Thesis
Design factors in small enterprise development programs (SEDPs) for regional development: being a comparative review of differences between client types and regions in Australia
Southern Cross University, Faculty of Business and Computing
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
1996
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Abstract
This research examines the role of selected Small Enterprise Development Programs (SEDPs) in promoting the start-up, growth and development of small enterprises in Australia. Small enterprises are regarded as major contributors to human development by creating jobs and incomes. A second theme in this thesis links SEDPs to regional development, for two main reasons, firstly, the (re-)emergence of regional approaches to development problems, and second, SEDPs are usually national initiatives that are widely replicated without necessarily addressing the specific needs of their locations. In order to explore these themes and make judgements about how well SEDPs are being designed, a logical series of research questions are developed in order to establish the parameters by which to evaluate SEDP performance.
'Development' is defined in terms of sustainable improvement in the human condition. One of the issues in the literature is measurement of development, and a range of indicators are proposed. Since this thesis focuses on small enterprise, the relevant indicators are economic. Small enterprises are found to be associated with increasing per capita incomes, participation rates and job creation.
A further research question concerns the relationship between small enterprises and regional development. The use of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistical divisions as regions is justified. Literature on the role of small enterprise in regional development is reviewed, leading to the conclusion that the most important strategy for a region to promote regional development is via developing the small enterprise sector. However, it is also clear that regions can present very different environments for small enterprise development (SED).
The thesis examines factors in the environment that impact on SED. A model is developed which provides in detail, a list of factors, categorised as internal and external, that can inhibit SED. Given the role of small enterprises in regional development, then the issue shifts to government programs that promote SED.
A comprehensive definition of SEDP is provided and the literature shows that SEDPs do help small enterprise to start-up, strengthen or grow. They also vary functions; different SEDPs have different activities, so that specific types of SEDP target different types of client.
Some SEDPs have been extensively replicated across regions in Australia. Three were chosen for analysis:
• the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS),
• the Business Enterprise Centre Network (BECs), and
• the Managed Workspace (incubator) Program.
Three questions remained unanswered after analysis of the literature:
• Do the factors relevant to SED vary in importance between SEDP Client type and region?
• Does the effectiveness of SEDP interventions vary between SEDP Client type and region?
• Is there a difference between the way SEDP Clients and Practitioners perceive the importance of factors and the effectiveness of intervention.
It became necessary to develop a research program to answer these questions by constructing hypotheses and conducting surveys.
The survey results enable construction of a number of SEDP Client typologies based on criteria such as prior work status and growth performance of enterprises over recent years. One important outcome is the variation between regions in the mix of SEDP Client types attending the SEDPs. The survey also enables rankings of the environmental factors on their importance as barriers to SED, as well as the effectiveness of SEDPs in helping to overcome the barriers.
The survey findings confirm that the importance of factors varies depending on the type of SEDP Client. Most of the differences are on internal environment factors (the need for enterprise management skills and entrepreneurial competencies), although external factors are also shown to vary. A clear difference was also shown on the importance of environmental factors between regions, and most of the differences related to the internal environment.
Similar findings were derived regarding the effectiveness of SEDP interventions. There are clear differences between types of SEDP Client, and between regions, on both internal and external environment factors.
Regarding differences between Clients and Practitioners on perceptions of the importance of factors, and effectiveness of intervention, Practitioners invariably rate factor importance and intervention effectiveness higher than Clients, although there is a strong similarity in the way both groups rank these variables.
A number of implications follow. Firstly, the survey of SEDP Clients demonstrated that barriers to SED will differ between Clients, and SEDP should vary activities to match the specific needs of SEDP Client types. Second, the survey found differences between regions in the importance of SED factors, so that SEDP should vary functions to reflect regional environments. Third, the survey results indicated that the perceived effectiveness of intervention varied between Client types and regions, giving rise to a major implication that replicating SEDPs nationally may be ineffective. Fourth, comparisons between the way SEDP Practitioners and SEDP Clients view the importance of factors and the effectiveness of interventions established that there was a high level of congruity between Clients and Practitioners. Furthermore, if the problem lies in designing SEDPs relevant to regions, the implication is, that SEDPs would be better designed on a regional basis and by SEDP Practitioners.
These implications lead to a number of recommendations, the most important of which stated that, to improve the effectiveness of SEDPs, regional considerations must be taken into account and SEDP Practitioners in the regions should be thoroughly involved in SEDP design.
Other recommendations included extending the research to other Australian regions and other forms of SEDP, to expand on the implications and recommendations of this thesis.
Details
- Title
- Design factors in small enterprise development programs (SEDPs) for regional development: being a comparative review of differences between client types and regions in Australia
- Creators
- Dennis Michael Howard
- Contributors
- Philip Arthur Neck (Supervisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University, Faculty of Business and Computing
- Number of pages
- 2 volumes
- Identifiers
- 991012958500402368
- Copyright
- © Dennis M Howard 1996
- Academic Unit
- School of Business and Tourism
- Resource Type
- Thesis