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This paper sets out to assess the market for start‐up finance in the UK for high growth potential entrepreneurial firms.

The paper uses data from the UK's Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys between 2001 and 2003 to assess the scale of equity finance in the UK. It further examines the strengths and weaknesses of the UK financial markets for supporting high growth potential firms on the basis of an additional survey of 60 experts conducted during September and October 2003.

The paper suggests that there are areas of the market that are strongly served by existing financial mechanisms. However, there is a perception amongst business support agencies, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike that the size of investments in the formal venture capital market has been increasing and that companies seeking investments above this level, up as high as £2 million, may be restricted in their access to finance. The paper tests this qualitative finding on a number of empirical data sources and finds that there is indeed an “equity gap” of between £150,000 and £1.5 million. It concludes that lack of finance in this area represents a brake on the expansion of high growth potential businesses in the UK.

The empirical data covered in this paper are from three large‐scale surveys of the adult population in the UK. While this is robust as a reflection of what is happening amongst the whole spectrum of business start‐up activity, the methodology was not originally conceptualised as a mechanism for assessing the scale of the equity gap. This evidence was gained from a qualitative survey of actors in the market. Further research should survey high growth potential firms and financiers themselves in more detail to develop the analysis on a more systematic basis.

The research will be of interest to policy makers who seek appropriate mechanism for developing a funding “ladder” to support businesses through the growth process. It identifies a clear gap in the market for growth finance that is evidence on which to base funding priorities in the future.

Academic and policy attempts to quantify the scale of the equity gap in the UK have been limited by availability of longitudinal and systematic data. As a result, they have tended to be largely qualitative in nature and prone to anecdote. Many of these studies do corroborate the findings reported here, but this does represent a first attempt to provide a quantification of the equity gap and thus should be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and academics alike.

The purpose of this paper is to examine customer, management, and contact personnel perceptions of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and its dimensions utilizing a services branding triangle framework in the banking industry.

Data were collected from customers, managers, and contact personnel of three types of banks in Turkey – state, private, and foreign.

The study finds significant external branding gaps between the perceptions of managers and customers and interactive branding gaps between the perceptions of contact personnel and customers, but no internal branding gaps between the perceptions of managers and contact personnel with respect to CBBE dimensions.

The sample was limited to Turkish adult citizens of a single major metropolitan area in Turkey and bank personnel in three cities.

The services branding triangle framework used in this study allows service brand managers to understand not only the differences in the perceptions of brand equity dimensions of bank customers, managers, and contact personnel, but also provides an opportunity to identify the external, internal, and interactive branding gaps of each of the brand equity dimensions. The findings provide an empirical test for the three promises theory and identifying potential branding gaps resulting from differences between consumer, management, and contact personnel perceptions of CBBE and its dimensions. The paper discusses the implications of the findings in developing a strong services brand and brand equity.

This paper aims to provide a targeted overview of relevant digital equity gap literature that serves to contextualize the current crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this review of the literature, the author introduces five guidelines that educators can use to guide their decisions about how to adapt to remote learning. It concludes with an overview and full text of two tools educators and researchers can use to better understand the challenges faced by students: the Digital Equity Gap Interview Protocol and the Digital Equity Gap Survey Instrument.

This conceptual paper is grounded on the theoretical framework of Martha Nussbaum's “Capability Approach,” which outlines core human capabilities that (if fostered) enable individuals to generate valuable outcomes for themselves.

It is suggested that it is important to attend to human capabilities when addressing digital equity gaps exacerbated by the pandemic. The author provides two tools that are intended to help individuals gather important information about the communities they serve and/or study.

Both tools provide descriptive information that will contextualize digital equity gaps, should they be present.

This paper provides concrete tools for educators who wish to understand digital equity gaps within the communities they serve.

In time of unprecedented distance learning, it is important for both K-12 educators and higher education instructors to understand the technological capabilities of their students. The Digital Equity Gap Interview Protocol and the Digital Equity Gap Survey Instrument give them a place to start.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study and address digital equity gaps.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution, implementation and effectiveness of the Pay Equity Act in Ontario, Canada. Given that this Act is considered by many as the world's most progressive equal pay for work of equal value legislation, there are important implications for policy globally.

Through a review of relevant documents and the literature, the paper examines the need for the Pay Equity Act in Ontario, its origins, and with two decades of experience, analyze its effectiveness. A case study is also used to assess related procedures and effects of the law.

In spite of its limitations and the wide pay gap that still exists between men and women, many female workers have benefited from Ontario's progressive Pay Equity Act. In targeting the discriminatory aspect of women's work evaluations, the Act has resulted in pay increases for thousands of women, especially in the public sector.

There are many practical and social implications for jurisdictions across the globe, as they try to grapple with gender pay equities. Policy makers can learn from the successes and challenges experienced in Ontario. Pay equity legislation will unlikely achieve any significant progress in reducing the wage gap if it relies on workers to complain about the inequity in their pay. A proactive pay equity law, such as that in Ontario, will force employers to make more focused efforts to deal with gender pay discrimination. Ontario's bold “experiment” with pay equity holds valuable lessons for jurisdictions globally.

