The authors were the principals in the evaluation of the Prince's Trust's Young People's Business Start-up Programme, 1994–1999, as it operated nationally in the UK and in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. In this paper they report the methodologies used in the evaluation and the key findings. They then use their reflections on both the research process and its outcomes to comment on small business policy.
BeaverG.PrinceC. (2004), ‘Management, strategy and policy in the UK small business sector: A critical review’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol 11, No 1, pp 34–49.
2.
BlackburnR. (1997), ‘Enterprise support for young people: A study of young business owners’, Proceedings of the National Small Firms Policy and Research Conference, Vol 1, pp 250–272.
3.
BrysonA.WhiteM. (1996), From Unemployment to Self-Employment, Report No 820, Policy Studies Institute, London.
4.
CurranI. (1999), The Role of the Small Firm in the UK Economy: Hot Stereotypes and Cool Assessment, Small Business Research Trust, Open University, Milton Keynes.
5.
CurranI.BlackburnR.A. (1994), Small Firms and Local Economic Networks: The Death of the Local Economy, Paul Chapman, London.
6.
DfEE (2001), Towards Full Employment in a Modern Society, White Paper, Department for Education and Employment, HMSO, London.
7.
EES Consultants (1991), An Evaluation of the Performance and Impact of the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust, EES Consultants, Glasgow.
8.
JohnsonS.SearL.JenkinsA. (2000), ‘Small business policy, support and governance’, in CarterS.EvansJones D., eds, Enterprise and Small Business, Pearson, London.
9.
KellardK.MiddletonS. (1998), Helping Unemployed People into Self-Employment, DfEE Research Report No 46, Department for Education and Employment, London.
10.
MacDonaldR. (1996), ‘Welfare dependency, the enterprise culture and self-employment’, Work, Employment and Society, Vol 10, No, 3, pp 431–448.
MeagerN. (1996), ‘From unemployment to self-employment: Labour market policies for business start-up’, in SchmidG.O'ReillyJ.SchomannK., eds, International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation, Edward Elgar, Gloucester.
13.
MeagerN.CowlingM.BatesP. (2003a), Business Start-up Support for Young People Delivered by the Prince's Trust: A Comparative Study of Labour Market Outcomes, DWP Research Report No 184, Department for Work and Pensions, London.
14.
MeagerN.CowlingM.BatesP. (2003b), ‘An evaluation of business start-up support for young people’, National Institute Economic Review, No 186, October, pp 59–72.
15.
MetcalfH. (1988), Self-Employment for the Unemployed: The Role of Public Policy, DfEE Research Report RR47, Department for Education and Employment, London.
16.
ParkerS.C. (2004), The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
17.
ShuttJ.ClarkeT.SutherlandJ.KoutsoukosS. (2001), Alive with Opportunities: Evaluating Young Business Success, 1994–1995, National Report, ERBEDU, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds.
18.
ShuttJ.SutherlandJ.KoutsoukosS. (2001), Alive with Opportunities: Evaluating Young Business Success, 1994–1995, Evidence from Yorkshire and the Humber, ERBEDU, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds.
19.
SmithE. (1987), ‘Making a business dream come true’, Employment Gazette, December, pp 585–591.
20.
TaylorM.P. (1996), ‘Earnings, independence or unemployment: Why become self-employed?’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Vol 58, No 2, pp 253–265.
21.
SchmidG.O'ReillyJ.SchomannK., eds, International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation, Edward Elgar, Gloucester.
