Enterprise Education: Action-Based Research with Training Policy Implications

Abstract
PRO ROFSSORJOHN STANWORTI-I AND Colin Gray are director-general and deputy director-general respectively of thle [Jnited Kingdom's independent rcs strch body, the Small Business Researc h T rust. This paper reports oni a i-tuinber of related action-research based projcC ts undertaken by the authors inxvolvixtg the SBRT and major UK (Gover-iment bodies, such as the I)epartimient of Edtication and Science an-d thie then Training Agency. A key goal uLnderi lirig all of the work reported her c hias heett that of channelling educational and traiiiing aid to the small businesses imiost likely to benefit, and centres par-tictilarlv around the issue of matiagemnenit training in 'growth c orridor' businesses employing 5-50 personnel. The principal objective has been to gain an in-depth understan-ding of the management of firms in in the 5-20 personnel size-band with the relatively poor performance of those in the 20-50 band. The former appears to be asubstantial net job creator and the latter a net job loser. The hypothesis being investigated is that the relatively disappointing performance of firms in the 20-50 size segment is essentially pre-bureaucratic structure tjo one based and delegation.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: