Globally there is mounting pressure for fi rms to assess their impact on the environment, and to modify their behaviour accordingly. The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is often described as 'hard to reach' and lagging behind in terms of 'green business' due to management and resourcing issues characteristic of SMEs (e.g. resource poverty and a lack of management capability). This absence of resource slack then translates into an unwillingness and/or inability to commit to environmental improvements in any systematic and ongoing fashion, if at all. However, a lack of action in the context of the fi rm does not always refl ect the personal attitudes of the individual SME owner-managers. The link between attitude and action is explored in the paper through the examination of the interrelationship between awareness of environmental impact, attitude towards environmental issues, and environmental practice adoption.

Entrepreneurship and leadership are enacted as examples of practice and taken on as forms of identity; they are also both understood to be gendered constructions. The paper explores how entrepreneurial leadership is enacted by a female entrepreneur over time and how being a leader is integrated into entrepreneurial identity development via gendered identity work. The empirical foundation of the paper is a longitudinal case study of a New Zealand female entrepreneur that is informed by primary data spanning almost a decade (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014). The data were collected via multiple, in-depth, narrative interviews and analyzed using the framework of interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Globally, the potential for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to collectively impact negatively on the environment is great. Therefore, the adoption, and maintenance, of environmentally responsible practices by this group of firms is especially critical. Studies of environmental practices successfully implemented by small firms have revealed that relationships with other firms, or other organizations, can contribute to greater awareness of the benefits of such activities and, therefore, enhance the possibility of environmental engagement. Collaborative relationships may provide opportunities for SMEs to overcome some of the barriers to implementing environmental initiatives associated with their size, and/or associated characteristics. This paper focuses on attitudes of SME owner-managers to a variety of environmental issues (including regulation and voluntary standards), and to collaborating with other firms (in either a formal or informal sense). The data this paper draws upon are from two waves of an ongoing longitudinal survey of New Zealand SMEs.

This paper explores the overlapping domains of business/firm and family. Suggests that the descriptor of "joint careers" is preferable to that of symbiotic careers. Describes what we term the primary career and auxiliary career which often go to make up a joint career. Both strands of career are a prerequisite for the resilience and success of the family business. The example of youth entrepreneurship is dealt with to show the possibility of an inversion of the traditional roles with the parents' career becoming ancillary to that of their offspring. Empirical observations from New Zealand are drawn on to illustrate our discussion. It is hoped that ideas discussed in this paper will aid the understandings of further dimensions and properties of the "thread" of the theory of the boundaryless career and help move forward the research agenda on the united career trajectory.

There are increasing opportunities for researchers to work in multi-disciplinary research teams; however, the extensive literature on research practice barely refers to the challenges inherent in this approach. The article describes the experience of a multi-disciplinary team which was engaged in investigating the nature of technological learning in relation to productivity improvement in the dairy farming industry in New Zealand. The largely qualitative, multi-method approach taken to the project by the team is described, and the description supplemented by reflection on the factors that led to the key decisions in the research design process, and the consequences of these decisions.

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Purpose -This paper aims to report an empirically grounded theoretical framework within which to understand the role of entrepreneurial identity development in the discovery, development and exploitation of opportunity, and to elaborate on how these identity transitions both mobilise and constrain female entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach -A qualitative case study-based research design was used in this study. Primary and secondary data were collected from eight female participants (all of whom can be categorised as "mumpreneurs") and analysed to inform the theoretical framework that is the foundation of the paper. Findings -The authors describe how identity conflict, role congruence and reciprocal identity creation play a critical role in venture creation as a form of entrepreneurship. Drawing on the constructs of identification, self-verification and identity enactment, the authors build a theoretical framework for understanding entrepreneurial identity transitions in relation to opportunity-seeking behaviours. Research limitations/implications -The work is theoretical in character and based on a sample that, whilst rich in the provision of theoretical insight, is small in scope. Additionally, the sample is located in one geographical context (New Zealand) which likely has implications for the way in which the key constructs are perceived and enacted. Originality/value -This paper is an attempt to integrate conceptualisations of entrepreneurial identity development with opportunity-related processes in the context of venture creation. A holistic focus on identity transitions and their relevance to perception and action in relation to opportunity (the root of entrepreneurial behaviour) is novel; at this point, it is exploratory in intention and tentative in reach.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the business assistance realities of New Zealand small and medium enterprise (SME) owner‐managers in order to better understand those experiences in terms of their ability to identify and use what is provided.Design/methodology/approachSite visits were made to 51 small firms that had been recruited from a random sample of 500 New Zealand firms that employed up to 50 full‐time equivalent staff and were in the “manufacturing” or “service” sector. An interview was then carried out with the owner‐manager of the firm.FindingsThe owner‐managers of some SMEs interact with the support infrastructure regularly, while others do not. The sources of business assistance most frequently accessed where not necessarily those that were subsequently perceived as being the most useful or significant.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are limited in their generalisability due to the research methodology and research context. However, the conclusions will be of interest to researchers, policy‐makers and business assistance providers.Originality/valueThe paper addresses a gap in the knowledge base surrounding business assistance and SMEs. Typically investigations on this topic focus on supply‐side issues (i.e. how service provision can be improved) rather than those that relate to demand (i.e. investigating the needs of owner‐managers). The project was unique in the New Zealand context (both in terms of scale and research approach).