ABSTRACT
There is ample evidence of the importance of NTBFs to economic development. Their influence has been particularly marked on the United States economy since the early 1950s, notably in computers and information technology and more recently in biotechnology. By contrast, a study in 1977 estimated that there were then only 200 NTBFs employing 15,000 people in the UK and 100 in the FRG employing 12,000 (Little, 1977). However, as only manufacturing firms were included in the study these figures are probably an underestimate. A later study covering the period 1970 to 1985 demonstrated that there had been dramatic growth of NTBFs in the UK since the mid-1970s, most of which had been formed since 1979. There were some 7,000 such companies, employing about 120,000 in the UK in 1985. In Germany the number of firms had risen to 3,000 and in both countries there was significant geographical clustering (Segal Quince and ISI Institute, 1986).
