Small Business. Critical Perspectives on Business and Management

Citation

Matlay, H. (2003), "Small Business. Critical Perspectives on Business and Management", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 210-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed.2003.10.2.210.1

Occasionally, the publishing world provides opportunities for illustrious academics to edit multi‐volume collections that comprise some of the best articles relating to an important research topic. Routledge, in particular, stands out amongst such publishers, not only in this respect but also for its long running and internationally acclaimed research monographs, which cover a wide spectrum of topical, emergent or controversial issues. Professor D.J. Storey, the editor of this significant addition to the specialist literature, is a well‐known and much respected champion of, and advisor on, small businesses both in the UK and abroad. In this brief review, it proved difficult to do justice to this timely contribution to the small business topic, but I hope that readers might benefit from a succinct overview of its contents.

In total, this set of four volumes includes 62 journal articles and book chapters, grouped in 14 themed parts. In the editor’s opinion, these carry important and/or original “messages” in terms of key findings, framework of analysis and/or research focus. An overall contents table is included in the first volume. A chronological table is also provided at the beginning of the first volume to help familiarise the reader with relevant details such as the name(s) of author(s), title of the article or chapter, full original reference details and its position within the set. In each of the four volumes, every part is usefully and succinctly introduced and summarised by the editor. In addition to individual references, a general bibliography and an overall index are provided at the end of volume IV.

Volume I comprises 11 papers grouped into two parts: “Births” and “Deaths”. The first part includes five papers that outline small business knowledge related to start‐ups, early economic activity, new firm formation, seedbed roles and the concept of turbulence. The second part of Volume I contains six articles relating to small business “deaths”. The research thread continues with 22 papers in Volume II, separated into three distinct parts: “Growth”, “Employment and Job Generation” and “Finance”. For Volume III, the editor chose a further 11 papers, grouped in four parts: “Policy”, “Ethnic Entrepreneurs”, “Female Entrepreneurs” and “Spatial”. In the final Volume (IV), 18 papers are divided into five parts: “Technology/Innovation”, “Entrepreneurs”, “Management”, “Self Employment” and “Networks”.

The variety of research styles, approaches, paradigms and methodologies found within this epic undertaking have one significant and reassuring common denominator: empirical rigour. This alone would make compelling reading for those academics and researchers who are interested or involved in this important sector of the economy. Other interested parties, including policy makers, practitioners, consultants, undergraduate and postgraduate students, are also likely to find this publication invaluable in their quest for understanding this vast and diverse sector of economic activity. Its international flavour adds a further dimension to the value of the extensive knowledge base that has been expertly amalgamated into a coherent and well‐structured small business reference set. As an avid reader of high quality small business literature I would like to congratulate both the editor and the publishers for making available, in a concise, structured and easily accessible form, such a wealth of empirically rigorous and a well‐chosen collection of specialised articles.