Symposium on Harrison's ?Lean and Mean?: A finance perspective

Abstract

Bennett Harrison is to be congratulated for raising a series of tough and thought-provoking questions regarding the changing industrial structure in the United States and the world. By compiling earlier research by authors in a variety of disciplines with his own work, he argues powerfully that the case for small firms as the engine of economic growth is overstated. He presents considerable evidence suggesting that the focus of economic development officials on encouraging small enterprises, as well as industrial districts comprised of small firms, is misguided. In his eagerness to make his case, however, Harrison exerts a great deal of selectivity in the studies that he discusses, and in the nature of their presentation. As a consequence, the volume lacks balance in its presentation of several critical issues. This "stacking the deck" leads to an unfortunate weakening of the effectiveness of the book's overall argument, at least in the eyes of this reader. Nowhere is this limitation clearer than in his