Market entry decisions are complex and involve high sunk costs with uncertain or risky outcomes. In this study we explore how owner, firm, and competitive pressures shape this decision. Using a large UK data set of SMEs, we find that the preferred form of growth, and growth is not always desired, is expansion in existing markets. Key determinants of the decision to pursue a new market entry strategy are formal education, and large firm based market competition. Further, these decisions are made simultaneously not sequentially.

In this paper we provide empirical evidence concerning the nature of loan commitment contracts as reflected by individual loan contract parameters in influencing the size of bank commitments. Specifically, we consider how the quantitative allocation of credit, the loan amount, is affected or altered by changes to other components of the total loan package. By doing so we shed some more light on the types of real world trade-offs that credit constrained firms might face when approaching banks for funds, using the UK governments loan guarantee programme. Our results point at the importance of relationship lending in the UK.

We draw on elements of several established theories of internationalization to provide a framework for exploring international market entry and scale of entry measured by number of foreign markets entered for a sample of young, high-tech, firms from the UK and Germany. We find that founding team human capital is associated with more extensive internationalization, as is intensity of R&D, early internationalization and early stage venture capital. We also find that internationalizing firms who choose the US as their first international market entry are also those most likely to develop more extensive international market presence. Degree of asset specificity, in contrast, is associated with less extensive internationalization.

In this paper we provide an overview of the various means through which executives and entrepreneurs in Great Britain perceive freelancers as adding value to their businesses. To this end the paper reviews research on users of freelancers in large and small firms across industries in Great Britain. The evidence comprises a mix of case study and survey data. The results illustrate that managers perceive freelancers as a relatively high value added segment of the labour force which is particularly useful in dynamic and innovative business environments. In essence, freelancers are less of a cheap shadow precariat workforce and more a skilled specialised workforce that enable businesses to reduce: barriers to entry, risk and financial requirements while enhancing: business agility, flexibility and efficiency. Freelancers are viewed as important inputs that enable an innovation driven and entrepreneurial economy to perform.