Adopting ICT in the Mompreneurs Business

2011 ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Yvonne Costin
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Stakeholder Requirements

It is advocated that the role of technology is instrumental in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of where, when and how business transactions are undertaken to meet stakeholder requirements in a competitive manner. However, research by the Small Business Forum (2006) suggest the use and application of ICT in small firms overall is poor where entrepreneurs do not capitalise sufficiently on the benefits of ICT. To succeed and grow, mompreneurs’ businesses should be using ICT as a backbone for the business in an integrated manner. The objective of this chapter is to examine the adoption and application of ICT in the mompreneurs business and challenges encountered in its effective use. A specific emphasis is placed on the issue of ICT and its use by the mompreneur in undertaking business transactions and as a means of facilitating small firm growth.

Adopting ICT in the Mompreneurs Business

2013 ◽  
pp. 322-339
Author(s):  
Yvonne Costin
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Stakeholder Requirements

It is advocated that the role of technology is instrumental in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of where, when and how business transactions are undertaken to meet stakeholder requirements in a competitive manner. However, research by the Small Business Forum (2006) suggest the use and application of ICT in small firms overall is poor where entrepreneurs do not capitalise sufficiently on the benefits of ICT. To succeed and grow, mompreneurs’ businesses should be using ICT as a backbone for the business in an integrated manner. The objective of this chapter is to examine the adoption and application of ICT in the mompreneurs business and challenges encountered in its effective use. A specific emphasis is placed on the issue of ICT and its use by the mompreneur in undertaking business transactions and as a means of facilitating small firm growth.

ICT as an Enabler for Small Firm Growth

2012 ◽  
pp. 1078-1091
Author(s):  
Yvonne Costin
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Product Service ◽  
New Business ◽  
Female Entrepreneur ◽  
Effective Use

The advancing pace of women’s entrepreneurial activity across the globe is a promising trend to fuel economic development and social progress (Fitzsimons & O’Gorman, 2005). Analysis of the reasons why women start a new business, the choice of product/service, and industry sector highlight the home-based female entrepreneur. These entrepreneurs constitutes a segment referred to as the mompreneurs—mothers who establish a business operated from home. Thus, although mompreneurs gain benefits of operating their business from home, they also experience additional challenges. One such issue is their dependence on ICT. To succeed and grow, mompreneurs’ businesses must use ICT as a backbone for the business in an integrated manner. In this article, the author examines the adoption and application of ICT in the mompreneur business, as well as the challenges encountered in its effective use. A specific emphasis is placed on the issue of ICT and its use by the mompreneur in undertaking business transactions and as a means of facilitating small firm growth.

ICT as an Enabler for Small Firm Growth

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Costin
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Product Service ◽  
New Business ◽  
Female Entrepreneur ◽  
Effective Use

The advancing pace of women’s entrepreneurial activity across the globe is a promising trend to fuel economic development and social progress (Fitzsimons & O’Gorman, 2005). Analysis of the reasons why women start a new business, the choice of product/service, and industry sector highlight the home-based female entrepreneur. These entrepreneurs constitutes a segment referred to as the mompreneurs—mothers who establish a business operated from home. Thus, although mompreneurs gain benefits of operating their business from home, they also experience additional challenges. One such issue is their dependence on ICT. To succeed and grow, mompreneurs’ businesses must use ICT as a backbone for the business in an integrated manner. In this article, the author examines the adoption and application of ICT in the mompreneur business, as well as the challenges encountered in its effective use. A specific emphasis is placed on the issue of ICT and its use by the mompreneur in undertaking business transactions and as a means of facilitating small firm growth.

Small Business Growth Characteristics

1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin M. Boardman ◽  
Jon W. Bartley ◽  
Richard L. Ratliff
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Growth Characteristics ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Is Success ◽  
Small Business Growth ◽  
Financial Characteristics ◽  
Is Failure

Financial characteristics are presented for small firms whose sales increased at a rate greater than the inflation rate over the period 1974–1979. It is noted that these characteristics differ somewhat depending on whether they were a retailer, manufacturer or wholesaler. A growing small firm is generally characterized as one which increases its leverage, decreases its liquidity and incurs a heavy investment in operational assets. Interestingly, it is also shown that these same characteristics, if taken to extremes, are typical of the failed companies in the sample. The reward of growth is success; the risk of growth is failure.

Small Firms Crafting Growth Niches in the French Wine Industry: The Role of Entrepreneurial Marketing

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. Barton ◽  
Sandra Painbéni ◽  
Harry Barton
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Product Knowledge ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Entrepreneurial Marketing ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities

The Case Study section of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation serves two purposes. First, the case studies presented are concerned with problematical issues that are pertinent to students of entrepreneurship. Thus they constitute appropriate teaching and learning vehicles on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Each case study is accompanied by a set of guidelines for the use of tutors. Second, it is envisaged that those engaged in entrepreneurial activities will find the cases both interesting and useful. This case study focuses on Domaine de Mourchon, a niche producer of Côtes du Rhône Villages, Séguret Wines in France, owned by the Scottish McKinlay family. The case explores the role of entrepreneurial marketing in helping small independent wine producers to craft strong niche positions in a mature industry. Over the last two decades, French wine producers have been faced with changing consumption and production patterns and fiercer competition, particularly from the New World wine producers. McKinlay entered wine production in 1998 at the height of the industry decline in France. The case allows for the exploration of how a small independent domaine has been proactive in integrating customer preferences, competitor intelligence and product knowledge into the process of creating and delivering superior value to customers in an attempt to achieve a strong market positioning. The activities of McKinlay highlight some of the important considerations for successful entrepreneurial marketing in an industry facing severe marketing problems. Learning objectives: a) to explore the role of entrepreneurial marketing in promoting small firm growth, particularly in mature and/or declining industries; (b) to assess branding and the establishment of or involvement in cooperative interorganizational networks as key factors in successful entrepreneurial marketing; and (c) to stimulate debate about the role of entrepreneurial marketing for small and large firms in different industries.

