ABSTRACT
In our 1987 text The Performance of Small Firms we were aware of two distinct groups of potential readers. The first were our academic colleagues who were primarily interested in relating our findings to the existing theoretical and empirical literature. The second were a group whom we will refer to as policy makers, who had relatively little interest in theoretical issues. They were interested in obtaining insights into the performance of small firms that had immediate and practical applications. Included in this group were public policy makers interested in promoting the development of the small-firms sector, financiers involved in providing loan and equity to small firms, and small business owners themselves. In the 1987 volume we did not explicitly distinguish in our conclusions, those which were relevant to the two groups. In that sense we were probably less effective in communicating our main findings and their policy relevance than should have been the case.
