Editorial
Shima Barakat
As we enter into the second half of 2011 we can already look back on a tremendous set of local, regional, national and international events that have resulted in or from upheaval, transition, recession, poverty, loss of property, damage to business across the globe. Being Egyptian and living in the UK, I have personally felt this, possibly more than most people. This has made me acutely aware that never in recent history have so many countries been affected by so many different yet significant adverse conditions, where the environment and the people are literally and metaphorically causing earthquakes, and almost everyone looks to the private sector and entrepreneurialism to lead a way towards a better, brighter, more prosperous future.
To say that in another way, we are at a point in time when considering business growth, development and sustainability is high on political, social and economic agendas. At the same time, it is just as timely to be critical, vigilant and smart about our activities and policies so as not to speed up the negative impact on our sustainable future by degrading our environment, depleting our resources, rendering species extinct and forgetting about notions of fairness, equity and transparency – all recipes for exasperating the conditions we seek to improve.
While for many individuals this resulted in highly uncertain times and personal suffering, for others it provided unprecedented opportunities to reshape these orders through civic engagement, reform, regeneration, development and growth. This has put entrepreneurialism, in all of its forms, in the spotlight: for policy makers, businesses and civil society it is essential to understand how new visions, prosperity and personal and societal betterment are achieved by individuals who have the capabilities to mobilise resources in creative and innovative ways. Therefore, this year, the ISBE2011 conference introduced a new track entitled: Business sustainability, growth and development which proved to be extremely popular and received the second highest number of paper submissions – to my delight!
The papers accepted for presentation at the conference aim to contribute to the understanding of the nature of entrepreneurial activity and how that contributes to social, economic, political and technological development, reform and growth and reshapes interactions with the natural environment. The ISBE 2011 Conference papers span different continents, sectors and perspective and collectively explore the issues that small business and entrepreneurs face today.
Similarly, this issue of Enterprising Matters picks up on several aspects of the issue covered at the conference, taking note of Harrison’s call to move away from reductionist, cause-effect seeking and sub-group thinking and acknowledging the complexity of reality in our efforts to build more predictive theories. Stevenson, Hurley and Benson reflect on the changing policy landscape for SMEs starting up and growing in the UK: Stevenson outlines the different support provision over a 30-year period while Hurley argues that current UK support policy fails SMEs and is in danger of creating a two-tier business community where small businesses who want to grow can’t access the required support. From a similar perspective, Benson discusses the role of business incubators post UK government budget cuts, and dissolution of the RDAs and Business Links. Another set of papers explore the role of the entrepreneur/owner-manager: Raby presents 10 key traits, Pham outlines the reasons behind decisions to outsource.
Finally, Bond presents a clear and compelling argument as to why and how the fantasy of separation must be dispelled in order for us to build sustainable (ecologically and commercially) businesses and communities. We cannot continue to be under the illusion that we are separate from the environment that supports and must instead work with and within the constraints that nature presents. Therefore, we need a new way of understanding and communicating how we interact with our environment. Bond urges us to develop an anthropology of enterprise and innovation.
To conclude, in this issue of Enterprising Matters and the corresponding track at the conference, a diverse group of authors have come together to present practical as well as conceptual ideas and inspiration for different ways of working, being, governing and growing that enable and are enabled by more equitable, prosperous and sustainable enterprises.
Dr Shima Barakat, Research and Teaching Fellow, University of Cambridge
<Back to Contents Next Article>