THE ROLE OF FAMILY START UPS IN THE EMERGENCE OF A SMALL BUSINESS SECTOR IN BULGARIA

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 351-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
DENISE FLETCHER ◽  
EMIL HELIENEK ◽  
ZVETA ZAFIROVA
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Family ◽  
Start Ups

It is widely reported that entrepreneurial activity has a significant role to play in transition economies such as Central and Eastern Europe but little is known about the role that the family unit plays in facilitating small business emergence in the former command economies. This is surprising given that the link between family and small business development has been widely researched in market economies. In this study, attention is drawn to the role that family relations and resources play in small business emergence. The study focuses on Bulgaria, a country in the Balkans with much cultural diversity and which became a European Union member in 2007–8. Analysis is undertaken of research material drawn from a survey of 69 small firms. 42% of the surveyed firms are two generation businesses involving the entrepreneur and children or parents. 35% of the businesses are three generation businesses involving the lead entrepreneur, parents, children and siblings. The remaining 33% are firms that are run by couples and/or siblings. This suggests that the family household is the key channel for (and of) small business formation. In neglecting the role of family start-ups, this gives a false understanding to the role that households and families sometimes contribute to the economy. At the same time, it is also partly because of this dependency on family relations and resources that small businesses become rooted in the 'informal economy' — an economy that is based on family favours and which it is difficult to break out of.

Small Business and the Environment in the UK and the Netherlands: Toward Stakeholder Cooperation

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 945-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Spence ◽  
Ronald Jeurissen ◽  
Robert Rutherfoord
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Ethical Issue ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Responsibility ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Stakeholder Cooperation ◽  
Business And The Environment

Abstract:In this paper, the approaches of a sample of small firms to environmental issues in the UK and the Netherlands are compared. The study makes a contribution by addressing the lack of research on small firms and the environment, as well as offering insights into the influence that cultural, institutional, and political frameworks can have on small firm owner-managers’ attitudes to external issues. The environment is considered here as an ethical issue, drawing on work on the environmental responsibility of business by both Bowie (1990) and Hoffman (1991). It is argued that the approaches to the environment identified in this study by Dutch and UK small firm owner-managers do not fit in with the positions of either Bowie or Hoffman. The concept of stakeholder cooperation is proposed as a more realistic alternative.

How Does Passion Affect Small Firm Growth? The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Alertness

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 14558
Author(s):  
Mwansa Chabala ◽  
Elco Van Burg ◽  
Leonard Paas ◽  
Enno Masurel ◽  
John Lungu
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Entrepreneurial Alertness

EFFECTS OF FORMAL PLANNING AND CONTROL ON GROWTH: A CASE STUDY APPROACH

1995 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 161-195
Author(s):  
CLAUDIO A. ROMANO ◽  
JANEK RATNATUNGA
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Control Systems ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Control Process ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Contextual Variables ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
And Control

While planning and control and their impact on small firm growth are implicit in many academic discussions, much of our understanding of these phenomena are based on speculation and opinion. Thus, they seem neglected areas of small business research. This paper seeks to improve the understanding of formal planning and control systems and their relationship to the growth of small business in Australian manufacturing. First, a framework is developed which incorporates the main contextual variables which independently and simultaneously have been shown to have a major relationship with growth. Second, the study provides empirically-based qualitative evidence to further the understanding of causality in the growth of small business by focusing on how formal planning and control systems are embedded within the external or internal contextual variables of small business and the characteristics of their management. Evidence is also provided as to the conditions and circumstances under which formal planning and control are likely to be most effective in controlling the effects of contextual variables, and to the differences between high growth and low growth firms in the use of formal planning and control. The findings of this study are important for two principal reasons. First, it has provided the opportunity to conduct exploratory research into how a small business is managed within the context in which the processes are applied. Second, it has provided the opportunity to identify factors which encourage or discourage small firms to plan, thus providing a better understanding of the planning and control process adopted by small firms.

scholarly journals Redressing small firm resilience: exploring owner-manager resources for resilience

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Wall ◽  
Lawrence Bellamy
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Future State ◽  
Personal Resilience ◽  
Organisational Level

Purpose The owner-manager of small firms is recognised as having a potentially significant role in the small firm’s competitiveness, growth and failure. However, the owner-manager’s own resilience has been largely overlooked in the small firm resilience literature. The purpose of this paper is to redress this and expand the debate and empirical basis of small firm owner-managers’ personal resources for resilience. Design/methodology/approach This longitudinal qualitative study deployed semi-structured interviews with nine owner-managers, each being interviewed three or four times. Analytical procedures were used with an established framework, which conceptualised four key personal resources for resilience, as follows: adaptability, confidence, social support and purposefulness. Findings There were four key findings, as follows: owner-manager adaptability can appear in extremes including a sense of helplessness or optimism where disruptive circumstances are not sensed as problematic; owner-manager confidence levels often echo their own mindset of adaptability, that is, from helplessness to positive ambition; owner-managers can use discursive tactics with strong/weak ties for a range of affective and technical resources for resilience; and purposefulness tended to be framed in terms of a necessity for a longer term future state related to own or family lifestyle rather than profit. It is also noted that the owner-manager and the firm are closely interrelated, and therefore, enhancement of personal resilience resources is likely to positively influence their resilience, and therefore, the resilience of the organisation and strategic capability of the firm. Originality/value The small firm resilience literature typically focusses on the organisational level, which de-emphasises the salient role of the owner-manager and their resilience. This study attempts to redress this.

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