Search results

Research and dissemination of the results has always been an important activity for those in the academic community. The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) has brought the whole area of research publication and dissemination into sharp relief, and striving for high research rankings seems, for some, to have become an end in itself. Some argue that the RAE has restricted the wider dissemination of research as academics focus on refereed journal articles to the detriment of other forms of output, eg professional articles, consultancy, books and practitioner conferences. The RAE has intensified interest in the purpose and process of publication in most discipline areas and has created considerable controversy regarding the status of different publication channels. The small business research area is no exception. This research provides a profile of the UK small business research community, it explores their perceptions regarding research and establishes the esteem that various publication channels are held. Defining precisely what constitutes the area of small business research is problematic. Indeed, providing a specific boundary would create a false precision, small business research overlaps with areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation, and it also draws upon a range of disciplines. Nevertheless, relative limits were placed on this research by the nature of the people who were asked to express their opinion and the questions they were asked. The attitudes were sought through a survey of active UK researchers (97 per cent of respondents had published in the area, 81 per cent were academics, 7 per cent were policy makers and 4 per cent business practitioners) listed on the Institute of Small Business Affairs/Small Business Research Trust database. The title and nature of these organisations suggests that those listed at least identify with the notion of small business research as an area. In addition, the questionnaire emphasised small business research throughout, and no mention was made of entrepreneurship, innovation or associated areas. Ninety‐eight questionnaires were returned, representing a 47 per cent response rate. The community was found to be more stable and mature than expected, but small business researchers held other research areas in greater esteem and most regarded themselves as empiricists rather than theorists. The implications of these results are explored for the next RAE and for the future of small business research.

The aim of this paper is to consider empirical evidence on the strategic behaviour of rural SMEs compared to urban SMEs in times of difficult economic conditions. The authors build the paper from a theoretical discussion that suggests that there will be distinctive differences in SMEs’ strategic behaviour across different settlement patterns, utilising resource‐based and opportunity‐based theoretical perspectives. This leads to three research questions which are concerned with three elements when comparing urban and rural SMEs; their characteristics, their performance and their strategic behaviours. The paper argues that the role and strategic behaviour of SMEs in the literature has been neglected.

For this study, the paper is able to draw upon a data set of 1,411 SMEs from an annual survey of New Zealand's SMEs. This is a national survey of SMEs and the paper has analysed the data to draw out distinctive differences with firms located in different urban or rural locations.

The paper has shown that SMEs in independent urban areas/small town settlements have distinctive characteristics, performance and strategic behaviour. The important findings are that geographical location matters; that impacts of changing economic conditions cannot be assumed to be homogenous across economies and that SMEs across different settlement patterns will adopt different strategic response and behaviours.

The paper provides an original contribution to knowledge through the following: a primary focus on the comparison of urban and rural SMEs’ strategic behaviour in challenging and turbulent economic conditions, providing for the first time empirical evidence on the sustainability of rural SMEs in recessionary times compared to urban firms across three different locational settlement patterns; urban, independent urban and rural.

Oil palm, natural rubber and cocoa are the three major plantation crops planted accounting for about 4.5 million hectares of cultivated land in 1995 (4.41 million hectares in 1993 (Table 1)). These crops are grown mainly for exports. But with resource‐based industrialization, a rising proportion of output is processed domestically in the manufacture of food and industrial products. Smallholder participation in the production of these crops, mainly from rural areas, is significant. Small‐holdings accounted for 83.5% of natural rubber planted area, 51% of oil palm area, and 53% of cocoa planted area. The estate sector's shares in total area and production of the three crops are declining because estates are moving out of agriculture. Estates are diversifying their output mix, in particular replacing rubber with oil palm. The shift is induced by the downtrend in rubber prices in the 1980s except for the recovery in 1988, and the observed better returns from oil palm production. On the other hand, the area of small‐holdings planted with rubber has remained relatively stable. Both cocoa and oil palm area under small‐holdings have increased.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the job satisfaction of police officers in metropolitan cities with that of officers in smaller areas in a rapidly developing nation. It also assesses the difference in the factors that affect the job satisfaction of officers in metropolitan cities and smaller areas.

The research used survey data collected from 1,500 police officers throughout South Korea. Ordinal logistic (ordered logit) regression was the main method of analysis considering the ordinal response in the dependent variable.

The findings revealed no difference in job satisfaction between officers in metropolitan cities and those in smaller cities and rural areas, but certain factors, especially length of service and rank, negatively affected officers' job satisfaction in metropolitan cities; this was not the case in smaller cities and rural areas.

Although findings from police survey data of a non‐random sample of officers should be generalized with caution, the findings provide police administrators with some evidence that certain factors are necessary to minimize the likelihood of job dissatisfaction among senior and supervisory officers in metropolitan cities.

Few researchers have compared the level of and predictors of officers' job satisfaction in large and small cities, especially in non‐Western contexts. The study intends to fill this void.

Focusing on small houses has become one of the recent trends in housing design in Japan, as has been observed in many house design works. Periodical coverage can tell that the number of such works has clearly been increasing since the 90s, as compared with the 70s and 80s. The trend of small houses was also observed in the 50s. In those postwar years of economic growth, it was driven by the conditions of the time, such as supply and housing shortages and urban centralization. Today’s social conditions are significantly different from those in the 50s, and naturally, the whole concept of small houses has greatly changed from the past.

