ABSTRACT
This chapter focusses on financial structure and performance in the early stage of the lifecycle of the young micro-firm. For the section of the database used (see Chapter 2), the firms examined have an average time from financial inception of just one and a half years. As regards size, their average number of employees is only three full-time, and two part-time workers. They are, indeed, ‘nascent’ firms (Reynolds et al., 2004). Short-run performance is measured quite simply over a 1-year period, in terms of ability of the micro-firm to continue trading. A more detailed consideration of performance, building on this, is undertaken in the next major section of the book, Part 4. While this chapter retains a focus on financial structure, the theme of Part 3, as a whole, also provides consideration of performance issues, preparing the ground for the discussions of Chapters 9 and 10.
