The recognition by Western nation governments of the increasingly important role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in job creation in post-Fordist economies has led to an expansion of public sector funding for training programs for owners or managers. Research into the cognitive style...

The prevailing view in the literature is that small family firms outperform nonfamily businesses. The nature of the former's management style also means that these businesses are more likely to sustain their performance in a recession. Drucker (1985b) extended the Schumpeterian view that the...

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of firms in Peru in relation to open innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Data were acquired through a survey of Peruvian middle and senior managers. Findings – Peruvian firms engaged in open innovation did report higher...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of small independent financial advisors (IFAs) in terms of their involvement in networks and open innovation. A mail survey of small IFAs was undertaken utilising previously validated scales to assess business performance in relation to...

Within the academic literature there is general acceptance that customer knowledge competence can have a critical influence over whether a firm can successfully achieve a market advantage over competition. There is, however, only limited empirical evidence to support this perspective. This study...

The purpose of the paper is to examine the performance of small UK service-sector firms during a period of poor economic conditions in relation to entrepreneurial behaviour and knowledge management. A mail survey of small rural hotels was undertaken. Hotels achieving higher sales growth...

Increasingly firms are being encouraged to move away from traditional, transactional marketing towards building long-term relationships with customers. The majority of the literature examines the benefits to suppliers of adopting this philosophy. It was decided, therefore, to examine whether the...

To determine the degree to which UK manufacturing companies have adopted an internal‐customer‐oriented philosophy, a survey was undertaken using a modified version of the Parasuraman SERVQUAL model. The majority of respondents indicated the existence of type 1,2,3 and 4 gaps in the internal...