Economics Of Small Business, The: An Introductory Survey


Book Description

This survey reviews research on the economics of small business, introducing key concepts for the understanding of the research, including some basic microeconomics, distribution functions, and concepts of entrepreneurship. Accessible to readers with elementary knowledge of economics and probability, the book is suitable as a text for an undergraduate course in the economics of small business. It also covers the economics of organization, the role of the family in small business, human capital and nonpecuniary motivation, together with the relationship of small business to entrepreneurship and growth. Public policy toward small business is discussed with an emphasis on the United States, together with comparisons and contrasts of many other countries.




A History of Small Business in America


Book Description

From the colonial era to the present day, small businesses have been an integral part of American life. First published in 1991 and now thoroughly revised and updated, A History of Small Business in America explores the central but ever-changing role played by small enterprises in the nation's economic, political, and cultural development. Examining small businesses in manufacturing, sales, services, and farming, Mansel Blackford argues that while small firms have always been important to the nation's development, their significance has varied considerably in different time periods and in different segments of our economy. Throughout, he relates small business development to changes in America's overall business and economic systems and offers comparisons between the growth of small business in the United States to its development in other countries. He places special emphasis on the importance of small business development for women and minorities. Unique in its breadth, this book provides the only comprehensive overview of these significant topics.




Small Business Enterprise


Book Description

The role of small business enterprise in a mature market economy is one of the major issues in contemporary industrial organization, and is the focus of this book. Small Business Enterprise brings new standards of rigour and insight into the study of small firms by importing contemporary ideas from industrial economics and by using up-to-date statistical and econometric techniques. Based on a uniquely rich set of data, Small Business Enterprise focuses on the early period after start-up of the small firm. It investigates competitive niches and how they are established, determinants of growth and profitability, the factors fostering survivial, and many other central issues. This core of economic analysis is complemented by an innovative case profile approach, which considers the real behaviour of small firms in a competitive environment; and a section on the political economy of small firms, which looks at the ethics of competition and the enterprise culture.




Small Town Rules


Book Description

Teaches large businesses to use word-of-mouth and reputation-building to gain a loyal customer base in the way small businesses do.




The Economics and Management of Small Business


Book Description

This book provides an international perspective on small business, and includes many useful pedagogical features such as questions for discussion, international case studies and empirical research.




Cases on Small Business Economics and Development During Economic Crises


Book Description

Oftentimes, the owners and entrepreneurs whose small businesses are undergoing financial problems suffer high emotional costs. These individuals can experience significant setbacks in their entrepreneurial journeys as well as depression and other negative emotions from the stress of crisis episodes. However, businesses that are in crisis also provide valuable learning opportunities for adapting and changing in order to successfully face future challenging situations. Cases on Small Business Economics and Development During Economic Crises presents a diverse range of perspectives and insights into global developments in entrepreneurship and captures a diverse collection of methodologies and outcomes from various countries in the realm of small business economics and their development. Including case studies that discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, risk management, and entrepreneurial resiliency, this case book serves as an excellent companion for entrepreneurs, small business owners, managers, executives, economists, business professionals, academicians, students, and researchers.




Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream


Book Description

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. They are the biggest job creators and offer a path to the American Dream. But for many, it is difficult to get the capital they need to operate and succeed. In the Great Recession, access to capital for small businesses froze, and in the aftermath, many community banks shuttered their doors and other lenders that had weathered the storm turned to more profitable avenues. For years after the financial crisis, the outlook for many small businesses was bleak. But then a new dawn of financial technology, or “fintech,” emerged. Beginning in 2010, new fintech entrepreneurs recognized the gaps in the small business lending market and revolutionized the customer experience for small business owners. Instead of Xeroxing a pile of paperwork and waiting weeks for an answer, small businesses filled out applications online and heard back within hours, sometimes even minutes. Banks scrambled to catch up. Technology companies like Amazon, PayPal, and Square entered the market, and new possibilities for even more transformative products and services began to appear. In Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, former U.S. Small Business Administrator and Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School, Karen G. Mills, focuses on the needs of small businesses for capital and how technology will transform the small business lending market. This is a market that has been plagued by frictions: it is hard for a lender to figure out which small businesses are creditworthy, and borrowers often don’t know how much money or what kind of loan they need. New streams of data have the power to illuminate the opaque nature of a small business’s finances, making it easier for them to weather bumpy cash flows and providing more transparency to potential lenders. Mills charts how fintech has changed and will continue to change small business lending, and how financial innovation and wise regulation can restore a path to the American Dream. An ambitious book grappling with the broad significance of small business to the economy, the historical role of credit markets, the dynamics of innovation cycles, and the policy implications for regulation, Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream is relevant to bankers, fintech investors, and regulators; in fact, to anyone who is interested in the future of small business in America.










Are Small Firms Important? Their Role and Impact


Book Description

Are Small Firms Important? Their Role and Impact proposes and supports the claim that small firms make two indispensable contributions to the economy. First, they are an integral part of the renewal process that pervades market economies. New and small firms play a crucial role in experimentation and innovation that leads to technological change, productivity and economic growth. Second, small firms are the essential mechanism by which millions enter the economic and social mainstream of American society. The public policy implications for sustained economic growth and social well-being is the continued high-level creation of new and small firms by all segments of society. It should be the role of government policy to facilitate that process by eliminating entry barriers, lowering transaction costs, and minimizing regulation.