PurposeTo review empirical contributions to the small business growth literature since the mid‐1990s.Design/methodology/approachNarrative review of the literature using the framework adopted in previous reviews: management strategies; characteristics of the entrepreneur; environment/industry factors; and firm characteristics.FindingsThe absence of any unifying theory means that the literature continues to feature a wide range of growth measures and model specifications. As a result of this, knowledge development appears fragmented rather than cumulative. New theoretical perspectives are needed if we are to develop our understanding of the growth process in small businesses.Research limitations/implicationsAlternative types of research are suggested that focus on small business growth as a process rather than an episode. Future research needs to adopt multiple measures of growth and, more importantly, be based on theory longitudinal in scope but idiosyncratic in its focus. Empirical work should seek to explain the periodicity of growth and the role that learning plays in the idiosyncratic development of small businesses.Originality/valueThe paper synthesizes the literature in an area that is critical in terms of the advice given to policy makers and business owners. It does so while building on the frameworks used in previous reviews and then identifying new research approaches that are needed to advance understanding of the small business growth process.

This paper seeks to develop our understanding of consumer attitudes towards bank delivery channels. Accordingly, a questionnaire was designed to obtain information about which delivery channels consumers had used when acquiring four types of financial service. This information was then contrasted with data on how these consumers would acquire the same services if they had to purchase them again at some time in the future. The questionnaire also obtained information about the factors which consumers believed to be important in encouraging and discouraging the adoption of home‐based banking. In concluding, the paper discusses and assesses some of the strategic implications of the study’s findings for financial service providers.

A review article on the determinants of export performance seeking to extend the pioneering work of Aaby and Slater (1989). Applies the meta‐analytic vote‐counting method to a set of 100 studies of export performance published during 1978 to 1991. Identifies those elements of Aaby and Slater′s “strategic export model” which are significant and provides confidence intervals for the effect size of the most frequently studied variables.

Why do some firms grow while others do not? This study identifies factors present in growing small firms that are absent in non-growers. An inductive method is used with a theoretical sample of businesses with contrasting growth histories, selected as matched pairs from the same manufacturing and service industries in the same urban location. Replication logic identified four factors: opportunistic perceptions of the external environment; controlled ambition of the owner-manager to grow; business culture of innovation and flexibility; and use of extensive private business networks, including portfolio entrepreneurship. The role of organizational learning in underpinning these factors was also noted. The paper ends with some limitations and suggestions for further research.

Small owner‐managed firms typically operate with levels of debt, much of it short‐term, which are higher than those found in large companies. This paper investigates the financing preferences of a cross‐section of small firm owners. The findings support the view that the financing decisions of small firm owners are based on a demand‐side packing order of finance types. The resulting financial structures reflect a desire to minimise intrusion into the firms and are not entirely the consequence of persistent deficiencies in the provision of finance to small firms.