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Borderlands, as spaces of various forms of entrepreneurial activities, offer rich examples of informal entrepreneurial activities that depend on the border location to be developed and sustained. Although the socioeconomic contributions of informal activities have been widely acknowledged, little research has been conducted on the ways that enlargement of the European Union (EU), by affecting the openness/closedness of borders, affected the nature and extent of cross-border informal entrepreneurial activities (IEAs). Recognizing the heterogeneity of border regions, in terms of formal and social institutional structures, linguistics and ethnicity, the paper offers a nuanced and extended understanding of the difference the geography of borders, broadly defined, makes to the diversity and persistence/disappearance of cross-border IEAs since EU enlargement. Using qualitative data from interviews collected with households involved in cross-border IEAs in several EU border regions, the paper indicates that cross-border IEAs have a time dimension, reflected in the pre- and post-enlargement changes to the intensity of these activities, as well as a regional dimension, reflected in various dichotomies such as impoverished/affluent, socioculturally proximate/distant and hard/soft borders, reflected in the forms, enablers and constraints of such activities. The paper illustrates how the spatial, economic, institutional and sociocultural characteristics of a context overlap, dominate or recede at different points in time to facilitate/inhibit different forms of entrepreneurial behaviour and to encourage the involvement of, or empower, different groups of people. Thus, context, in all its dimensions, remains an important factor for spatial and temporal explanations of cross-border IEAs as particular forms of entrepreneurial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China's rapid growth in recent decades can be attributed in large part to the emergence of a vibrant private sector, which now accounts for around three quarters of the economy. Despite government pronouncements in support of private small businesses, public policy and institutions to support private sector development have been slow to emerge and address their needs. However, many privately owned enterprises are in need of assistance, affected by internal capability constraints such as a lack of management and leadership skills and by an external environment that still privileges state-owned enterprises. Although policy makers may have had other policy priorities in the past, and private enterprises have been able to survive and grow without inputs of professional advice and support, we argue that in the future small and medium-sized enterprises in China will require appropriate and effective business support to continue to grow. In this context we consider two interventions designed to build institutional capacity to provide business support at a local level and the barriers to be overcome if an effective framework for state promotion of privately owned small businesses is to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyse the role of government in relation to the development of entrepreneurship in countries where private business activity was illegal until the beginning of the 1990s. By focusing on Estonia and Belarus we are concerned with countries with an ostensibly similar political heritage, yet with contrasting experiences during the post-Soviet period. Various authors have argued the need for entrepreneurship research to acknowledge the heterogeneity of environmental conditions, outcomes, and behaviours that exist with respect to entrepreneurship. Government policies and actions are a key element contributing to the heterogeneity of external conditions in which entrepreneurship occurs and are thus part of social embeddedness. The findings have implications for policy makers in transition and developing countries by emphasising the variety of ways in which the state can influence the nature and pace of private business development and the central role of institutional behaviour in this process. The findings also have implications for researchers interested in extending analysis of entrepreneurship into a wide range of business environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the commercial exploitation of ethnic diaspora-based networks. Using qualitative data from four London minority-owned enterprises, diaspora-based linkages in the UK and beyond are examined and the implications for policy discussed. We conclude that, under certain conditions, diaspora-based networks enable higher levels of business competitiveness. They facilitate access to resources and markets by minority-owned businesses, particularly for those supplying ethnic goods and services,. Exploiting diaspora-based networks effectively depends not only on business owners' capabilities and motivations to do so but also on diaspora structures—their size, geographical and sectoral locations—and the resources and opportunities they make available to business owners. Conversely, in certain circumstances, engagement with diaspora-based networks can constrain business competitiveness, particularly where this restricts the resources and markets available. Diaspora-based networks are potentially important influences on business competitiveness but do not negate the importance of class resources such as property, education and skills in processes of business formation and development among minority groups. The implications for existing theory and for policy are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constitutes the first systematic national study on Minority Ethnic Businesses (MEBs) in Scotland. The study used a combination of research methods including secondary data from the 2001 Census, data on self-employment rates, quantitative analysis of the baseline dataset, 41 in-depth qualitative interviews and a further 