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Abstract

DENNIS HOWARD AND DAMIAN HINE ARE PhD candidates working at Southern Cross University, Australia. Despite the wealth of programs employed by governments towards the small business sector, there is often little in the way of studies that systematically evaluate those programs. The authors believe that a major cause of this is a general lack of models that systematically explain what environmental factors influence small enterprise development. The paper addresses in part this issue and recommends the need for research to test the model. Small business development will be a major policy front through the 1990s because of the perceived role of small businesses in job creation and sustainable development. Policy approaches differ, however, because of the debate about government intervention in the economy. While there is substantial agreement in favour of neutralising forces that inhibit free markets, the benefits of direct intervention at the level of the firm are often debated. In this paper, life cycle theories (the Product Life Cuycle and the Organisation Life Cycle) are used to outline how product markets and organisations theoretically develop. An additional life cycle is identified, the Population of Organisations Life Cycle (POLC). It is useful for predicting a range of possible outcomes associated with small business assistance programs (SBAPs) and suggests when the benefits of such programs are maximised.

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The Population of Organisations Life Cycle (POLC): Implications for Small Business Assistance Programs

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