Small firm organisational learning: comparing the perceptions of need and style among UK support service advisors and small firm managers

Abstract

It is increasingly the case that within the academic literature, firms seeking to survive in rapidly changing and/or highly competitive markets are being advised to consider adopting an organisational learning philosophy as a strategy through which to develop new approaches to delivering greater customer value. This view is apparently shared by the UK Government, which has incorporated the concept of Lifelong Learning into its small firms support policy. This is despite the fact that to date in the academic literature, there is only limited anecdotal evidence of the positive contribution that organisational learning can make to enhancing the performance of firms. Surveys of small firm advisors and small manufacturing firms were undertaken. These surveys revealed significant differences of opinion between advisors and owner/managers over the need to utilise organisational learning to upgrade management practices. This survey also revealed that small firm advisors perceive most of their client firms as exhibiting a lower‐order learning style. The implications of these findings are discussed. A pilot scheme to embed a learning philosophy into SME sector is described and proposals presented on the needs for further research.

Analyzing ICT adoption and use effects on knowledge creation: An empirical investigation in SMEs

“…OL is gaining increasing mention in the literature as a mechanism for assisting SME survival (Chaston et al, 1999). Due to their specificities, SMEs show a particular behaviour with regard to the creation, development, sharing, protection and transmission of knowledge (Basly, 2007).…”

“…Research has shown that firms overcome learning traps by employing emerging, novel and pioneering technologies, but how learning is undertaken through these technologies is unknown (Small & Irvine, 2006). In addition, earlier studies on OL have expressed concerns about the lack of empirical research (Dawes, Lee, & Midgley, 2007;Vince, Sutcliffe, & Olivera, 2002) and have neglected small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when analyzing OL (Chaston, Badger, & Sadler-Smith, 1999). Consequently, this paper investigates the effect of ICT adoption and ICT use on OL in SMEs in order to address these issues.…”

Pro‐growth small businesses: learning “architecture”

“…Particularly relative to the endeavours of support agencies, Chaston et al (1999) emphasise that understanding the way small business owner-managers learn is the key to effective interventions. Any discussion of learning begs a definition of what it involves.…”

“…They cannot be coerced, rarely conform to 'type', have to cope with absolute power and leadership responsibilities, and are subject to a number of competing and conflicting influences which may lead to behaviours that defy logic (Beaver et al, 1998). Also converging on the business support landscape is the concept of 'life long learning' that has been selected by a number of governments as a platform through which to communicate the need for individuals and businesses to continuously seek to learn and apply new knowledge (Chaston et al, 1999). Certainly, as economies have shifted from industrial to knowledge eras, learning for knowledge management has become recognised as the new route to sustained competitive advantage (Frey, 2000;Winterton et al, 2000).…”

“…Furthermore, concern has been expressed that a significant cultural gap exists between support agencies' promotion of a lifelong learning philosophy and the small business sector's perceptions of its utility to their businesses' performance (Chaston et al, 1999;Sherwood et al, 2000;Matlay, 2000). Indeed, NAGCELL (1999:29) states that:…”