W ESTHEAD P., U CBASARAN D. and W RIGHT M. (2003) Differences between private firms owned by novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs: implications for policy makers and practitioners, Reg. Studies 37 , 187-200. Policy makers can target "hard' (i.e. financial) and "soft' (i.e. technical)...

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often have difficulty competing in the global economy unless they collaborate with domestic or foreign partners or with public sector organizations. This book addresses the resource leverage and innovation challenges that increased global trade...

Support is being provided to increase the pool of novice entrepreneurs who have no prior business ownership experience. Policymakers and practitioners are, however, considering whether to allocate resources towards portfolio and serial entrepreneurs who have prior business ownership experience....

This study utilizes a human capital framework to explore whether business ownership experience is associated with the number of business opportunities identified, the number of identified opportunities that are pursued, and the nature of those opportunities. Information from a large...

Policy-makers and practitioners are considering whether to allocate resources towards portfolio and serial entrepreneurs, as well as the provision of additional initiatives to increase the pool of novice entrepreneurs. To inform this policy debate, univariate statistical tests were used to test...

Guided by insights from cognitive theories, this article explores the links between entrepreneurs' prior business ownership experience and their opportunity identification behavior. Hypotheses were tested using data from 630 entrepreneurs. Experienced entrepreneurs identified more opportunities...

Policy-makers and practitioners are seeking to promote the development of established firms. This paper suggests they may need to target customized export programmes to the specific situational demands of established 'micro' and 'small' firms. The following broad research question is explored:...

Profiles of exporting and superior-performing private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are presented. Multivariate regression evidence suggests that SMEs focusing upon an offensive and market differentiation strategy of product/service protection is associated with the propensity and...