TECS: AN APPROPRIATE MODEL FOR SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL BUSINESSES?

Abstract

The emergence of the global economy between the late 1970s and the late 1980s, with its concomitant intensification of competitive pressures, has been accompanied by a search for appropriate objectives, policies and mechanisms for developing private enterprise in the UK. The current UK Government has attempted to accommodate the varied local needs of the private business sector, and the need for support by public authority, by creating the Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) network. This offers a devolved management structure for the delivery of enterprise support and training services and a means of creating public‐private partnerships in the stimulation of local economic growth. An overall view is given of this initiative, based on an appreciation of the critical interactions between central government, the TECs, private sector organizations and representative forums for local business. Drawing on current theories of governance to suit the new conditions of the 1990s, a contribution is made to discussions of the evolution of public policy and its effect on the development of a healthy and vigorous private enterprise sector.

Citation

Jones, A., Joyce, P., Woods, A., Black, S. and Shaw, S. (1996), "TECS: AN APPROPRIATE MODEL FOR SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL BUSINESSES?", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 119-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb020971