Most advanced economies offer publicly financed advice services to start-up firms and SMEs. In England, local or regional Business Links organisations have provided these services, and divided their support into nonintensive one-off contacts providing information or advice and more intensive support involving a diagnostic process and repeated interaction with firms. A key choice for Business Link managers is how to shape their intervention strategies, balancing resources between intensive and nonintensive support. Drawing on resource dependency theory, we develop a typology of intervention strategies for Business Links in England which reflects differences in the breadth and depth of the support provided. We then test the impacts of these alternative intervention models on client companies using both subjective assessments by firms and econometric treatment models that allow for selection bias. Our key empirical result is that Business Links' choice of intervention strategy has a significant effect both on actual and on perceived business outcomes, with our results emphasising the value of depth over breadth. The implication is that where additional resources are available for business support these should be used to deepen the assistance provided rather than extend assistance to a wider group of firms.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlvarezSABusenitzLW, 2001, “The entrepreneurship of resource-based theory”Journal of Management27755–775
2.
BarkhamRGudginGHartMHanveyE, 1996The Determinants of Small Firm Growth: An Inter-regional Study in the UK, 1986–90 (Jessica Kingsley, London)
3.
BennettRJ, 2008, “SME policy support in Britain since the 1990s: What have we learnt?”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy26375–397
4.
BennettRJRobsonPJA, 2003, “Changing use of external business advice and Government support during the 1990s”Regional Studies37795–811
5.
BennettRJRobsonPJA, 2004, “Support services for SMEs: Does the ‘franchisee’ make a difference to the Business Link offer?”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy22859–880
6.
BennettRJRobsonPJA, 2005, “The advisor–SME client relationship: Impact, satisfaction and commitment”Small Business Economics25255–271
7.
BennettRJRobsonPJABrattonWJA, 2001, “Government advice networks for SMEs: An assessment of the influence of local context on Business Link use, impact and satisfaction”Applied Economics33871–885
BurkeAEFraserSGreeneFJ, 2010, “The multiple effects of business planning on new venture performance”Journal of Management Studies47391–415
10.
CasciaroTPiskorskiMJ, 2005, “Power imbalance, mutual dependence and constraint absorption: A closer look at resource dependence theory”Administrative Science Quarterly50167–199
11.
ChastonI, 1999, “Client and advisor management styles: Influence on the effective provision of advisory services to small and medium-sized enterprises”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy17257–270
12.
ChrismanJJMcMullanWE, 2004, “Outsider assistance as a knowledge resource for new venture survival”Journal of Small Business Management42229–244
13.
ChrismanJJMcMullanWEHallJ, 2005, “The influence of guided preparation on the long-term performance of new ventures”Journal of Business Venturing20769–791
14.
CollinsACowellRFlynnA, 2009, “Evaluation and environmental governance: The institutionalisation of ecological footprinting”Environment and Planning A411707–1725
15.
DeakinsDMilehamPO'NeillE, 1998, “The role and influence of non-executive directors in growing small firms”, research report, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, London
16.
DyersonRHarindranathGLevyM, 2009, “Conceptualising the role of intermediaries in developing SMEs’ ICT capabilities”, paper presented at the 32rd ISBE National Small Firms Policy and Research Conference, Liverpool, 3–6 November; copy available from http://www.isbe.org.uk/ConferenceProceedings
17.
EvansDS, 1987, “Tests of alternative theories of firm growth”Journal of Political Economy95657–674
18.
GreeneFJMoleKFStoreyDJ, 2004, “Does more mean worse? UK enterprise policy over three decades”Urban Studies41303–324
19.
GreeneFJMoleKFStoreyDJ, 2007Three Decades of Enterprise Culture: Entrepreneurship, Economic Regeneration and Public Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, London)
20.
HeckmanJJ, 1979, “Sample selection bias as a specification error”Econometrica47153–161
21.
HertinJTurnpennyJJordanANilssonMRusselDNykvistB, 2009, “Rationalising the policy mess? Ex ante policy assessment and the utilisation of knowledge in the policy process”Environment and Planning A411185–1200
HodsonM, 2008, “Old industrial regions, technology, and innovation: Tensions of obduracy and transformation”Environment and Planning A401057–1075
24.