32 interviews with key informants. The in-depth interviews revealed great contrasts between the experience of MEB-owners in different locations, sectors and markets. MEB-owners in declining sectors and markets have adopted coping strategies that draw upon innovation in service and product provision and in adding value; there is also evidence of successful diversification and breaking into new markets. The interviews also indicate additional issues of diversification, crime, security, insurance and racism. We suggest that diversity can be seen as a source of creativity and innovation, and that policies be developed to help promote diversification. A key issue for policy-makers is the development of initiatives that improve communication and engagement with MEBs, and provide incentives such as targeted procurement policies. There is also a need to develop links with community leaders or with organisations that represent MEB-owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the various policies which encourage rural entrepreneurship and support for rural enterprise in the 10 case study areas covered by the FERP (The Future of Europe's Rural Peripheries) project. After introducing a typology of existing policies, the paper addresses some lessons drawn from the experiences of existing policies before discussing the kinds of policies needed to stimulate potential sources of entrepreneurship and overcome the barriers to enterprise development. The paper concludes by arguing for a more strategic and coordinated approach towards building the entrepreneurial capacity of peripheral rural areas, based on a clearer vision of the role that enterprise can play in future rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with small business development in rural areas and the policy approaches currently being used to support them. The key question underlying the paper is the extent to which small businesses located in rural areas have distinctive support needs, associated with the characteristics of rural businesses themselves or their owners, and/or the characteristics of the external operating environment for business in rural areas. A related question concerns the possible influence of enterprise characteristics and the characteristics of rural areas on how the business support needs of rural businesses are best addressed. The study comprised a desk-based review of existing literature relevant to the support needs of rural enterprises and/or the means of addressing them. It also included primary research on policy initiatives and programmes concerned with enterprise development in rural areas. Telephone interviews were conducted in 2001 with representatives of Business Links with catchments that included rural areas, as well as other key agencies (for example, the Countryside Agency). In addition, twenty-four case studies were completed of rural policy initiatives, based on face-to-face interviews. Following a brief review of key literature, an overview of the policies currently being operated by Business Link is described, based on the survey. This is followed by an identification of good-practice principles of rural business support, based on an analysis of the case-study support initiatives. The paper concludes by identifying the implications of the analysis for future enterprise support policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role that supplier diversity initiatives can play in opening up market opportunities for ethnic minority businesses (EMBs). EMBs have long been encouraged to diversify from inauspicious 'low value' niches; for some, the prospect of contracts with public and private sector organisations could serve as a means of facilitating this process. The advent of the Race Relations Amendment Act provides a legislative stimulus for diversity in public sector procurement. The 'corporate social responsibility' agenda, ostensibly embraced by many leading firms, provides a further impetus to re-assess diversity issues in respect of procurement. Case studies of two types of supplier diversity initiatives are drawn upon to inform this assessment: purchaser initiatives, from both the public and private sector; and intermediary or business-to-business brokerage type initiatives that attempt to facilitate the access of EMBs to potential contract opportunities. It is clear that such initiatives are at an early stage of development, and have to operate within legislative and political constraints. Nonetheless, there is still scope for the development of progressive measures; this is explored in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting recent changes in the pattern of ethnic minority business activity in Britain, this paper examines the experiences of firms attempting to break out from the cramped range of generally marginal activities historically occupied by South Asian, African-Caribbean and other immigrant-origin entrepreneurs. Based on in-depth case histories supplemented by a large-scale quantitative survey, the present paper addresses the financial experiences of these firms in the light of the assumption that break-out entails a shift from labour-intensive to capital-intensive activities requiring external financing. Access to bank credit continues to be problematic, with frequent perceptions of racist discrimination even in the case of entrepreneurs with seemingly impressive track records and personal resource endowments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we are concerned with the nature and extent of product and process innovation and adoption of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in manufacturing plants and SMEs. The paper is based on extensive postal surveys conducted in southeast (SE) England, Northern Ireland (NI), and the Republic of Ireland (RoI) with a harmonised survey instrument. We confirm the findings of a number of previous studies by demonstrating a positive association between product and process innovation and business performance. Data