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This paper aims to examine the impact of owners/managers of small businesses participating in entrepreneurship programs on operational efficiency and growth of small businesses.

It is a cross‐sectional study analysis of the impact of exposure of owner‐managers of small businesses on their performance (i.e. operational efficiency and growth rate) in a non‐contrived environment. The data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for the analysis and the degree of error is α=0.05.

Small businesses, whose owner‐managers who have the experience of participating in entrepreneurship programs, exhibited superior managerial practice; hence, a higher gross‐margin and rate of growth than small businesses whose owner‐managers did not have such experiential learning.

The members of the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, Lagos Chapter served as the population for the study. The membership strength was 224 and all were contacted; however, only 62 members responded. Considering the fact that this is 62 firms not just 62 individuals, it looks reasonably large. A possible area for future research is the comparative study of the impacts of the frequency of participation and variants of entrepreneurship programs on performance of small businesses.

There is a need to improve the managerial practice of small businesses through exposure of owners/managers to entrepreneurship programs in order to enhance their performance and their transition to medium and large businesses.

The paper developed an experiential learning‐performance framework to examine the impact of entrepreneurship programs on performance of small businesses and linked higher operational efficiency and growth rate to better managerial practice, a fall‐out of experiential learning from exposure to entrepreneurship programs.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between family firms’ innovation output and the continuous knowledge development of owner-managers. Moreover, the study aims to investigate the effect of the level of owner-managers’ educational background on family firms’ innovation.

The data originate from a primary research conducted in Poland. A log-linear analysis was used to verify the hypotheses.

The findings demonstrate that the positive relationship between the higher levels of education of owner-managers and the innovation output of family firms does not exist. However, the innovativeness of family firms is determined by the continuous development of owner-managers’ knowledge. Family firms whose owner-managers continuously expand their knowledge introduce significantly more product and marketing innovations. This relationship appears independent of firm’s size, type of business activity and owner-managers’ educational level.

Understanding how the continuous development of owner-managers’ knowledge influence the firm’s innovation output is potentially valuable for managers of family firms. The findings offer also practical suggestions for policymakers on how to support structures that aim to enhance innovation in family enterprises.

This study contributes to the family business literature by presenting quantitative findings describing links between family firms’ innovation outputs and continuous knowledge development of owner-managers. Thus, the study broadens knowledge on factors determining innovation of family firms and influencing family business heterogeneity.

Historically, as a former British colony, Malta has had its accounting and auditing practices highly influenced by UK regulation. However, in the last decade, departures have steadily been occurring from a UK‐based regulatory framework to one increasingly influenced both by international standards and European Union requirements. One such departure relates to the retention of the statutory audit requirement for all Maltese companies, despite its earlier abolishment for small companies in the UK. This study evaluates the relevance of a mandatory annual statutory audit requirement for owner‐managed companies as perceived by two interest groups: the owner‐manager and the auditor. It also considers possible alternatives to such a requirement. Results indicate that for Maltese owner‐managed companies, the statutory audit fulfils two important roles: it bears relevance to outside third parties, and it has a positive effect on the owner‐manager and staff.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the sense of control, psychological ownership and motivation of both family owners and non-family managers in family firms are interrelated. This paper analyzes the limits set by family owners when delegating control to their non-family managers and the resulting potential for conflict and demotivation of the non-family managers.

Building on the existing literature, first, an overview of the literature on psychological ownership and control is presented. Second, the paper analyzes the insights gained from interviews with 15 family owners and non-family managers in five family firms.

This study finds that motivating non-family managers is not merely a matter of promoting a sense of psychological ownership throughout the company. A strong sense of psychological ownership may facilitate but also hinder the cooperation between family and non-family. Family owners are often only willing to delegate operational control, while non-family managers also feel entitled to participate in strategic decision making. This leads to the proposition that non-family managers’ psychological ownership in family firms’ conflicts with family owners’ desire to maintain control.

This study answers the calls to seek additional insight in how non-family managers function within family firms. By shedding light on the complex relationship between control, psychological ownership and motivation in family firms, the study responds to the calls for more empirical validation of the psychological ownership framework and for more research into the potential negative effects of psychological ownership in the family business.

Based on theories from the innovation diffusion literature, the purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model of electronic commerce (EC) adoption in small businesses (SBs) of developing countries. The research model specifies variables at managerial level as the primary determinants to EC adoption in SBs.

A questionnaire-based field survey was conducted to collect data from 268 owner/managers of SBs in Iran. The data were analysed using factorial analysis. Subsequently, six hypotheses were derived and tested by hierarchical multiple regression and logistic regression analysis.

Perceived benefits, perceived compatibility, perceived risks, perceived costs, and innovativeness were found to be the significant determinants of decision to adopt EC. Likewise, discussion on discriminators between adopters and non-adopters of different EC applications has been provided.

Cross-sectional data of this research tends to have certain limitations when it comes to explaining the direction of causality of the relationships between the variables. The study focuses only on the manufacturing SBs of Iran.

The research findings have important implications for practising managers, information systems experts, and policy-makers. Governments should follow specific policies to facilitate institutionalisation of EC in SBs. Similarly, EC vendors and technology providers should collaborate with SBs to enhance the compatibility of different EC applications with specific characteristics of these businesses.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is perhaps one of the first that examines the adoption of EC by SBs in a developing country context, using a research model which tests the effects of owner/managers' attributes on adoption of simple and advanced EC applications.

