Is Small Beautiful The Management Styles of Small Firms Essay

Is Small Beautiful The Management Styles of Small Firms - Essay Example Whatever the reason, small businesses have become a prevalent part of the United Kingdom economy, and consequently, it is important to understand their nature and the way in which they operate. Small firms are more than simply scaled down versions of their larger counterparts, they operate differently, make different decisions and are driven by many factors that do not affect larger firms (Atkinson, 2008). It is often perceived that small businesses have an ideal management structure, which is harmonious, where management and employees work together towards a similar goal. This essay examines what type of management styles are present in small businesses, whether this perception of ‘small is beautiful’ is real, and what influences management of small firms. Not just size alone Many theories and approaches to examining management of small firms assume that there is harmony across the industry. However, small firms are not homogenous with one another; instead they are subject to a range of different factors that influence the way that they operate, their management styles and their success. For example, ownership structures differ between small firms, with the owner being either, self-employed, owner-director, owner controller or a small employer. Because of these variations between small businesses, any consideration of the management styles and methods of control must also consider other factors about the firm, such as structure and agency (Barrett and Rainnie, 2002). ... Even when sections of the industry are taken into account there is still substantial variation in the way that businesses operate and what factors drive them (Ram and Edwards, 2003). For example, some firms focus primarily on profit, while others desire a family business and are not willing to put this in jeopardy even if this would mean increased profits. Likewise, some small firms compete directly with larger ones by producing similar products, while others produce a unique and distinct products do not directly compete with larger firms. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an overall model of the small business industry, or to predict what management styles will be present under different sets of circumstances. A more effective approach is to examine the different management styles that are present in small firms and how these differ from those common in larger firms. It has been argued that the definition of a small firm needs significant work, as the current perception focus es mainly on number of employees and the precise number differs between publications. The problem with this method of defining small firms is that it does not take into account the complexities and variation that is present within the small industry sector. Some authors or publications make use of key business characteristics to determine whether the company is a small business, or a combination of industry and size. An example of this is the suggestion that in the manufacturing industry, a small business is one that has less than 200 employees. One suggestion has been to modify the definition of a small company so that it uses a qualitative

The Classification of People or Individual on the Face of Law Essay

The Classification of People or Individual on the Face of Law - Essay Example Congress has been given big latitude to regulate commerce with any foreign nations and among other of its several states. Constitution, in this case, confers power and legal justification for the federal governments to control the commerce of the state. Commerce regulation involves a wide range of control that includes the exchange of goods and services. However, the definitions of commerce have been a very controversial one. The very constitutions that have given latitude to the Congress to regulate commerce do not explicitly define the commerce that it intends the Congress to be regulated. In its inadequacies, the constitution does not clearly describe the social intercourses between citizens of different states. Consequently, the constitution leaves a huge gap in identifying the commerce and the dividing line between the state power and those of the federal government. Wherefore, with this wide gap of the inadequacy and incompleteness of the clause, there is a legal problem in its application. In particular are the cyberspace and the federal power in regulating it while excising the commerce clause. Considering the case of American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan vs. the federal government, the association complained against the application of the commercial clause because they termed it criminalizing online communication and termed it as violation of the freedom of speech and a violation of the commerce clause that is provided in the constitution of United States of America.