This paper aims to establish the basis for a new approach to the performance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The proposed approach emphasises the potential of the SME'S information system (IS) for enhancing performance, through its deployment for superior monitoring and control....

The paper investigates financial management directed towards funding growth in the new small firm in Scotland. It makes appeal to two sources of first-hand data, gathered using fieldwork methods during the period 1993-97. The first evolved from interviews with 150 owner-managers of micro firms...

A dynamic theory of the small firm is expounded, assuming entrepreneurs maximise business value over a finite time horizon. Its predicted trajectories for key financial variables depend on which of debt and equity are cheaper. The predictions are compared with empirical evidence constructed from...

This paper is an empirical study, making appeal to firsthand evidence gathered by face-to-face interviews with the owner-managers of 150 small firms in Scotland. It investigates the performance of the micro firm in the early years of its life-cycle, by reference to four key behavioural...

The main hypothesis examines whether real options logic is applied by entrepreneurs in undertaking key organisational change (e.g. ownership, technology, location, line of business etc.). This is explored in a model of firm performance using data collected in face-to-face interviews with...

The small firm is viewed as taking a complex of actions to facilitate market place survival. Selection of such actions involves choice about markets, costs, strategy, finance, organisation, human capital and innovation. Probit models of survival over two years are estimated for a random sample...

The paper examines the co-evolution of different dimensions of information systems for a sample of fast-growing small firms. The investigation uses primary source longitudinal empirical evidence. The data are taken from a large database on the lifecycle experience of one-hundred-and-fifty new...

This paper argues that the informational requirements for good decision making in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are complex and adaptive. It identifies the basic information needs of the SME, and considers how information is used to guide decisions. It argues that accounting...

This paper provides a critical survey of theory and evidence on information system (IS) development within the SME. It proceeds under five headings. First, the information needs of the SME are identified. Second, the use of information to guide decisions is considered. Third, the management...

This work concerns the development of new methods of accounting for risk in high-technology ventures. The paper enquires into attitudes to risk and skills at risk management, in the relationship between high-technology firms and their venture capital backers. The basic prescription behind the...