Small firms, large concerns : the development of small business in comparative perspective

Economic stagnation in the 1970s heavily influenced public perception of small business in the industrialized world. Suddenly, small businesses were seen as the dynamic creator of new jobs, as a source of new technology, as a flexible mode of organization able to outmanoeuvre larger firms, and as an important key to community revitalization. In Small Firms, Large Concerns, G-7 researchers and scholars follow the process of small business development in North America, Europe, and Japan. They examine economic growth and social stability; the links between small and big business; the resilience and vulnerability of small business management.