This paper discusses the utilisation of employee training and development initiatives in the UK focusing specifically upon the smaller firm. It is argued that to assess and evaluate differing levels of investment in employee development, it is essential to take account of firm size, firm sector...

It is agreed that within the UK there is a poor level of investment in formal training and development. This is particularly evident within the small firm sector. The literature, which considers this issue, concludes that there are a number of reasons why small firm owners are, on the whole,...

This paper addresses the issue of environmental auditing by smaller business units and compares the actions of the small firm sector with those of larger organisations. It will focus on four key themes: the necessity to bring small firms to environmental account; the relationship between...

It is widely accepted that many ethnic minority firms continue to rely on their own community for their survival, and that growth is only likely to be achieved by tapping into wider markets. In short, ‘break‐out’, which is the focus of this paper, is critical to ethnic minority firms'...

Should enterprise support for ethnic minority firms be configured along ethnic lines? This question has confronted many officers engaged in the “enterprise industry”, as they grapple with the task of supporting the increasingly significant phenomenon of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. The...

Small professional service firms constitute an important segment of the small business population. Explanations of the emergence, employment potential and economic contribution of such firms have been much debated. Yet, comparatively little is known of the “people dimension” in such...