Our introduction provides the foundation and background for this special issue on open innovation. Since the beginning of the 21st century, innovation has evolved from being the artefact of an individual or internal process within firms to an interactive process between firms and/or in collaboration with knowledge-creating institutions at both the domestic and global levels. The open innovation model suggests that firms should combine external and internal ideas and technologies as effective pathways to market when advancing and commercialising technologies. However, existing research focuses mainly on high-technology multi-national firms hence, theoretically driven and empirically-based research exploring open innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises remains relatively scarce. This special issue offers a critical contribution to this gap with four articles which explore differing aspects of open innovation within smaller firms. The introduction to this special issue commences with an overview of the relevant literature; it then describes the articles and, finally, suggests potential avenues for future research.
In recent years there has been much debate in the UK regarding the value and feasibility of the small company audit. The lack of formal internal control systems and the application of universal auditing standards has given rise to the use of a special 'Small Company (Example 6) Audit Qualification'. However, doubts concerning the uniformity of practice between auditors has created difficulties for users in interpreting its meaning. This paper examines the extent to which a number of financial, organisational and auditor variables are able to explain the receipt of a 'Small Company Audit Qualification'. The main empirical findings, using multivariate logistic analysis on a sample of 540 small company reports, are that companies audited by large audit practices, companies which had a prior year qualification, a secured loan, declining earnings, large audit lags and few non-director shareholders were more likely to receive an audit qualification than other companies.
This paper examines the performance of a sample of 211 U.K.subcontractors to evaluate whether differences in how they manage their supply chain relationships are associated with differences in (sales and employment)growth rates over two consecutive 3 year periods from 1993 to 1999.We identified 34 firms that had close partnership relationships with members of their supply chain. Our empirical findings indicate that firms with inter-firm partnership arrangements with members of their supply chain experienced significantly higher growth rates. These results suggest that inter-firm partnerships may facilitate more rapid and sustained SME growth,though further research is required to determine the role played by partnerships and the extent to which this may vary to reflect differing owner-manager motivations and growth opportunities. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005
This article aims to assess the extent to which connectivity technology has contributed to home-based business activities of women in the North East of England. Based on an empirical survey of 98 women-owned home-based businesses, the article concludes that technology has reframed the concept of ‘home economics’, providing an effective medium for engaging women in the labour market. The article argues that home-based business venturing needs to be further promoted via appropriate policy channels and support networks as a viable and serious employment opportunity, as well as a solution to dual-role conflict experienced by some women who may otherwise be deterred from playing active roles in the local and regional economic development.
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