Publications (48) View all
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Article: Informal Venture Capital in the UK
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ABSTRACT: A variety of factors in the early 1990s engendered interest in informal investment as a financial solution for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Great Britain. Because of recession, a gap had emerged in the provision of both debt and equity financing to SMEs. Banks' attempts to rebuild capital bases meant that SMEs could no longer rely as heavily on loans and overdraft protections. Because SMEs typically needed less than £25,000, traditional venture capital (VC) was not an option, with its majority of institutional investors, emphasis on financial engineering expertise, transaction crafting and closing fee generation, and short term goals, all of which made outlays under £250,000 impractical. While it was clear that informal investors had an important role to play in the British economy, having overtaken traditional VC as a significant source of risk capital for SMEs, American scholarship tended to dominate. In order to study this phenomenon in the UK, solicitations for participation were made by post and via advertisements in industry publications in order to gather a study sample. Several data points emerged. Overwhelmingly, informal investors were men. Often referred to as ‘business angels,' they provide capital to new and growing firms with which they had previously had no association. Angels were more likely to invest than traditional VC, with a tendency to focus on one firm. Professional relationships fostered most referrals, most likely benefiting young companies (one third) but not generally pre-start-ups (9%). Additional characteristics of informal investing and the decision criteria of such investors are discussed. Two major conclusions were reached. Extra-financial considerations were strong motivating factors for angels, who often involved themselves in the day-to-day operations of the firms in which they invested. And, while traditional VC seemed to have been concentrated in the southeast (i.e., around London), informal investments were found to be distributed throughout the UK. There were also four implications for policy. First, entrepreneurs needed to be better informed about business angels. Second, greater efficiency in use of informal venture caital was necessary. Third, parity was needed for taxes on equity for publicly and privately held enterprises. Finally, the Financial Services Act of 1986 needed clarification. (RAS)ERN: Intertemporal Firm Choice & Growth, Investment, or Financing (Topic). 11/2009; -
Article: The links between organisational learning and total quality: a critical review
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ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the possibility of combining the fields of organisational learning and total quality to produce combined concepts, methodologies, tools and techniques, which will give increased business benefits and employee emancipation. To focus the study the field of organisational learning is primarily limited to that of the learning organisation and total quality is taken as an umbrella term for a range of mechanistic change initiatives. A critical review of the definitions, historical contexts through the lens of critical theory reveals the underlying mechanistic organisational assumptions of total quality and the more organismic or people-related assumptions of the learning organisation. A conceptual case is then established for fundamentally integrating both methods to form a holistic framework from which integrated methodologies, tools and techniques can be devised. Two existing models are compared and contrasted to test the validity of the proposed conceptual case. The conclusion to the paper invites those working in the areas of the learning organisation and total quality to rise to the challenge and initiate the steps to create these transforming methods.Journal of European Industrial Training 02/1998; 22(2):47-56. -
Article: Developments in the promotion of informal venture capital in the UK
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ABSTRACT: Concern about the equity gap in the UK has existed for more than 60 years. Despite various government measures and institutional responses (e.g. the development of a venture capital industry) an equity gap still persists. Current debate has recognized the role of the informal venture capital market as a source of risk capital for SMEs. Argues that this market is both inefficient and underdeveloped, due largely to information deficiencies which hinder contact between potential investors and entrepreneurs seeking finance. Against this background, identifies the role of business angel networks (BANs) as a key means of stimulating the flow of informational venture capital in the UK. In particular, a government scheme to provide pump-priming assistance to establish five local BAN demonstration projects is shown to have achieved impressive results. However, with the recent emergence of a number of private sector BANs, the continued role of government is now being questioned. Further demonstrates that public sector BANs, operating on a local scale, are filling a different market niche from that of private sector BANs, which operate predominantly on a national scale. Concludes that the top priority for policy is to ensure that all parts of the UK are served by local BANs. An appropriate way forward might be to build on experimental networking arrangements between local, public sector BANs and national, privately operated BANs.International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research 07/1996; 2(2):6-33. -
