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This article argues that existing research poorly specifies the link between planning and performance because of omitted variable bias. Researchers agree planning is a critical part of creating any new venture. Many researchers assess planning by whether a small firm has a written business plan. Unfortunately, efforts empirically to validate this relationship have been inconclusive. This article proposes that researchers should assess business plans both on the quality of the plan (and the planning process that produced it), and on the quality of the underlying business opportunity. Failure to account for both aspects of a business plan amounts to omitted variable bias, frustrating attempts to accurately estimate the true relationship.

Business rescue, as a mechanism to aid financially distressed companies in South Africa, has received considerable academic and practical recognition. However, the business rescue plan is an overlooked and, perhaps, underdeveloped aspect of the regime. For stakeholders, this is the ultimate decision-making document. Creditors are the most influential stakeholders in business rescue proceedings owing to their voting rights. For creditors to make informed decisions and exercise their votes meaningfully, the business rescue plan should be transparent and adequately disclose relevant and reliable information. This study aims to identify creditors’ primary information needs to enhance the sufficiency and decision-usefulness of business rescue plans, not only to entice the vote of creditors but to enforce accountability from practitioners.

Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 executives from 10 South African financial institutions.

The findings reveal that comprehensive disclosure of financial, commercial and legal information in business rescue plans was a critical antecedent for stakeholder decision-making. Additionally, leadership and social impact information were influential determinants. This study advances academic knowledge and, for practitioners, adds value to the development of business rescue plans. This can enhance creditors' confidence in supporting the rescue effort and approving the plan.

This study advances academic knowledge and, for practitioners, adds value to the development of business rescue plans. This can enhance creditors' confidence in supporting the rescue effort and approving the plan.

The originality of this article lies in its investigation of how creditors assess the information in BR plans as a precursor to supporting the company’s reorganisation in a creditor-friendly business rescue system such as South Africa. This study provides novel insights into the decision-making process, particularly how creditors assess BR plans, address information asymmetry and vote on the plan.

The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of how entrepreneurs’ management activity can be assisted by utilising business plans. The main purpose of this chapter is to guide prospective tourism entrepreneurs to make a reflection on management decision-making when starting up a micro-, small- or medium-sized tourism venture.

This chapter was built on a review of management literature and authors’ industry experiences.

This chapter suggests that a well-designed business plan can help prospective entrepreneurs to (1) facilitate their decision-making, (2) minimise their risk perception and (3) increase their venture’s success probability.

This chapter is descriptive in nature to illustrate how business plans are useful instruments for decision-making in management and marketing areas.

The practical/entrepreneurial approach practical of this chapter contributes to highlight the utility and value of a business plan for any micro, small or medium tourism, travel, leisure or event venture.

This chapter is useful for prospective entrepreneurs who are planning to launch a venture but have not decided yet how to shape and start a tourism business venture.

Business plan writing seems the panacea to gain stakeholder legitimacy and financial backing. Our chapter explores the contributions and disconnections between business plan writing and the start-up process for incubated technology entrepreneurs. The study is set in the South East Enterprise Platform Programme (SEEPP), an incubator programme for technology graduate entrepreneurs in the South East of Ireland. Using a purposive sample of technology entrepreneurs in start-up mode, we took a qualitative approach consisting of content analysis of 40 business plans and in-depth interviews with 25 technology entrepreneurs. Our research found that writing a detailed business plan constrains the technology entrepreneur’s natural penchant for action, compelling them to focus on business plan writing rather than enactment. Technology entrepreneurs favour a market-led rather than funding-led operational level document to plan, and learn from, near-term activities using milestones.

This paper presents an analysis of selected participants in a survey of Australian organisations’ approaches to business and information technology (IT) contingency planning. In particular, it examines the role of management in planning and setting priorities for contingency planning, especially in those organisations that have specified that IT is critical to the business operations. The survey was undertaken because there was a perception that coping with disaster is a much‐neglected aspect of management in Australia, and this analysis examines the underlying attitudes. The findings reveal that most organisations are inadequately prepared and fail to take the issue seriously. Business continuity is not rated as a high priority. Managers in the IT area are also expected to take the responsibility for contingency planning for the whole business.

The purpose of this study is to address the problem of a plethora of potential plans related to business continuity and disaster recovery.

A review of the relevant academic articles, standards and guidelines related to business continuity and disaster recovery was conducted, and the discussed plans include critical information infrastructure plans, disaster recovery plans, information system contingency plans, business continuity plans and continuity of operations plans.

The content of each plan is explained. A layered business continuity and disaster recovery model is proposed, which consolidates all plans in a coherent manner.

Relationships, similarities and differences among each pair of plans are discussed, and the longitudinal validity and applicability of plans are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to focus with the university-based business plan competition (BPC) and proposes how the theory of effectuation might inform a new model. Such a purpose is timely given the under-challenged nature of the BPC methodology.

Extant literature pertaining to business planning and the business plan within entrepreneurship education and effectuation is reviewed; numerous conceptual issues which undermine BPC provision in its traditional form are then identified. In response to these identified issues, a series of principles which could underpin the introduction of an effectuation-led business coopetition (EBC) are outlined.

Strong emphasis on business plan production within a conventional BPC model raises questions about its capacity to release the entrepreneurial potential of the higher education institution student and provide them with an authentic and relevant entrepreneurial learning experience. Through using the ideas of effectuation to rethink provision, the action of business plan production can usefully be replaced with the action of business implementation. As well as facilitate a beneficial shift from competition to coopetition-based entrepreneurship education.

This paper valuably critiques the efficacy of a commonly employed yet under-challenged methodology for entrepreneurship education; the BPC. The propositions offered can guide competition provision in a more authentic, realistic and relevant way that is potentially better suited to inspiring and supporting entrepreneurial new venturing amongst students and graduates now rather than in the future. The paper thus has practical value to those designing and delivering competition-based entrepreneurship education.

This paper aims to explore the planning strategies of female entrepreneurs who have indicated a desire to grow their businesses, the time horizons of planning strategies and the relationship between planning horizons and number of employees and annual sales as measures of business performance.

In order to gather data for this exploratory study, a questionnaire was sent by e‐mail to members of networks of female entrepreneurs across England and Wales. Questionnaires were selected for analysis on the basis of an indication from the respondent that they wished to grow their business. Data were entered into SPSS to generate descriptive statistics, and conduct hypothesis testing.

The most preferred business growth strategies were: improving existing products or services and expanding advertising and promotion. Planning horizons are very short (often under three months), although the planning horizons associated with new products and entry into new markets were in some instances a little longer. Such short planning horizons could have serious consequences for business performance and growth. The planning horizons for cashflow, and investment in infrastructure showed a correlation with number of employees, whilst the planning horizons for cashflow, new product development, and expenditure showed a correlation with annual sales.

Female entrepreneurs need to be encouraged to extend their planning horizons, especially in terms of financial indicators such as expenditure, cash flow, and investment.

This research contributes to the growing literature on female entrepreneurs and their business, by providing further insight into their growth strategies and planning horizons.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.