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The field of higher education is constantly evolving, particularly in the era of globalisation. With the expansion and influence of Western paradigms, the influence of transnational education (TNE) in the developing world has been gaining significant traction and impact. This chapter attempts to formulate conclusions about the key determining factors behind the penetration and entrenchment of primarily the Anglo-Saxon style of University Education. Within that spectrum, the discussion will also cover how this manifests, looking specifically at various models of TNE and collaborative provision, exploring the possible connotations for small businesses. The final section will attempt to crystallise the main findings and propose directions for further research.

This chapter draws on a number of literary sources, both academic and practitioner, to enable reconciling different discipline areas. Empirical studies will also be explored to provide additional substantiation to the theoretical mantle. This chapter forms conclusions on how the various models of TNE have evolved across the world, the impact of this expansion has created for the local population in terms of skills development and accessibility to education, but also in terms of implications for the local economy and small businesses in particular. A novel approach is taken in trying to bring together disparate thematic areas, which although topical have rarely been explored in conjunction. This chapter will be of interest to a wide audience, including academics and researchers but also policy-makers and professionals in the small business field.

The exploration of small businesses has risen in prominence over the last years in the UK context, particularly given the impact they carry in terms of their contribution to national productivity and overall economic and financial performance. The exit of the UK from the European Union has created new conditions and issues that organisations are called to face. This chapter attempts to draw on pertinent literature to sketch out and map the challenge that Brexit poses for small business owners and managers. This chapter will elicit information primarily through an extensive scan and analysis of the available literature to crystallise the main arguments and frameworks that can help understand and interpret the more nuanced aspects. Ensuing, building on the findings from the literature, there will be an attempt to present a range of potential recommendations to assist small business with their planning to address the issues that might emerge both during the transition phase, but equally in the medium- and long-term future. The topic is of interest to both academics and practitioners as it explores the interplay between two very important and contemporary themes, the specific characteristics of small business and the unfolding exit from the EU, exploring how management and organisations can adapt to tackle this new landscape.

Purpose – To explore the ethical challenges, the financial crisis afflicting Greece and most of the European South creates for MNCs. Emphasis is placed on using human resource management (HRM) as the principle prism to identify the role of employees as organizational members and individuals within the transforming environment.Design/methodology – The chapter follows an exploratory inquisitive path, attempting to elicit information and evidence from theoretical and practical sources, bringing together three primary areas: CSR and business ethics, HRM, and contextual factors, moderated by the financial crisis. The key driver is to shed light in a related narrowly searched field, paving the way for future investigations.Findings – The results from the critical analysis indicate substantial overlap between the examined themes, indicating considerably scope for academics and practitioners to pursue more specific work on field.Research implications/limitations – The chapter is predominantly exploratory in nature, endeavouring to seam together into a meaningful platform several subtle issues and introduce a novel context as the focal point. The innate limitation is the lack of empirical substantiation which could be picked up in ensuing researches, based on the premises stemming from this discourse.Originality/value of chapter – The chapter offers a novel contextualization for academics and practitioners within the field of CSR, business ethics and HRM, which is particularly relevant given the permeating fluidity in the extant economic and business environment. Decision and policy-making on organizational and institutional level can also gain from the insights proposed, and through continued research to effectively form policies in the near future.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine what small business strategic management and long-term planning involves as practised by successful growth-oriented small businesses. The aim is to provide insight into the strategic learning, control and development processes, including indicative detail of the underpinning day-to-day practices and actions that make up those processes. Key focus is the overall strategic control activity of more progressive owner managers and their use of an idiosyncratic mentally held ‘strategic planning and thinking framework’ that guides and informs strategic decision-making, strategic adjustment to existing markets, products and processes activities and long-term strategic direction.

The research approach is underpinned and informed by personal construct theory which gives emphasis to the highly complex nature of the task of small business strategic control and highlights the need for a creative and innovative research methodology to facilitate close and detailed investigation of the phenomenon. To this end, a multidisciplinary case study research methodology was developed by the authors to underpin examination of strategic development and planning within micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses.

