This article examines how the services offered by sector business associations are used and the impact that they offer. A large-scale survey of small- and medium-sized businesses is used to infer how association services operate. An important focus is to determine the level at which the fixed...

Business Link (BL) in Britain provides a unique opportunity to examine a government policy support to small firms which has targeted fee income as a major part of its management objectives in order to increase the 'sense of value' of the services offered. This article examines the influence of...

BENNETT R. J., BRATTON W. A. and ROBSON P. J. A. (2000) Business advice: the influence of distance, Reg. Studies 34, 813-828. This paper examines the external advisors used by small businesses to help them solve their problems, focusing on distance between client and advisor. The analysis is...

BENNETT R. J. and ROBSON P. J. A. (2003) Changing use of external business advice and government supports by SMEs in the 1990s, Reg. Studies 37 , 795-811. This paper uses cross-sectional surveys of 1991 and 1997, a panel survey of firms surviving between 1991 and 1997 and comparison with a...

This paper assesses the effect of differences in types of client on the use and impact of business advice by SMEs in Britain using new survey evidence from the Cambridge ESRC Centre for Business Research Survey of 1997. The survey, covering over 2500 respondents, is the largest and most...

This paper examines the external advisors used by small businesses to help them solve their problems, focusing on distance between client and advisor. The analysis is based on a new stratified random sample survey of small businesses in manufacturing and services in five representative locations...

This paper seeks to assess advice and information support for firms provided by the Small Business Service (SBS) Business Link. It uses a new survey of client use, satisfaction and experience of service fees. The general level of satisfaction with, and use of, the service is high: 28% of all...

This paper assesses the extent of use of external business advice by SMEs using new survey evidence from the Cambridge ESRC Centre for Business Research Survey of 1997. It analyses external advice by source and by main field. The chief focus is on the fields of advice sought which are shown to...

Business Link in Britain is one of the main recent government initiatives to support SMEs in the EU. The paper uses a 1997 survey of SMEs to determine how Business Link use, impact and satisfaction are influenced by firm characteristics, local partnership characteristics, local geographical...

Business Link is a government-financed support body for small firms in England in which local franchisees provide a range of business advice services. Franchisees must act as independent bodies with the franchise as their 'only line of business'. Yet franchisees are of various types: some are de...