Article: Book Reviews
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ABSTRACT: Technology and Economic Development: The Dynamics of Local, Regional and National Change E. J. MALECKI, Longman, London (1991). xvi + 495 pp. £14.99 (pbk). ISBN 0582 01758 0. Global Financial Integration: The End of Geography, R. O'BRIEN, Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York (1992). 120 pp. US$14.95. ISBN 0 87609 123 0. Industrialization, Economic Development and the Regional Question in the Third World, M. STORPER, Pion, London (1991). 149 pp. £25.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 85086 149 7. Geography and Trade, P. KRUGMAN, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1991). xi + 142 pp. £15.95 (hbk). ISBN 0 262 11159 4. Rethinking the Third World: Contribution Toward a New Conceptualisation, R. E. GALLI (Ed), Crane Russak, New York (1992). xvii + 198 pp. £16.00 (pbk). ISBN 0 8448 1712 0. Industrial Dislocation: The Case of Global Shipbuilding, D. TODD, Routledge, London (1991). xiv + 292 pp. $45.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 415 04213 5. Regions Reconsidered: Economic Networks, Innovation and Local Development in Industrialised Countries, E. BERGMAN, G. MAIER and F. TÖDTLING, Mansell, London (1991). viii + 312 pp. £40.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 7201 210866. The Territorial Imperative: Pluralism, Corporation and Economic Crisis, J. J. ANDERSON, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1992). xiv + 252 pp. £35.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 521 413788. The Changing US Auto Industry: A Geographical Analysis, J. M. RUBENSTEIN, Routledge, London (1992). vi + 318 pp. £45.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 415 05544 X. Regional Development around the North Atlantic Rim, vols. 1 and 2, M. LEROY (Ed), International Society for the Study of Marginal Regions (1991). iv + 588 pp. No price given (pbk). ISBN 0 9695448 0 4. Local Economic Development and Administrative Reform, J. A. WALSH (Ed), Regional Studies Association (Irish Branch). 93 pp. £10.00 (pbk). ISBN 0 9511047 4 8. Chinese Economic Planning and Input-Output Analysis, K. P. POLENSKE and C. XIKANG (Eds), Oxford University Press, Hong Kong (1992). xxiv + 337 pp. £35.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 19 585249 4.Regional Studies. 01/1992; 26(7):677-684. -
Article: Book Reviews
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ABSTRACT: Regional Policy at the Crossroads: European Perspectives, L. ALBRECHTS, F. MOULAERT, P. ROBERTS and E. SWYNGEDOUW; Kingsley, London (1989). 208 pp. £15.00 (hbk). £7.95 (pbk). ISBN 1 85302 021 4 (hbk). ISBN 1 85302 024 9 (pbk). Regional Development in Europe: Recent Initiatives and Experiences, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Science Parks and Innovation Centres, Berlin, November 12--13, 1987, J. ALLESCH, de Gruyter, Berlin (1989). xi+368 pp. DM138. ISBN 3 11 011815 7. Services and Regions in Europe, S. ILLERIS, Avebury Aldershot, Hants. (1989). xiv+222 pp. £25.00 (hbk) ISBN 0 566 05722 0. Transport Policy in the EEC, J. WHITELEGG, Routledge, London (1989). xvi+233 pp. £35.00 (hbk). ISBN 0415 01258 9. Territory and Administration in Europe, R. BENNETT, Frances Pinter, London (1989). viii+316 pp. £27.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 86187 991 0 (hbk). Technology and Competition in the International Telecommunications Industry, D. CHARLES, P. MONK and E. SCIBBERAS, Frances Pinter, London (1989). xi+178 pp. £27.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 86187 9937. Services and Uneven Development, J. N. MARSHALL, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1988). xiv+307 pp. £32.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 19 823285 3. Combating Long-Term Unemployment: Local/EC Relations, K. DYSON, Routledge, London (1989). x+252 pp. £35.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 415 03127 3. Labour Markets in Distress: The Denial of Choice, R. MACKAY and JONES, Avebury, Aldershot, Hants. (1989). xii+172 pp. £23.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 556 05700 X. Urban Decline, D. CLARK, Routledge, London (1988) x+161 pp. £25.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 415 03031 5. Uneven Re-Development: Cities and Regions in Trasition, D. MASSEY and J. ALLEN, Hodder & Stoughton, London (1988). vi+280 pp. £7.50 (pbk). ISBN 0 340 49393 3. Contaminated Communities: The Social and Psychological Impacts of Residential Toxic Exposure, M. R. EDELSTEIN, Westview, London (1988). xviii+217 pp. £29.95 (hbk). ISBN 0 8133 7447 2. Plant Scale and Manufacturing Policies for Peripheral Regions: An Intercultural Analysis of Israel, Brazil and Belgium, B. A. KIPNIS, Avebury, Aldvershot, Hants. (1989). xiii+148 pp. £21.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 566 05760 3. Colonising Egypt, T. MITCHELL, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1988). x+218 pp. £27.50. US$42.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 521 33448 9.Regional Studies. 01/1990; 24(1):83-92.
