An institution-stakeholder framework for examining business relationship dynamics in a transforming Eastern Europe

Since the collapse of the USSR, most Central and East European countries have been integrated into global economic institutions through membership in the WTO and EU significantly changing the regional business climate. Through an in-depth analysis of a petroleum pipeline project initiated in Ukraine, a country on the EU's periphery, this research presents a framework based on institutional climate and stakeholder levers of influence for explaining the type of existing and evolving business relationships in the region. A relational matrix for Eastern Europe is developed with a set of guidelines for global firms and investors seeking markets in the region.     

Small business is big business

The number of small business start‐ups in the UK continues to increase. This article discusses the stages of business and marketing development that a small business can expect to encounter. Success in business depends upon a number of factors, these are described and discussed under the headings of individual qualities and key components.     

Small firms,business dynamics and differential development of economic well-being

In recent years a growing stream of research has examined the relationships between structural characteristics of regions and their levels of new firm formation. This empirical study aims at supplementing such findings with analyses that include other forms of business dynamics, and also the possible well-being effects of such dynamics. From a unique and comprehensive data set that tracks all births, deaths, expansions, and contractions of commercial business establishments in Sweden 1985–89, six groups of regions with different patterns of dynamics are extracted by means of cluster analysis. The clusters' structural characteristics and their development of economic well-being are also compared. The results suggesta) that the patterns of business dynamics are contingent on the structural characteristics of regions,b) that high formation and turnover of establishments are associated with a relative increase in economic well-being, andc) that small, autonomous firms have a vital role in this process.     

Small business economics

The paper presents an overview of small-business economics. Small businesses are shown to comprise a substantial and expanding segment of the U.S. economy. The role of small businesses in the economy is considered from the standpoint of various economic theories of the size distribution of firms. Firm-size related empirical regularities are reviewed and their implications for economic theory is discussed. Several small-business policy issues are discussed, including the role of small businesses in labor, macroeconomic, and regulatory policies, along with a review of research on small-business economics that might help guide these policies.We wish to thank Zoltan J. Acs and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments.     

Small business in German manufacturing

The study provides empirical evidence about the determints of the size distribution and the importance of small business in German manufacturing industries. The adopted empirical model distinguishes short-rum from longrun effects and estimates the rate of adjustment when a departure from long-run equilibrium occurs. The results show a significant impact of industry-specific factors on the presence of small plants and the size distribution of plants. Foremost, technological factors, like scale economies, limit the prosperity of small business. In addition, industries with a high intensity of investments in advertising and R&D, and large domestic and foreign output volumes are dominated by large business. The dynamic analysis revealed that departures from long-run equilibrium are only of a very short duration.I would like to express my gratitude to Stefan Csutor and Sabine Hetebrüg for their assistance in collecting the data. I am also grateful to Zoltan Acs, David Audretsch, Ricardo Revelli, and the participants of the Small Business Economics Conference, November 17–18, 1988 in Berlin for their very valuable comments.     

浅谈小企业市场营销策略

本文论述了小企业市场营销策略.     

Made in Europe: Small Companies

This is the third report on the 'Made in Europe' research programme. Earlier reports concentrated on the maturity of implementation of 'best practice' in both the design and manufacturing processes of larger European companies. Here, the authors shift the focus to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) particularly in Britain and Italy. While few SMEs are in the world-class category, small company practices are customer-oriented, responsiveness-focused and concerned with new products. SMEs' competitive edge typically comes from speed, responsiveness and closeness to customers. SMEs exhibit a greater level of confidence than larger companies in their ability to make change, but neglect training and education. Within the SME sector there are sharp differences between micro (5–20 employees), small (21–50) and medium-sized (51–200) companies while those which are subsidiaries of larger companies have significantly higher levels of best practice. There are differences between countries and regions.     

谈对小企业会计核算改进策略的探讨

对小企业财务报告进行适当简化,对其确认、计量标准区别对待,不仅有助于提高小企业会计信息的质量,减少会计操作成本,节约社会资源,也符合小企业经营运作的特点.     

