need for security were negatively related to sales. For the non-traditional women, venture efficacy toward planning and the career expectation of autonomy were positively related to sales while the expectation of money or wealth was negatively related. Also for the same group, the perceived importance of the emotional and financial support was negatively related to sales.In the past, most of the entrepreneurial research has used predominantly male samples of entrepreneurs. Those that include women entrepreneurs generally are comparative, between men and women. This study's comparison of two groups of women entrepreneurs offers a unique contribution to the field.Future research is recommended to further understand how venture efficacy and career expectations affect the decision to start a new business in a particular industry. It would be particularly beneficial to study venture efficacy and career expectations of prospective women entrepreneurs prior to the start of the business. Similarly, greater attention should be given to understanding how venture efficacy develops in different individuals.     

Asymmetric changes in Australia’s small business loan rate

This paper examines the dynamic asymmetric relationship between changes in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate and the interest rate for small business loans using monthly data (1990–2011). The results provide support for the rockets-and-feathers hypothesis with respect to both the amount and adjustment asymmetries. While the RBA’s rate rises exert a one-to-one and instantaneous impact on the loan rate, its rate cuts are only slowly and partially passed onto small businesses with a delay of 1–2 months. The results also suggest that the recent global financial crisis increased the cost of borrowing for small businesses in Australia by 2.21 %. These findings indicate that small businesses have limited time to respond to interest rate rises and not provided with the full benefit of interest rate decreases. Addressing this problem should ease the interest rate burden for small businesses and enhance their contribution to the economy.     

Transaction Structure in Japanese Small Business Sector

An attempt has been made to examine some aspects of transaction structure of the small business sector in Japanese manufacturing. It has been found that there are some interesting findings in the industrial organization of the sector (1) In the transactions of intermediate goods with manufacturing, small businesses have more frequent transactions with other small businesses than with large firms. On the other hand, large firms have more transactions with each other than with small businesses; (2) The transactions between SMEs and large firms, and between SMEs themselves vary from industry to industry, depending on production/demand structure of an industry and product structure of its SMEs sector; (3) In engineering, such as electrical machinery and transport equipment, the intra-industry transactions from small businesses to large firms are great, suggesting a larger extent of subcontracting relationships. Also, textiles, clothing, and printing and publishing also have higher subcontracting transactions.The relationships are different between the two groups.     

The effect of firm scale and CSR geographical scope of impact on consumers' response

The role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in shaping consumer perception and attitude has received many attentions both in the academia and practitioner world. While this domain has invited numerous research, but research highlighting how consumers react toward learning the size of a firm conducting CSR and geographical scope of the CSR impact is still scarce. We investigate how consumers shape their attitude and consumption behavior after knowing that the CSR action is done by a small, locally-owned business that brings impact to the local community through an experimental study. Our study adds a shade in understanding how the effect of a firm size and geographical scope of CSR impact might increase consumers' favorable attitude and behavior toward the business and its products. Our findings show that when consumers learn that the firm conducting CSR is a small, locally-owned (in coffee shop business) that directs its action toward local beneficiaries, they demonstrate more favorable attitudes toward the action and the firm, which manifest in the form of better intentions to acquire the product as well as willingness to pay premium prices for it. Our findings confirm the US consumers' love affair with local businesses, in particular. While the findings generally benefit small, locally-owned businesses, they also suggest recommendations for large, multinational businesses to design their marketing strategy in an attempt to increase favorable reactions from consumers.