Substantial work has been undertaken in the field of human resource management (HRM) as it applies to large organizations. However, for small business these models frequently do not apply. The small business lacks adequate systems to ensure the efficient management of human resources. Further, most small businesses are the product of their owners, whose personality and personal involvement dominate. Drawing upon evidence from four case studies of small business owners who have experienced growth the aim of the paper is to examine the point at which these owners became aware of the need for team building and delegation within their companies and how they responded. All have found finding, motivating and retaining good staff a critical bottleneck in their business growth. Of importance, appears to be their beliefs, attitudes and values. A shift in these areas was necessary before change could be undertaken. The point of awareness for many came from the managerial training programs but was tempered by their beliefs and the growth cycles of their companies. Prior to change being possible these owner‐managers needed to develop skills and competencies in leadership, coaching and management before effective delegation and team building could take place. These findings are linked to the existing body of knowledge relating to HRM. A theoretical model of the small business HR process for small business growth is presented. Future, implications for small business management and research are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature concerning the skills and knowledge of owner‐managers in small firms and to show how these might be enhanced and made more effective through alternative transferral and “teaching” strategies. It is shown that small firms are not isolated from their environment and are interdependently and inexorably linked with other organisations (suppliers, for instance). In this environment, and through these relationships, the majority of owner‐manager learning takes place. The implications for owner‐managers and the support environment are explored and recommendations for further research to explore the empirical reality of owner‐manager learning are presented.

This paper explores key factors influencing high-performing, sustained growth, high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea.

A qualitative study is adopted to explore seventeen founder owner-managers of high-tech SMEs who sustained consistent employment growth, greater than the industry average, for seven years. Within the sample, those with higher (10% or over) employment compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) over this period are also compared to those with lower rates.

The study suggests that proactive approaches, such as flexible organization, risk management, fast decision-making and international market entry, are seen as important contributing factors to sustained growth. These findings contribute to a better theoretical and empirical understanding of sustained high-tech SME growth, in a country with a strong entrepreneurial and internationally competitive information technology sector. Also, collaboration across the SME was perceived as making an important contribution to staff development and growth, consistent with stewardship theory.

The sample is based on successful high-tech SMEs, so there are limitations in extrapolating results to other types of firms, sectors or countries.

Key factors identified in this study can be considered by entrepreneurs seeking to achieve sustainable business. These also provide improved understanding for policymakers into the complexity of factors related to sustained and high growth of technology-based SMEs, which many countries are keen to foster to aid national economic growth.

The research provides new evidence exploring the diverse perspectives of founder owner-managers, on the sustained growth and failure in South Korean high-tech SMEs, and how these have changed since the inception of their business.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the information flows, in terms of content and process, underpinning the sharing of knowledge by managers and owners. Such an examination reveals similarities and differences that will influence the generation and dissemination of knowledge used in tourism business operations and contribute to innovation.

This paper examines information flows within the theoretical and methodological framework of social network analysis. The findings were derived from a quantitative study of tourism managers and owners of a tourism hub in South-West England.

The main finding was that network structure characteristics determine the flow of information within owners’ and managers’ social networks. The owners of smaller businesses received information from several sources and, therefore, had fewer structural constraints and reported larger structural holes. In comparison, the managers had more brokerage opportunities to disseminate the information within their social networks.

This paper highlights knowledge sharing between tourism business managers and owners in an open network structure. First, an open network structure builds innovation through the provision of nonredundant information. This is determined through the effective size of structural holes and the dissemination of information through brokerage roles. Second, the knowledge capability of a destination is built up through the social networking of managers and owners. The generation and dissemination of knowledge in a tourism destination are facilitated by the social networking activities of managers and owners.

Managers and owners of tourism businesses require knowledge through information to assist with innovative business practices. The practical implication of this is that the social networks of managers and owners have different network characteristics, and that these differences result in consequences for the innovation of business practices. Another practical implication relates to the importance of managers in knowledge dissemination based on having several brokerage roles in the tourism destination.

These findings are important because an understanding of social networks and the flow of information is one of the keys to determining the influences on knowledge sharing within tourism destination knowledge networks of owners or managers and their potential contributions to innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the largely unexplored conceptualisation of the brand-as-a-person metaphor in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining its potential relation with the SME owner-manager, the pathways to its creation and development and the intuitive nature of this relationship.

A grounded theory approach was used, and data were collected through a set of 36 semi-structured interviews with 30 SME owner-managers in various sectors in Mexico.

The results indicate that SME owner-managers intuitively humanise their brands. The study revealed four pathways to develop the brand-as-a-person metaphor in the SME context: through personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, all suggesting that SMEs’ brand-as-a-person metaphors are largely an extension of their owner-managers.

The paper presents a theoretical framework that illustrates the four pathways to the creation and development of brand-as-a-person that are derived from the brand’s relationship with the SME owner-manager. The results of cross-industry semi-structured interviews are limited to a single culture context.

SME owner-managers should first undertake an introspective personal assessment of their intuitive and conscious decision-making, as SME owner-managers often make decisions in an intuitive way. The results suggest that they should act in a more conscious, responsible and rational way when formulating their brand strategies.

This is the first study to clarify the profound influence of SME owner-managers’ personal characteristics, including personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, on the brand-as-a-person metaphor. This study also confirms the intuitive learning strategy formulation of SME owner-managers’ branding practices and SMEs’ need for a more rational approach to branding.