[26
NOV 98] UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK PRESS RELEASE
Professor Wins Award For Small Business ResearchOn Tuesday 1st December Professor David Storey, Director of The Centre for
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises at Warwick Business School, will receive a $50,000
award which has never before been won by anyone outside the US and which is seen as the
equivalent of the Nobel prize for small business. He will use the event to call for three
changes in government policy to small businesses. The award citation describes Professor
Storey as:
"by far the most oft-cited small business researcher
in Europe... his research contributions have had a major impact on the quality,
credibility and policy relevance of the entire field of small business research."
The three changes he will call for are:-
- A new approach to Training: Government should stop believing
that small firms are irrational, or even stupid, for not taking advantage of training. The
limited resources as short term planning horizons of small firms tend to exclude them from
participation in even subsidised training opportunities. Government should seek to offer
training opportunities direct to individual workers.
- A new approach to business failure. Here in the UK business
failure is viewed as a reflection of competence, and anyone declared bankrupt often has
great difficulty in obtaining funding to start another business. In the United States
there is a recognition that failure can be a ‘chance event’ individuals may
learn from the experience and subsequently establish more successful businesses.
- New Information Intermediaries - Governments acquire vast
amounts of information on legislation, tax and other matters. Small businesses daily have
specific questions on these matters that need answered and often have not the time to
absorb the wealth of detail that often surrounds any one question. Professor Storey
believes that Government should seek to create Information Intermediaries, whether
subsidisedor not by the state, whose task is to be able to take specific questions asked
by entrepreneurs and immediately obtain valuable information.
Professor Storey will be presented with the award in
Stockholm City Hall by Swedish Assistant Minister of Industry and Trade, Ms Mona Sahlin,
on behalf of the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK),
in conjunction with the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research. The full award
consists of the statuette, "The Hand of God" created by the sculptor Carl Miles
and $50,000 US dollars.
MORE INFORMATION:
Peter Dunn, University Press Officer 01203 523708
email: puapjd@admin.warwick.ac.uk
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