collected from all three surveys show that sales growth, employment growth, and profit margins were higher for innovators than growth, for noninnovators. It also appears that although foreign-owned plants show a higher propensity for innovation than indigenously owned plants, the latter grew faster than their foreign owned counterparts in all three regions. This suggests that a targeting strategy focused on innovative, indigenously owned SMEs may be particularly rewarding. With regard to the nature and extent of the use of ICT and electronic business (e-business), the survey found a higher level of adoption of nearly all ICT facilities in SE England compared with the levels in NI and the RoI. Differences in ICT capability between the regions are greatest in the case of smaller plants, with the adoption of various ICT facilities being particularly favoured amongst the smallest plants in SE England, most of which are indigenously owned. However, there is evidence to suggest that the technology may be underutilised in each region, possibly reflecting a lack of in-house knowledge and resources in some applications and external barriers in others. SE England was found to have the highest proportion of plants engaged in some R&D compared with the two Irish regions, particularly NI. Unsurprisingly, there is a tendency for the propensity of a firm to be engaged in R&D to increase with firm size. The surveys also underlined sectoral... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the importance of high-growth start-up program in small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policy in Great Britain. Improvement on the management of the business; Assessment on the financial needs of the business; Opinion of the businessmen on the start-up program.

Focuses on the business policy of ethnic minority in Great Britain. Assessment on the business-led organizations; Improvement on the quality of smaller firms; Demands of the regulation.

Poland's membership of the EU will involve economic integration across a variety of fields, with important potential implications for the external environment in which business is conducted in Poland. These implications stem first from the need to adapt Polish legislation, regulatory systems, and methods of certification and standards to EU requirements; and, second, from the continuing process of transforming the Polish economy into a market-based system. Although integration processes have important potential implications for Polish firms of all sizes, it can be argued that there are size-related characteristics of SMEs that can affect their ability to cope with potential threats and respond to new opportunities presented. The paper draws on two studies commissioned by the Polish SME Foundation, in which the authors were involved. The first was concerned with a comparison of the conditions for SME development in Poland with those in EU member states; the second specifically with the implications of accession for Polish SMEs. In this context, the paper considers three key questions: (1) What are the main sources of threat and opportunity for Polish SMEs, arising out of EU membership? (2) What are the main implications for Polish and EU policymakers? (3) To what extent are the implications of Poland's accession to the EU similar to or different from the issues faced by SMEs in the United Kingdom at the time of Single Market completion? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent writings on the factors influencing the competitiveness of regional and local economies have emphasized the importance of innovation in SMEs. This paper discusses the findings of a study of the innovation process in a sample of SMEs located in rural environments. Adopting a broad, evolutionary view of the innovation process, the study highlights important sectoral variations using a multidimensional index of innovation. The way in which innovation is achieved is found to be shaped by various aspects of the rural environment, but relatively few firms are constrained by their rural location. Nor does the lack of local networking opportunities appear to hold back innovation in the more active SMEs. In conclusion, the most innovative firms are shown to make an important contribution to rural economies in terms of external income generation and employment generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a longitudinal database, this paper compares the employment performance over the 1979-90 period of mature SMEs in three contrasting geographical environments-i.e. London, outer metropolitan locations in the South East, and remote rural locations in northern England. The performance of SMEs in London locations is shown to be inferior to that of similar firms in remote rural locations, but this is found not to result from them having a weaker performance in output terms. Whilst it is the most rapidly growing firms which have the greatest employment generation potential in all locations, London-based SMEs are more likely to achieve growth in ways which minimise the number of additional workers employed directly by the firm. These urban-rural differences can be explained by the different 'strategies' for business growth adopted by managers in responding to the various opportunities and constraints existing in different geographical environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of local enterprise agencies (LEAs) has been an important focus for private sector involvement in local economic development in Great Britain in the 1980s. The growing importance of the partnership approach to economic development raises issues concerned with its costs and benefits in comparison with an approach which is more clearly under public sector control. A key issue concerns the lack of democratic accountability of organizations which are expanding their range of activities at a time when the scope for local authority involvement in economic development is being restricted by central government.