While there has been some research on the Ontario Pay Equity Act, there is a paucity of scholarly work that examines the details of the pay system that the Act has spawned. There is also little work in assessing the effectiveness of the legislation.

This article takes a close look at the ways US, Israeli, and Irish policy makers have addressed the start‐up equity‐financing gap. US policy makers have been indirect, providing funds and creating the regime conducive to the growth of the private venture capital industry. Israeli policy makers have been less indirect, taking equity positions in start‐ups, and in venture capital funds in partnership with the private sector. Irish policy makers have been direct, setting up and managing start‐up venture capital funds.

The aim of the paper is to analyze quantitatively and qualitatively requirements of Russian micro‐ and small‐firms in financial sources, along with opportunities and restrictions in the mobilization of investment at the different stages of a firm's life cycle.

In this paper the determinants of the propensity to invest and the supply of funding are investigated by using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set for Russia in the time period from 2006 to 2011.

The paper provides the analysis of Russian early entrepreneurs' and established business owners' decisions about the preferred structure of financial sources, comprising both statistical and logistic regression approaches for this investigation. The findings indicate that in Russia the structure of financial sources of start‐up entrepreneurs is predominated by “love capital” (mainly private and family savings), meanwhile, the percentage of business angels' financing is low in comparison with innovation‐driven countries. Moreover, there are merely extra‐economic factors, which influence informal investors' decision making on funding: personal relations with a borrower, an optimistic view on macroeconomic perspective and high status of an entrepreneur.

The findings in this paper suggest that this research can help the officials to formulate a program of SMEs' support at different stages of the financial chain in Russia.

In this paper the early and middle stages of a firm's life cycle are examined and some practical advice on a company's development and expansion are given.

This study aims to investigate the drivers of successful equity crowdfunding campaigns in Malaysia.

Data for this study are collected manually from 5 different equity crowdfunding platforms in Malaysia. A total of 101 campaigns are analyzed, out of which the final sample used for this study is 97. The relationships are analyzed via ordinary least squares multiple regression analysis.

The results of the analysis show that minimum funding target, minimum investment required, pre-money valuation and length of pitch video are highly significant in influencing the success of the campaign. Percentage of equity retained is only significant at the 10% level. The size of the project team and the text length of the pitch are found to be insignificant. In addition, all the variables, except for equity retained and the minimum investment required, are found to have a positive impact on the success of an equity crowdfunding campaign in Malaysia.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the success factors of equity crowdfunding campaigns in a developing country such as Malaysia. In addition, this study contributes to the literature on equity crowdfunding success via the inclusion of less-studied variables such as pre-money valuation and minimum investment required.

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the financial search behaviour of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in different regions and the perceived importance of different external financiers for these firms.

A postal survey targeting the chief executive officers (CEOs) of 459 SMEs was distributed in different regions of Sweden.

Large differences exist in the financial search behaviour exhibited by firms in the four different types of regions. In the metropolitan areas, firms are more active in searching for new owners, especially professional investors. In smaller municipalities, banks dominate as the most important financier.

The study might not be generalised for other settings because it was carried out in Sweden. Furthermore, the regional types used might cause some concern as to whether the findings can be generalised.

The study provides evidence that policies need to be tailor‐made for different regions because the predominant type of financier differs greatly between regions. The findings also emphasise the need for policymakers to focus on equity gap issues in regional centres.

The paper fulfils an important role in elaborating on the use and importance of different types of financing in various regions.

This study aims to use culturally responsive pedagogy as a model to examine teachers’ views of the equity implications found within virtual instruction.

The researchers used a descriptive methods design based on survey research employing both fixed (quantitative) and open response (qualitative) options to curate teachers’ perceptions of their students’ abilities to engage in online learning.

Teachers articulated anxiety for student engagement based on access as well as concerns for student engagement and social emotional learning (SEL) connection. Data point to disparate views of students’ abilities to engage in remote learning based on demographic markers. Teachers also noted their own limitations in providing engaging online instruction that was culturally responsive and included social emotional learning (SEL) learning.

This study provided a unique opportunity to explore teachers’ perceptions of their students in online learning contexts as well as teachers’ perceptions of their own abilities to support diverse students in remote learning. Teachers’ responses indicated deficit views of their culturally and linguistically diverse students and signaled awareness of their own limitations in providing online instruction that was culturally responsive and student centered. Study findings point to a need to equip teachers with tools to mitigate systemic inequity in online contexts.

Successful companies encounter unique competitive challenges. However, there are several product strategy initiatives that are relevant to all organizations seeking to develop market‐driven strategies. Key initiatives include the leveraging the business design, recognizing the growth mandate, developing market vision, achieving a capabilities/value match, exploring strategic relationships, building strong brands, brand leveraging, and recognizing the advantages of proactive cannibalization. We propose a product strategy agenda for review by executives in identifying which initiatives should be assessed relative to the needs of their organization.