Purpose – This paper aims to identify and empirically test whether growth preparedness and success perceptions are important, discriminating small business owner (SBO) characteristics that influence strategic direction. The intended outcome was to create a strategic typology that resonates with the realities of small business owners, their advisors and policy makers. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data were collected online and by postal survey from 340 small businesses from multiple industry sectors across Australia. Analysis is correlational resulting in the development of a 2 × 2 matrix of strategy types. Findings – This paper provides evidence that although a majority of SBOs are not preparing for growth, many still perceive their business as successful. Further, the empirical data demonstrate that growth preparedness and perceived success can be used to classify SBOs into distinct strategic types. While the categories developed show some similarities with the Miles and Snow (1978) typology, they also highlight divergent qualities. Consequently, this paper identifies circumstances where small business strategy must be treated differently from the larger enterprises for which the Miles and Snow typology was developed. Practical implications – By providing a concise tool for inclusion in surveys, researchers and practitioners can identify varying strategic types within their own targeted business cohorts. Originality/value – The growth/success matrix is original, the value for policy makers and other professionals assisting and supporting SBOs lies in its simplicity as a tool for identifying strategic types in any small business population. Specifically, the matrix provides a valid and reliable empirical analysis tool where none previously existed.

This article investigates the role of trust in knowledge acquisition by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the conversion of the knowledge to knowledge-related outcomes. The specific context of the research is the weak client–firm exchange relationship where neither party expects further transactions. Research has overlooked these relationships as a potential source of resources, especially knowledge-based resources, because they are considered devoid of trust. An empirical analysis of survey data collected from 293 SME owners was undertaken using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The findings suggest that trust contributes to an SME owner’s acquisition of knowledge from the ‘one-off’, arm’s-length client, and that weak client–firm exchange relationships should not be overlooked as a potential source of knowledge to the SME.

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Purpose – Small and medium enterprise (SME) research into the meaning and perception of success is now reaching beyond (the somewhat stereotypical) extrinsic success measures such as sales, number of employees, and profit. Researchers now identify the goals and expectations of the owner(s) of a business as central to their likely performance and preferred success metrics. Therefore, this paper aims to overlay perceptions of success and gender to establish whether success is conceptualised in the same way across genders. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyses the responses from 375 male and female SME owners to a range of quantitative success metrics and also explores the responses provided to a number of qualitative questions surrounding the owners' perceptions of success. Findings – Although the average female-owned business in the study is significantly smaller than the average male-owned business, they perform equally well on extrinsic measures that relate outputs (profit) to inputs (assets and hours worked). Further, the female SME owners appear to be more satisfied with both the success of their business and their lifestyle, than their male counterparts. Originality/value – The findings suggest that the social feminists hold sway (men and women have different perceptions of success) and there is value in incorporating a feminine perspective when examining what business owners are looking for from their ventures. That is, measures of SME success need to adopt a person-centered perspective.

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