In this paper, I ask whether family firms provide stability to their stakeholders at the expense of economic growth. I build a model where current owners of dynastic firms derive private benefits from keeping the control of the firm within the family over the generations. Because these preferences limit the recourse to external finance, they induce family-minded entrepreneurs to invest in small...

export and the readiness to export constitute the first step of international marketing, which are affected by both internal and external factors of firms. one of the most important internal  factors is the presence of skilled personnel. the purpose of this study was to define the relationship between staff qualification and encouragment with the readiness level of iranian pharmacuetical firms ...

Aid providers frequently link supporting small firms to job creation. Small firms create about half of new jobs in Africa, but they also have higher failure rates. Ignoring firm exit exaggerates net employment growth. Using panel data for Ethiopia, we find that small and large enterprises create similar numbers of net jobs. Moreover, wages in small firms are persistently lower. To create more ‘...

................................................................................................................................................................ 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................................................ 2 PART I: OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION

The EU-commissioned study, Enforcing Small Firms' Patent Rights, I represents the first time that the actual value of the patent system to firms of this kind has been investigated by direct contact with them in every country of the European Union. The present article arises from the experience of directing this research, and in it "SMEs" covers individual inventors as well as small and medium-s...

Relevant literature is synthesized to provide a holistic picture of our current knowledge of innovation in small, project-based firms, highlighting significant gaps in the broad areas of ‘focus and outcome’, ‘organizational capabilities’, ‘context’ and ‘process’. Research findings from fieldwork focused on the construction industry are offered to address these gaps. In particular, a consensus m...

Today’s networked economy is a strategic combination of many factors, with electronic platforms and relationships underpinning competitive advantage. Enabled and driven by information and communication technologies (ICT) and connectivity, the networked economy is challenging the fundamental bases of established government frameworks, conventional business practices, and traditional marketing di...

Assessment-based Software Process Improvement (SPI) programs such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Bootstrap, and SPICE (ISO/IEC 15504) are based on formal frameworks and promote the use of systematic processes and management practices for software development. These approaches identify best practices for the management of software development and when applied, enable organizations to un...

Mature industries are characterised by static or declining sales, low average margins and intense competition between firms for market share. This paper develops a typology of strategic options for small firms in the furniture industry and examines the extent to which firms are adopting simple or complex strategies. Empirical analysis is based on data from 39 firms with between 10 and 100 emplo...

A considerable body of literature has emerged in recent years that has documented the increasing importance of innovative practices in UK small firms. Much of this literature has developed in response to reports of under-performance by UK firms in innovative practices compared with its competitors. This paper asserts an inextricable link between innovation and entrepreneurship and marketing and...