Purpose As consumers interact with various small businesses, they develop a mental image, called a prototype, to represent what small businesses are as a generalized, conceptual category. However, prior research has said little about what this small business prototype entails. Thus, the aim of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the ontological and epistemological basis of classification. Design/methodology/approach – Attention is drawn to a 1785 article on abstraction by Thomas Reid and the contents and theories of the article are explained. The Reid article both...