JohnsonSWebberDJThomasW, 2007, “Which SMEs use external business advice? A multivariate subregional study”Environment and Planning A391981–1997
25.
KatilaRRosenbergerJDEisenhardtKM, 2008, “Swimming with sharks: Technology ventures, defense mechanisms and corporate relationships”Administrative Science Quarterly53295–332
26.
KautonenTZolinRKuckertzAAnmariV, 2010, “Ties that blind? How strong ties affect small business owner-managers’ perceived trustworthiness of their advisors”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development22189–209
27.
LambrechtJPirnayF, 2005, “An evaluation of public support measures for private external consultancies to SMEs in the Walloon Region of Belgium”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development1789–108
28.
Maddala, 1983Limited-dependent and Qualitative Variables in Economics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
29.
MoleK, 2002, “Street-level technocracy in UK small business support: Business Links, personal business advisers, and the Small Business Service”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy20179–194
30.
MoleKFBramleyG, 2006, “Making policy choices in nonfinancial business support: An international comparison”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy24885–908
31.
MoleKFKeoghW, 2009, “The implications of public sector small business advisers becoming strategic sounding boards: England and Scotland compared”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development2177–97
32.
MoleKFMcLaughlinJ, 2009, “Business advice and Archer's morphogenetic approach to macro and micro”, Academy of Management Conference, Chicago, 7–11 August; copy available from author
33.
MoleKHartMRoperSSaalD, 2008, “Differential gains from Business Link support and advice: A treatment effects approach”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy26315–334
34.
MoleKHartMRoperSSaalD, 2009, “Assessing the effectiveness of Business Support Services in England: Evidence from a theory based evaluation”International Small Business Journal27557–582
35.
OrserBJHogarth-ScottSRidingAL, 2000, “Performance, firm size and management problem solving”Journal of Small Business Management38(4) 42–58
36.
PACEC, 1998Business Links Value for Money Evaluation Final Report (October), Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Cambridge
37.
PfefferJSalancikG, 1978The External Control of Organizations (Harper and Row, New York)
38.
PriestSJ, 1999, “Business Link services to small and medium-sized enterprises: Targeting, innovation and charging”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy17177–193
39.
RobsonPJABennettRJ, 2010, “Paying fees for government business advice: An assessment of Business Link experience”Applied Economics4237–48
40.
RobsonPJAJackSLFreelMS, 2008, “Gender and the use of business advice: Evidence from firms in the Scottish service sector”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy26292–314
41.
RoperS, 1999, “Modelling small business growth and profitability”Small Business Economics13235–252
42.
RoperSHartM, 2005, “Small firm growth and public policy in the UK: What exactly are the connections?”, WP RP0504, Aston Business School, Birmingham
43.
SamoffJStromquistNP, 2001, “Managing knowledge and storing wisdom? New forms of foreign aid?”Development and Change32631–656
44.
ScottJMIrwinD, 2009, “Discouraged advisees? The influence of gender, ethnicity, and education in the use of advice and finance by UK SMEs”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy27230–245
45.
StoreyDJ, 1994, “The role of legal status in influencing bank financing and new firm growth”Applied Economics26129–137
46.
StoreyDJ, 2003, “Entrepreneurship, small and medium sized enterprises and public policies”, in The Handbook of Entrepreneurship Eds AudretschDAcsZ (Kluwer, London) pp 473–511
47.
TurokIRacoM, 2000, “Developing expertise in small and medium-sized enterprises: An evaluation of consultancy support”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy18409–429
48.
UcbasaranDWrightMWestheadP, 2003, “A longitudinal study of habitual entrepreneurs: Starters and acquirers”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development15207–228
49.
VickersINorthD, 2000, “Regional technology initiatives: Some insights from the English Regions”European Planning Studies8301–318
50.
WeinzimmerLGNystromPCFreemanSJ, 1998, “Measuring organizational growth: Issues, consequences and guidelines”Journal of Management24235–262
51.
WelterFSmallboneD, 2006, “Exploring the role of trust in entrepreneurial activity”Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice30465–476
52.
World Bank, 2002Building Institutions for Markets (World Bank, Washingtion, DC)
