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Argues that, although the Enterprise in Higher Education (EHE) initiative is a product of the perceived needs of large businesses, it should be judged in a wider context. Using an economist’s perspective, explores the relationship between EHE and the growth of graduate employment in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises. Concludes that this relationship is probably negative, given the current problems faced by small firms, but is optimistic for the future.

In 1990/91, survey responses were gathered from 621 independent businesses located in Great Britain. A follow‐on telephone survey was conducted with 150 surviving firms in 1997. This survey gathered information surrounding the propensity of firms to export their goods or services abroad as well as other performance and goal outcomes. Organizational and external environmental variables collected in 1990 are used to explain within a multivariate statistical framework the propensity of a firm to be an exporter in 1997, and the intensity of internationalization activity. Data collected in 1990 is also used to explain variations in several performance variables (i.e. whether exporting was regarded as a path to firm growth; profit performance reported in 1997 relative to competition; and the propensity to report employment growth over the 1990 to 1997 period).

The development of small firms tends to follow certain growth patterns usually referred to as business growth models. This paper reports on the conceptualisation of a “problem‐based phenomenological life cycle model”, which delineates the growth pattern of micro and small manufacturing firms in Cyprus. The empirically validated model offers guidance to small business managers, financiers and advisers as to the challenges and growth complexities accompanying the transitions taking place in small businesses as they develop along their organisational life cycle. Enhanced understanding of the barriers to the development of small business contributes to the better design of policy initiatives that seek to foster the survival, sustainable growth and prosperity of small enterprises.

The implementation of the EC′s programme to liberalise the financial services sector as part of the movement towards a Single European Market will significantly reduce the costs of entry into non‐domestic markets for Community banks. Reducing entry costs will increase competition in banking markets, but it is unlikely that all segments of the banking market will experience the same patterns of change. The large‐scale corporate market already displays a high volume of cross‐border trade, while retail markets may be inaccessible for many non‐domestic banks, except by acquisition. The small‐ and medium‐sized corporate sector is widely regarded as an attractive niche market at the European level and it is suggested that there are particular gaps in this market in the UK. These gaps may make such a market susceptible to increased competition from non‐UK Community banks, although at the same time, improvements in the product offerings to this market by UK banks may provide the basis for a strategy to protect existing domestic markets and develop into new non‐domestic markets.

Increased competitive pressure in the market for loanable funds has encouraged the banks to place greater emphasis on the marketing of their services to both corporate and personal customers. The small business sector of the corporate market covers the majority of corporate accounts and for a substantial volume of bank lending. However, the proliferation of product differentiation in relation to small business customers in order to improve banks′ competitive position appears to have been less than successful. The small business sector is heterogeneous; customer needs vary but there is little evidence to suggest that banks differentiate their products sufficiently to appeal to distinct market segments. On the contrary, despite competitive pressures and new marketing strategies, small business customers generally perceive the services provided by the different banks as indistinguishable.

The intangibility of services presents a number of problems for the measurement of quality and customer satisfaction. Proposes a simple index which can be applied to ordinal or cardinal data and will provide a convenient aggregate summary of the extent to which a product or service meets consumer expectations. The index, though simple, is robust, and is applied to the problem of analysing the quality of banking services provided to small firms in the United Kingdom.

This paper focuses upon the role of factoring in small business finance and the profile of firms using it. The analysis refers to a comprehensive survey of UK providers of factoring services. This identifies the relatively focused provision of factoring in terms of size, age, sector and stage of growth of the client base (ie businesses) using this financial service. For those using factoring, the service may provide a valuable improvement to cash flow and working capital position and can possibly contribute to small business growth and development. In its present format, however, factoring is not the potential financial solution for all firms across all industries.

The purpose of this paper is to show how banks have a critical role in helping SMEs by providing investment capital that businesses need and by offering sound financial advice through the growth of the company.

Using the Forum of Private Business (FPB) Bank Report of 2004, the total sample represents responses from the FPB and customers of six participating clearing banks. Although the total sample is used to compile performance indices by the bank, the rest of this paper is based solely on the FPB sample.

Business and their managers should improve their knowledge of financial management. Appreciation on the part of banks that SMEs' confidence in formalised process will be greater where small firms’ own representatives have set up contingencies to overcome relationship problems when trading difficulties arise.

It was found that in order to pursue economic competitiveness it is necessary for many SMEs to have a flexible working relationship with their banks.

The purpose of this research is to answer the question: how can a new service development (NSD) program in the financial services industry be managed? More specifically, this research has two objectives: to explore the stages in the NSD process; and to explore how customer input may be obtained in the various stages of the development process. After a review of the new product development literature, the case study methodology involving in‐depth interviews with managers and their customers is described. Analysis of the data showed that there were ten stages in the NSD process, and whether those stages were managed linearly or sequentially was a function of the size of the firm. In addition, how NSD managers obtained customer input in each stage, was uncovered. Implications for NSD managers include which stages to concentrate on, and how to capture customer input.

This study explores whether there are differences between established “rural” and “urban” SMEs with regard to the decision to sell goods or services abroad. Several hypotheses were formulated and tested. In 1990/1991, survey responses were gathered from 621 independent businesses located in the UK. In 1997, a follow‐on telephone survey was conducted with 150 surviving firms. Urban exporting SMEs reported superior performance to urban non‐exporting SMEs in 1997. Rural and urban SMEs, however, did not significantly differ from each other with regard to the reasons cited for not exporting, the reasons cited for exporting, and the modes of entry into the largest current foreign market selected by exporters. Nevertheless, some rural SMEs had circumvented local resource constraints and entered foreign markets by engaging in networking. Implications for policy‐makers, practitioners and researchers are highlighted.