The chapter enhances understanding of small business strategic management practice in growth-achieving micro and small enterprises. The findings of this research, whilst demonstrating the key role of entrepreneurial learning in small firm strategic control of the uncertain external environment, also provides a multidimensional lens through which to dissect and better understand the small firm strategy development process – drawing upon and integrating grains of truth from the differing schools of management thought embedded in the literature.

The findings of this study also facilitate the addressing of the ‘black box’ of hazy insight within the literature which fails to reveal micro-level fine detail understanding of the managerial and organisational actions and activities that make up strategy process. The authors commence provision of such black box insight within this chapter – this as lead-through to the follow-on chapter which affords specific attention to enhancing understanding of the micro-level fine detail minutia of managerial, organisational and work activities that make up strategy process within small businesses.

The research is of a comparative dimension focussing on small business development within the developed economy context of the UK, the emerging economy contexts of Malaysia and Ghana and the transitional economy contexts of Russia. Thus, time and resource limitations bound the studies.

Start-up owners have emerged in recent years as thought leaders in a variety of encouraging ways throughout the business world, changing the game that organisations function worldwide in fascinating ways. They have transformed office culture by embracing flex-time, innovative work spaces, informal networks and work structures among many things. Building a great organisational culture at the early stages of forming a business as in a start-up is about creating an identity. The World Economic Forum community observes that start-ups are social systems which are very attractive for their enhancing of personal creativity and social inclusion. Thus, members of creative start-ups seem to exhibit strong group affiliation and passion for their profession. Based on the assumptions above, the study of start-up workplaces as unique social systems with distinct characteristics is proposed. Drawing on social identity theory as a collective construct was derived by Henri Tajfel and John Turner (Tajfel, 1972; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, 1982).

This chapter aims to investigate the idiosyncratic bundle of resources, capabilities and personal attributes resulting from the system interactions in the unique organisational context of start-ups (Habbershon, Williams, & McMillan, 2003, p. 452). This chapter considers the need for nurturing of start-up business owners/managers’ entrepreneurial learning capabilities, and highlights the fact that entrepreneurial learning and behaviour is different from other forms of learning and behaving.

Although multiple factors influence how people work, social identity theory could possible serve as a unifying theory of organisational behaviour elements, because it views the organisation as a social system where individual behaviours and attitudes are to a large degree influenced by psychological, behavioural, economic and sociological processes of group formation and membership. Social identity perspectives can shed light on

what and how people think in the early, but very critical stages of organisation formation.

Research in entrepreneurship points out that a heightened sense of self-realisation in individual starting/participating in new ventures is a strong motivator (Triandis, 1989). Engaged and inspired employees perceive their entrepreneurial identity to be central to their self-concept and experience greater levels of passion at their work (Murnieks, Mosakowski, & Cardon, 2014). The result is that the staff is committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. For start-up culture is the reflection of everyone’s actions and values in the office – the interactions of everyone in the start-up with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders set the tone for the company’s relations with its external environment and its culture.

Developing a business with like-minded individuals to advance a collective business vision is at the heart of entrepreneurial activity of small and emerging enterprises. Small but highly flexible work groups provide a united voice and a common sense of purpose for individual members (Alpkan & All, 2007). They have the ability to take action to reconfigure or move entrepreneurial resources and activities in company routines quickly and effectively. This is particularly important in times of high uncertainty and volatility as the one we are currently going through in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this chapter, we will be exploring the role of leadership within small businesses. Leadership is an essential element in the management of any organisation and is even more crucial when it comes to small businesses. In particular, both the structure and the specific stage of development of small businesses determines the need for an evolving style of leadership. Unlike their counterparts at larger organisations, small business leaders usually have a higher level of hands-on involvement across multiple areas of responsibility, including strategic decision-making and financial management, as well as team leadership and motivation.

Some key leadership skills, such as having a clear vision, communicating successfully across all business levels, leading by example and keeping the team engaged, are shared by all enterprises, regardless of size and nature. It is critical for small business leaders to understand that each stage of an organisation’s lifecycle brings with it different opportunities and challenges that should be dealt with by adopting different leadership techniques. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach will not work, and could even become detrimental in the long term.

During an organisation’s early days, a leader’s main role is to inspire the individuals they work with by sharing their vision and purpose without the need for formal management processes. In this chapter, we will be exploring the above issues in relation to the role of leadership within small businesses in greater depth.