To date, little research has focused on female entrepreneurship in the context of transitioning countries. This paper compares from an institutional perspective two countries at different stages in the process of transformation. Lithuania followed a rapid transitional path leading to European Union membership, while Ukraine is on a much slower development path. Women entrepreneurs in Lithuania and Ukraine share many common features and problems; however, there are important differences in the experiences of women in these two countries. This indicates a need to recognize the diversity that exists among transition countries, reflecting different inheritances from the Soviet past as well as differences in the pace of change during the transition period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigate the relative roles of a number of influences on workplace health and safety in small firms and, more specifically, the adoption of compliance-related improvement measures. From findings drawn from a survey of over a thousand British small enterprises, marked variations in firm behaviour with respect to health and safety were found, underlining the heterogeneity of small firms in this respect, and the way such behaviour reflects their varied contexts. Factors identified as being particularly associated with a propensity to make compliance-related improvements were: regulatory enforcement activity, use of external assistance with respect to health and safety issues, enterprise size and growth performance, management training and experience, and membership of trade or business associations. Although, as a group, ethnic-minority businesses were found to be neither more or less likely to make improvements of this type compared with their white-owned counterparts, detailed analysis revealed that such variations did exist between individual ethnic groupings; variations that are themselves seen to reflect a number of factors, particularly the employment size and sectoral context. Primarily the authors conclude that inspections on the part of regulatory officials are the most important influence, although there is some scope for more innovative approaches to encouraging compliance-related improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to contribute to our understanding of the varied responses of small and micro enterprises to regulation and their implications for regulatory policy, using statutory occupational health and safety requirements as an example. Particular emphasis is given to the relevance of an understanding of business responses to regulation that is informed by a wider range of evidence and perspectives than that which has tended to dominate recent policy developments around regulation. Evidence is presented on small firms’ awareness of, and attitudes towards, the health and safety legislation and their responses to the enforcement activities of health and safety inspectors. A framework for understanding owner-manager attitudes and organisational stances towards health and safety regulation and enforcement is advanced which emphasises their varying characteristics and motivational bases, including a regard for the different contexts in which firms operate. The framework supports the view that most small firms have a reactive stance towards regulation, but also that attitudes and motivations can range from overt avoidance to more positive and even proactive stances. This understanding points to the need for a multidimensional approach towards encouraging compliance that accords a central role to direct contact and enforcement in stimulating improvement in practices. The perspective developed is related to the debate around the role of regulation in general in shaping the performance and development of enterprises, particularly with respect to the potential wider economic role that can be played by well-implemented regulation and associated mechanisms of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the provision of enterprise support to ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) in five cities in the United Kingdom. The central focus is on the nature of support provision, including relationship with the commercial banks. It is well established that EMBs are underrepresented as clients of mainstream providers of enterprise support, such as Business Links in England, or Local Enterprise Companies in Scotland, and that participation and practice, even with specialist ethnic agencies, is highly variable. The authors discuss evidence from research undertaken through a programme of thirty-three face-to-face interviews with respondents from a cross-section of support agencies in five city locations in which EMBs are concentrated, namely, London, Leicester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. They discuss evidence from the face-to-face interviews in the light of previous research findings, developing implications for future support policy for EMBs. They highlight good practice, identify gaps in provision, and suggest policies which can improve the access of EMBs to support and finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]