Small Firms and Entrepreneurship An East-West Perspective [Hardcover]

Examines the role of small firms in developed nations' economies.This book analyses the relative importance of small firms in developed Western nations and Eastern Europe, identifying their exact role and how this role has evolved over the last fifteen years. It reveals that there has been a consistent shift away from large firms and towards small enterprises within the manufacturing sectors of all western countries, while the role of small firms in Eastern European nations has been remarkably restricted, suggesting that a major challenge for reform in Central and Eastern Europe is to create the strong entrepreneurial sector which exists in the West.This book analyses the relative importance of small firms in developed Western nations and Eastern Europe, identifying their exact role and how this role has evolved over the last fifteen years. It reveals that there has been a consistent shift away from large firms and towards small enterprises within the manufacturing sectors of all western countries, while the role of small firms in Eastern European nations has been remarkably restricted, suggesting that a major challenge for reform in Central and Eastern Europe is to create the strong entrepreneurial sector which exists in the West.This book analyzes the relative importance of small firms in developed Western nations and Eastern Europe, identifying their exact role and how this role has evolved over the past fifteen years. It reveals that there has been a consistent shift away from large firms and toward small enterprises within the manufacturing sectors of all Western countries, while the role of small firms in Eastern European nations has been remarkably restricted, suggesting that a major challenge for reform in Central and Eastern Europe is to create the strong entrepreneurial sector that exists in the West.List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction Zoltan J. Acs and David B. Audretsch; 2. Industrial concentration alÃ>