ABSTRACT
In earlier chapters, my primary purpose was a scientific analysis of small firms’ inception and growth, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. However, one gained in passing considerable insight into small business ethics. I report below on such evidence, drawing on seventeen case studies out of the seventy-three SBEs in the sample. Part of the framework for these case studies involved using evidence gathered by the semi-structured interviews.1 These looked at competitive strategy, competitive advantage, and defensive strategy. It is the material from these interviews that provides the main empirical input to my discussion of small business ethics below.
