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Full-Text Articles in Business

A Proposed Methodology To Promote Adoption Of 'Green' Production By Small Firms, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles Apr 2014

A Proposed Methodology To Promote Adoption Of 'Green' Production By Small Firms, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles

Janice Redmond Dr

Small firms are critical to all economies but also have a significant negative impact on the environment. Their collective footprint equates to 60% of industrial pollution yet small firm owner-managers are not convinced of the necessity for behaviour change. This paper develops a proposed methodology to engage small firm owner-managers in 'green' production, in particular adoption of energy saving and waste recycling practices. This methodology includes a suggested approach to determining the 'tipping point' for the investment of time and resources by small firms. The paper argues that knowing the 'tipping point' and making a realistic business case should encourage …


Environmental Education In Small Business: The Owner-Manager's Perspective, Janice Redmond, Elizabeth Walker Apr 2014

Environmental Education In Small Business: The Owner-Manager's Perspective, Janice Redmond, Elizabeth Walker

Janice Redmond Dr

Traditionally, environmental education has been aimed at the community or in primary schools and governmental pressure to reduce environmental damage has focussed on large businesses. More recently, the role and importance of small business and how to engage them in the environmental debate has come under scrutiny. Researchers have identified education as one method of increasing the understanding of small business owner-managers’ role and knowledge of practices that, when implemented, will reduce the negative impacts of their businesses. However, there is little attention given in the literature to the perspective of the small business owner-manager and environmental education. This research …


Preface To Special Issue: Environmental Sustainability And Business, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles Apr 2014

Preface To Special Issue: Environmental Sustainability And Business, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles

Janice Redmond Dr

The issue of environmental sustainability and the need to address the collective environmental impact of business is discussed. In particular, the need to engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in environmental management is highlighted. The papers presented in the Special Issue of 'The International Journal of Business Studies' are dicussed.


Decision Making Regarding Employee Access To Training And Development In Medium-Sized Enterprises, Alan Coetzer, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad Apr 2014

Decision Making Regarding Employee Access To Training And Development In Medium-Sized Enterprises, Alan Coetzer, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad

Janice Redmond Dr

Employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form part of a ‘disadvantaged’ group within the workforce that receives less access to formal training and development than employees in large firms. The manager’s decisional role is critical when considering employee access to training and development. Unfortunately, there is scant research into factors affecting managers’ decisions regarding employee access to a requested development opportunity in SMEs. To address this research gap, semi-structured interviews incorporating critical incidents were conducted with a purposive sample of 12 managers of medium-sized enterprises based in Perth. We report key findings of the interviews and assess the effectiveness …


Explaining The Lack Of Strategic Planning In Smes: The Importance Of Owner Motivation, Calvin Wang, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond Apr 2014

Explaining The Lack Of Strategic Planning In Smes: The Importance Of Owner Motivation, Calvin Wang, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond

Janice Redmond Dr

Considerable evidence shows that strategic planning leads to increased firm performance. Yet, the majority of SMEs do not plan and the reasons why are not well understood. This article questions the common approach to understanding this problem based on identifying business barriers to planning. For the majority of SME owner operators, business performance often ranks far behind intangible goals such as autonomy, personal satisfaction and lifestyle. Strategic planning may therefore have little value to owner-operators driven by such motivators. This article presents an alternative perspective to the issue by arguing that owner aspirations are integral to whether or not SMEs …


Using The Critical Incident Technique To Research Decision Making Regarding Access To Training And Development In Medium-Sized Enterprises, Alan Coetzer, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad Apr 2014

Using The Critical Incident Technique To Research Decision Making Regarding Access To Training And Development In Medium-Sized Enterprises, Alan Coetzer, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad

Janice Redmond Dr

Employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form part of a 'disadvantaged' group within the workforce that receives less access to training and development (T & D) than employees in large firms. Prior research into reasons for the relatively low levels of employee participation in training and development has typically involved surveys of owner/manager opinions. A novel and potentially more fruitful line of inquiry is investigating decisions managers have actually made regarding employee access to T & D. Building on this idea, we describe how the critical incident technique (CIT) was applied in our exploratory study of managerial decision making …