Small business owners and health

Small Business Economics - The present article identifies a societal and scholarly neglect for the field of small business ownership and health. We address health capital and its spillover effects...     

Small business in Japan: A historical perspective

Small firms have been considered to be an important element of the industrial structure in Japan since the turn of the century. In this paper the history of small business in Japan is examined. In particular, the dramatic development of the technological and managerial ability of small firms within the last two decades is analyzed. Under the regime of rapid industrial restructuring in Japan, small firms are identified as developing their own diversive management strategies, especially with respect to international trade and the implementation of information and high technology.     

Competitive dynamics and business models in service business: a promising research subject

Successful firms create substantial value by doing things in ways that differentiate them from the competition. Business models reflect choices and their operating implications. They facilitate the analysis, testing, and validation of the cause-and-effect relationships that flow from the strategic choices. Due to business models are one of the main forces driving strategic renewal efforts of businesses around the world, we focus on service industry companies and their unique characteristics, with regard to new business and competition models that service companies use for strategic management and on how such models mesh with the traditional processes of competitive and corporative strategies.     

Small business survival and sample selection bias

Analyses of small business and the factors affecting their survival are fairly common in the research literature. The level of research interest may stem from the fact that in the US, only about half of all new small businesses survive after 4 years (Headd 2003). However, research attempting to understand the phenomenon that employs data using only information from and about surviving firms may lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the factors that influence firm survival and failure. In this paper, we provide evidence that omitted information about the firms that disappear from the research data over time leads to biased coefficient estimates. Comparing the Heckman two-step estimation approach of switching regression models to a semi-parametric Cox hazard model, the Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) model, we conclude that the Cox ATF approach is the most appropriate model for firm survival analysis.     

Small business,innovation, and entrepreneurship

The purpose of this special issue is to examine small businesses, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and show that, although these three concepts have their own specific literature and can be dealt with independently, they are closely related. From Schumpeter to the present, a stream of literature unites the concept of entrepreneurship with its ability to make new combinations of factors and corresponding innovations in processes and products; similarly, in a broad stream of literature, the most characteristic dimension of entrepreneurship is closely linked to small businesses. Small and large companies have different advantages and drawbacks with innovation, but small businesses provide the most conducive environment for entrepreneurship and innovation that are not necessarily sustained by the know-how and resources characteristic of large-scale production, but require commitment and close cooperation between company members. In this introduction, we show how the three topics converge in four articles dealing with micro-start-ups and innovation, institutional determinants of entrepreneurship, and determining factors in entrepreneurs’ individual characteristics.     

Doing business in the new Eastern Europe: A risk profile

The sweeping changes in Eastern Europe make the area seem very tempting. But it's important not to look through rosey colored glasses before making a major commitment. Recognize that there is a downside to doing business there.     

Small business and the economics of flexible manufacturing

The impact that flexible manufacturing has had on the structure of international trade is examined. By introducing an analysis of the economics of flexible manufacturing, it is concluded that flexible technology is more conducive to small rather than large firms. This shift in the size distribution of firms is the result of a new emerging techno-economic paradigm.     

Small business formation by unemployed and employed workers

This paper uses data from the Current Population Surveys for 1968–1987 and from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men to examine the relationship among unemployment and small business formation and dissolution for white men and women. We find that self-employed workers are more likely to have experienced unemployment than are wage workers because their higher entry rate into self-employment offsets their higher exit rate out of self-employment. Unemployed men and women who enter self-employment experience a larger drop in their earnings than the unemployed who return to wage work.The authors are Vice President, National Economic Research Associates and Associate Professor, Fordham University, respectively. This research was supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration under contract no. SBA-2102-AER-87. We retain responsibility for the views expressed below.     

中小建材企业经营管理控制探讨

建材企业由于历史的原因、行业的特点中小企业较多,中小企业的管理人员受经营规模、财务、人力经验等因素的控制,强调一人多岗、减员增效,往往很难达到大型企业的人员分工,岗位设置和不相容职务分离等方面的周密安排.