In this research, we evaluate the experiments of small houses, from the view of the idea of sustainability and open building concept. Specifically, the study compares the small houses of the 50s and those after 1990 to examine their differences or similarities in terms of size, structure and building systems. And thus clarify how industrialization and standardization reflect on these experiments.

The former period, most were constructed on wood, with traditional construction method. The purpose of design was rather how to adapt the industrialization to the traditional construction and how to realize the modern way of living in the smallest space, than fulfillment of flexibility. Moreover, low cost was also included in the design purpose. In latest examples, the “small” means “small building area” rather than “small space for life and minimal cost for construction” The experimental projects were conducted by the intention exploring new possibilities and diversities of space design, with various highly industrialized materials. The small houses after 1990 can be regarded as experimental efforts to explore new approaches to skeletons within the context of urban tissue.

Memorial University of Newfoundland, based in St. John's, is the single university in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Faculty of Business Administration is the largest concentration of resident business educational and management development expertise. In 1980, the Faculty established the Center for Management Development with the role to coordinate its non‐credit, continuing professional business educational and management training and development activities. The mandate of the Center is the development and delivery of continuing entrepreneurship and business management education programmes for the public, and for practising managers in business, government and other organisations in the province — it is to develop management in Newfoundland and Labrador. As part of the Faculty of Business Administration, the Center exists to provide management development offerings where they are most needed, and not solely on the basis of commercial profitability.

To develop a basic model of e‐commerce adoption barriers to small businesses located in regional areas of developed countries.

An empirical survey of 477 small businesses in Sweden and Australia about e‐commerce adoption and implementation. The data was analysed using correlation matrices and factor analysis to derive a model of e‐commerce barriers.

E‐commerce adoption barriers to small businesses in regional areas in both Sweden and Australia can be grouped according to two distinct factors: e‐commerce is either “too difficult” or “unsuitable” for the business. The model derived is based on these factors.

Limitations – inability to derive industry specific conclusions; standard limitations associated with mailed survey instruments; further qualitative research is necessary. Research implications – “first of its kind” model of e‐commerce adoption barriers to small businesses located in regional areas; consolidated understanding of e‐commerce adoption barriers.

Significant implications for government organizations engaged in promoting e‐commerce adoption in small businesses. This research indicates where and how adoption initiatives should be targeted.

This research fills a gap in our knowledge about e‐commerce adoption barriers and overcomes some of the fragmentation associated with e‐commerce adoption in small businesses.

The construction industry is a very important part of the Malaysian economy. The government's aim is to make the industry more productive, efficient and safe. Small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are at the core of the Malaysian construction industry and account for about 90 per cent of companies undertaking construction work. One of the main challenges faced by the Malaysian construction industry is the ability to absorb new knowledge and technology and to implement it in the construction phase. The purpose of this paper is to consider absorptive capacity in Malaysian construction SMEs in rural areas.

The research was conducted in three stages: first, understanding the Malaysian construction industry; second, a literature review on the issues related to absorptive capacity and discussions with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB); and third, multiple case studies in five construction SMEs operating in a rural area to validate the factors influencing absorptive capacity.

Nine key factors were identified influencing absorptive capacity in Malaysian construction SMEs operating in rural areas. These factors involved: cost and affordability; availability and supply; demand; infrastructure; policies and regulations; labour readiness; workforce attitude and motivation; communication and sources of new knowledge and; culture.

The key factors influencing absorptive capacity presented in this paper are based on validation from the case studies in five construction SMEs in Malaysia. The research focuses on how they operate in rural areas; however, the research results have wider application than just Malaysia. The key factors identified as influencing absorptive capacity can serve as a basis for considering knowledge absorption in the wider context by SMEs in other developing countries.

Owning to the influence small retailers have on the customer’s final choice, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that dominate small retailer’s assortment planning decisions. Drivers of product adoption by small retailers are the focus of study. Earlier research works have primarily focused on the profit oriented factors of retailing. It is a multidimensional approach of understanding the decision making of small retailers.

The study is an exploratory in nature, using a mixed method approach that involves both qualitative and quantitative methodology. In the first stage of the study, grounded theory has been adopted that helps in building a conceptual model, which is further validated using SEM. Rural areas of Jammu and Punjab have been targeted to collect data.

The study provides a conceptual model of product assortment planning for small retailers. The results indicate retail margin, which is the most important criterion toward product selection. Small retailers understand the customer profile and their catchment before selecting a product for their store. Store design is an important variable which impacts the number of categories kept in the store as the shelf space is limited. While determining the assortment planning for the store the retailers need to think in advance about buyer, supplier, environmental and the surplus oriented factors while determining the assortment planning for the store.

In developing economies like India, major population (customers) lie in the rural areas of the country and prefer small retailers to shop their daily necessities. The study proposed that the manufacturers need to maintain good and healthy relationship with the associates of the channel and the retailers that are in connected with the end consumer. Marketing managers of firms with target audience as small retailers can draw many inferences from the present study. They may devise rural strategies keeping attributes like localization of supplier, doorstep delivery, supply frequency, etc., on the basis of product demand and attribute.

This paper fulfills an identified need to explore the assortment planning criteria of BOP retailers in India. Also the mixed methodology is attractive and new in the retail domain.