The owner manager

Abstract

An increasing amount of attention is being given to the role of small firms in the country's economy and to the problems they face in improving their efficiency. Industrial Training Boards, for example, finding in some cases that as many as 90% of the companies in their scope employ less than 100 persons, have had to think out some practical ways of making sure that small companies can earn training grant. However, much of what is offered in the way of training for the small firm is simply large firm practice adapted and watered down. Very few solutions offered to the small firm's training problems have stemmed from detailed analysis of what those problems are and whether or not they differ in kind rather than in degree from the problems faced by the large company. This is particularly true with management training and development in the context of the small firm. The purpose of this series of three articles is to argue that the situation within which the small firm operates is different from that of the large company, that this difference is reflected in the organisation, finance and operations of the small firm and that it is therefore necessary to identify the particular training needs of the small firm and base training policies and programmes on these needs. The first article puts forward some suggestions as to what the distinguishing marks of the small firm may be, the second looks at three case studies of the work of small firm owner‐managers, and the third tries to assess the implications of both the theoretical view, and of what happens in practice, for the development of training policies that are more in tune with the requirements of small companies.