International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship

Literature from export development and international entrepreneurship argues that personal factors, or the owner/founder's human capital, strongly influence the choice and degree of internationalization in small firms. Personal factors include a wide array of dimensions, including achieved attributes, environmental perceptions and business skills, yet most studies bundle these dimensions with other internationalization factors. Consequently, the relative importance of human capital factors in internationalization is unclear. This article examines the differences in personal factors between internationalized and non-internationalized small firms. We compare the relative importance of four dimensions of human capital: international business skills, international orientation, perceptions of the environment, and demographic characteristics, and analyze these based on the industrial technology sector (i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary). Results show that neither traditional demographic measures nor international orientation distinguishes between internationalized and non-internationalized firms, but that environmental perceptions and selfassessed strengths in international business skills are significant. The combination of personal factors varies significantly by technology sector, with the primary and tertiary sectors showing minimal differences except in perceptions of the environment. International business skills, international orientation and perceptions of the environment differ for small firms in the secondary sector. Implications and future research directions are included.

The aim of this article is to conduct an exploratory study into how SMEs apply Reengineering. In particular, the approach of SMEs to Reengineering definition and methodology are examined. Reengineering has developed from a background in large enterprises. Existing methodologies mainly assume a large organization setting with large-scale resources dedicated to bringing about the large-scale reengineering changes. The paucity of studies in SMEs is surprising given the current and anticipated future market challenges in the SME environment that increase pressure for organizational realignment and responsiveness and market agility. The research involved a literature review and an exploratory multiple case study analysis. In total eight case studies on SMEs, where reengineering had been applied, were analysed using an inductive research methodology, which analysed positivistic reengineering approaches and less structured, more phenomenologically based approaches, which emerged within the case analysis. The analysis indicates that the taxonomy and nomenclature of reengineering, as defined by large organization-based studies, has not translated into SMEs, who use much more general terminology.

This article draws on UK data obtained from a useable sample of 673 'independent contractors' active in the field of direct sales franchising. This is a low-cost, low-entry barrier business opportunity, which, at any one time, facilitates 500,000 individuals in the UK, mostly women, experiencing selfemployment without employees. Furthermore, whilst direct sales franchises claim to be the world's largest single provider of part-time, self-employment opportunities, most of the related trading is conducted in the informal economy and is not recorded in official self-employment statistics. The article presents a 2x2, product/service, home-based/external premises, franchise typology by way of background to the principal focus of the article, which is the direct sales segment of the typology. Additionally, this discussion is conducted against the backdrop of the UK's growth in the numbers of selfemployed without employees. In the case of direct selling, we are looking not only at micro-business activities devoid of employees, but also at a sector which operates largely on the basis of part-time economic activities and which manifests attrition rates of around 100 percent annually. Finally, a direct seller typology is presented involving three distinct types:'refugees', 'trade-offs' and 'opportunists'.

This article explores succession within Asian family firms by considering whether experiences of succession are influenced by ethnicity. To understand these factors and develop strategies to assist succession this article explores experiences of Kenyan Asian family businesses. While British Asian firms are facing succession for the first time, a large proportion of the Kenyan Asian business community has already experienced first generation succession and the survivors are now preparing for round two. By drawing on the experiences of the Kenyan cases this article argues the findings may be applied to their British counterparts. The key findings from this article identify mothers of the heirs as crucial buffers between the generations. Previous experiences of succession have caused devastating splits both for the business and the family resulting in considerable motivation to invest resources into long-term planning as illustrated by the unexpected emphasis on separation of ownership and management. Finally, while ethnicity is argued to have a significant impact on succession, the situation is compounded by vast attitudinal differences between the generations, potentially leading to a time bomb within family firms.

In this article the external advice sought by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is analysed through a survey carried out to evaluate the impact of the work done by consultants and to determine the degree of satisfaction with Spanish consulting firms. We will examine the effect of management consulting firms on SMEs when an external consultant offers the consulting service. Research was carried out into companies that could potentially seek the services of an adviser by asking them if they considered the results of the adviser's project and its quality to be useful.