Small Firms and Local Economic Networks
The Death of the Local Economy?
- Jim Curran - Kingston University, UK
- Robert Blackburn - University of Liverpool, UK
in seven contrasting localities in the United Kingdom. All the owner-managers and large organization representatives were interviewed face-to-face and background data was collected from numerous other individuals and sources.
The authors' findings have profound implications for theory and policy. They question the applicability of models of the changing economy such as 'industrial districts' idealized in much of the recent literature. The results also have implications for those agencies based on the locality attempting to reach small businesses as well as government policies attempting economic development.
'This work deserves to be accepted as a watershed in our understanding of the importance of small firm linkages in the local economy' - International Journal of Entrepreneurship Behaviour and Research
'Altogether this is a very impressive study which draws several important conclusions which have major implications for the design and delivery of support services for smaller enterprises' - Small Business Perspective
