Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw on emerging ideas related to the concept of entrepreneurial leadership which emphasises a “distributed” model synonymous with terms which indicate that authority is decentralised (“shared”, “team”, “democratic”,...

This explorative research paper considers the strategic development objectives of small owner‐managed ventures in order to have an insight into how to systematically categorise the heterogeneous owner‐managed small business economy. It commences with a review of the literature and other...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to describe the basic characteristics and qualities of managerial work in small firms. Design/methodology/approach – The article draws on a summary and synthesis of five studies from the “managerial‐work research tradition” that investigates the...

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the management practices of owner‐managers of small businesses seeking to grow their firms. It seeks to better understand their strategic thinking in relation to internal and external environmental issues. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 204...

Purpose – Small business owners play an important role in the tax system. This paper seeks to establish a framework to highlight the particular tax situation of small business owners and the resulting implications, from a psychological perspective. Design/methodology/approach – A framework...

Purpose – The paper seeks to explain the differences in drawings (e.g. owner‐manager dividends and salary) strategies among small business managers to show that owner‐managers' personal work values impact on the strategic choices of firms. It also examines the relationships between...

This article focuses upon six recent training initiatives in Britain, all of which included a small business training remit. It evaluates the training impact of these initiatives on a sample of 6,000 small businesses and measures their effectiveness in terms of awareness, understanding, interest...

Purpose – The paper aims to explore some of the issues in voluntary succession associated with finding and successfully developing principal successors to ensure the survival and growth of small firms. It highlights the key issues identified, including recruiting employees with potential,...

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to present a detailed description of the qualitative research method adopted by the author in his doctoral research into the investment decision‐making process in small manufacturing enterprises; and to inform small firm researchers generally,...

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show that while mainstream finance for small businesses has been researched, hard to reach segments of the UK owner/manager population have eluded empirically rigorous investigation. The authors investigate the financing preferences of...