Entrepreneurship and Small Business (2nd edition)

David W. Taylor (Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Entrepreneurship and International Business Division, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School)

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research

ISSN: 1355-2554

Article publication date: 1 May 2007

5471

Keywords

Citation

Taylor, D.W. (2007), "Entrepreneurship and Small Business (2nd edition)", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 194-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552550710751058

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Until recently books on entrepreneurship had failed to truly synthesise the theoretical perspectives of entrepreneurship and small business with more practical know‐how that relates to business start‐up and management. Publications have tended to be either more academic publications or more practical business planning or business start‐up guides. This separation has given the impression that these are two discrete disciplines. What was needed was a comprehensive introductory text to the analysis and practice of entrepreneurship for those studying in HE, a text that brings together more academic know‐why research, and more practical how‐to‐do‐it insights. This accessible and comprehensive text addresses this gap and successfully combines theoretical management perspectives with practical how‐to‐do‐it insights into the planning and management of small business.

Entrepreneurship as a literature is maturing and is starting to establish itself as a field in its own right with its own agenda and concerns. Its moving away from simply being an amalgam of bits borrowed from the other management disciplines, and this needs to be reflected in a text. On‐the‐other‐hand, students are also increasingly engaging in enterprise programmes such as Flying Start, Graduate Enterprise, Shell Live WIRE and STEP, enterprise societies and incubators, the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, and in a growing number of Dragons Den and Apprentice style enterprise challenges. In doing so, they also need advice on the practical skills needed for business start‐up and management.

An early attempt at such a synthesis was David Stokes' 1992 publication Small Business Management, now in its 5th edition (Stokes and Wilson, 2006). Although predominantly a know‐how text, it does explore some of the sociological and psychological aspects of entrepreneurship and the role of innovation in the marketplace. Similarly, Legge and Hindle (2004) began and ended their know‐how text with bite‐sized insights into a broad range of entrepreneurial know‐why themes, and include a dedicated chapter to entrepreneurship in corporations. That said these texts still fall someway short of what is required for those needing a more complete understanding of the field of entrepreneurship.

Burns (2007) is one of only three texts, in my view, that have successfully integrated the right balance of know‐how and know‐why, in a language and presentation appropriate to the target audience; the others are Lowe and Marriott (2006) and Wickham (2006). Wickham (2006) is the most academic of the three highlighted above and would be best suited for final year undergraduate or postgraduate students studying entrepreneurship. While Lowe and Marriott (2006) and Wickham (2006) distinguish entrepreneurship from small business management, Burns (2007) remains a text about the dominant form of business, the small firm, although it moves away from simply looking at entrepreneurship within the context of new business start‐up and explores entrepreneurship in a broader range of business and public settings.

In this second edition Burns (2007) has been re‐structured into five distinct parts: entrepreneurship and innovation; start‐up; growth and decline; planning; and a part largely made up of new chapters covering key entrepreneurial topics – the family firm, international entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and social and civic entrepreneurship.

In part 1 Burns brings together a range of key themes in the entrepreneurship literature. He examines the importance of smaller and younger businesses to the economy in the UK and internationally. He explores the influences on and character traits of entrepreneurs, describes what constitutes an entrepreneurial culture, explains the nature of innovation, the importance of opportunity recognition and the role of the entrepreneur in the innovation process, and considers the creative process and how individual creativity can be encouraged. These succinct yet comprehensive introductory chapters quickly immerse the reader into the subject area, acting as a strong foundation on which to further develop understanding and stimulate entrepreneurial thinking. In part 2 he focuses on business planning and management, starting with self‐assessments, market research, business ideas generation, resources acquisition, and network usage for the nascent pre‐start‐up entrepreneur, before exploring marketing, selling and the role of the internet, and financial management. Part 3 is dedicated to business growth, and explores the changing requirements of the firm in terms of leadership and strategic management. Part 4 looks at the business plan in detail, and part 5 investigates a number of key themes in the entrepreneurship literature today – the family firm, international entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and social and civic entrepreneurship.

The text integrates into the chapters an extensive range of well‐known models, checklists and frameworks, and applies these to a wide variety of cases that include 3M, Body Shop, Cobra Beer, DellEbay.com, Dyson, Easyjet, JCB, Lastminute.com, Ryanair, The Big Issue, Virgin and many less well known businesses. These cases are provided in mini boxes and practically illustrate how the concepts under discussion are implemented in small and growing businesses; structured teaching notes support many of the cases.

The text is enhanced by end of chapter discussion topics and assignments, activities, and end of text practical exercises – covering business planning, small firm audit, entrepreneurial traits, business idea generation and opportunity evaluation. It also contains extensive learning resources, selected further readings, sources for advice and support, and a useful regulation checklist.

The real strength of Burns (2007) is the balanced and clear introductions he gives to a wide range of topics, the excellent supporting material, links and exercises, and most significantly, in providing a stimulating read that brings together academic research with practical how‐to‐do‐it advice that encourages the development of entrepreneurial skills, which are relevant to students studying entrepreneurship or wanting to set up in business.

References

Legge, J. and Hindle, K. (2004), Entrepreneurship: Context, Vision and Planning, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Lowe, R. and Marriott, S. (2006), Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Butterworth‐Heinemann, London.

Stokes, D. and Wilson, N. (2006), Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship, 5th ed., Thomson Learning, London.

Wickham, P.A. (2006), Strategic Entrepreneurship, 4th ed., FT Prentice‐Hall/Pearson Education, Harlow.

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