The potential of small and micro-enterprises (SMEs) in promoting economic growth in both developed and developing countries is widely accepted and documented by both scholars and policy makers. Lack of access to sufficient financing for these SMEs, especially in developing countries, has been...

The study examines an aspect of indigenous Nigerian entrepreneurship, focusing on the cross-border trade in South-Western Nigeria. An almost total ignorance of how the traders go about their business, coupled with an unwelcoming trading environment, appear to have caused the antipathy of policy...

Many developing countries have not benefited from the technological changes that havetaken place over the last 30 years. Uganda has been no exception. The countrycontinues to have over 30 percent of its people below the poverty line. This is despitethe appropriateness of macro economic policy...

This thesis is a contribution to our understanding of business groups in the small busi-ness sector. Specifically, its aim is to verify to what extent the consideration of entrepre-neurial processes can advance our understanding of this phenomenon. A ‘business group’ is a set of companies...

Previous research demonstrates that entrepreneurial processes underpin the growth of business groups. A business group is a set of companies controlled by the same entrepreneur. Case studies of portfolio entrepreneurs suggest that one of the main reasons for business group formation is the need...

Most theories seeking to explain why business groups are formed are focused on large firms, but in recent years there is growing interest on why business groups are formed in the small firms sector. In this paper we contrast two theoretical perspectives that may account for business group...

The paper examines the relationship between the state of necessity and entrepreneurial activity, through qualitative case studies from Uganda and Sri Lanka, and a survey of 1006 Ugandan adults. Questions are posed on the tenability of hypothesis that necessity is a primary motive for business...

The importance of women as a largely untapped pool of entrepreneurs has been widely recognised by economic development agencies. However, despite a number of initiatives designed to stimulate female self-employment, relatively few women are starting in business. Research has shown that the...

Whether female entrepreneurs are disadvantaged in financing their business has been an important policy theme within the gender and enterprise literature. The question has remained controversial, as different methodological approaches have yielded contradictory results. A particular challenge is...

We examine two data sets, one from the UK (n = 15,750) and one from the US (n = 3239), to show that SME financial behaviour demonstrates substantial financial contentment, or ‘happiness’. We find fewer than 10% of the UK firms seek significant growth and only 1.32% of US firms list a...