Management capability: perspectives from New Zealand small firms: report from BusinesSMEasure 2009

Management capability: perspectives from New Zealand small firms: report from BusinesSMEasure 2009

Empirical evidence suggests that improving the management skills of owner-managers of SMEs contributes to their survival and growth, and that there is considerable scope for further improvement in skills and competences of owner-managers. In particular, small firm owner-managers’ capability to manage regulation is considered to be important and is of continuous concern for policy makers.

There is limited research internationally (Clarke et al 2006; Downs 1999) and particularly in New Zealand that contributes to a more situational and contextual understanding of how small firm owner-managers acquire their management knowledge and skills and the factors
that affect their capability to manage regulation.

To this end, the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) commissioned a study to assess the nature of management development of small firm owner-managers in New Zealand and
to specifically assess small firm owner-managers’ capability to manage regulation.

The study formed part of BusinesSMEasure, a yearly longitudinal study of SMEs in New Zealand, targeted specifically to survey micro and small sized firms.

The number of firms that completed the survey was 1539. Fifty-eight percent of these firms were micro (0 – 5 FTEs)1 40 percent were small (6 – 49 FTEs) and 2 percent were medium (50 – 99 FTEs). About two thirds of the firms operated in the services sector while the remainder were from the manufacturing and primary sectors.

This report was prepared and submitted to the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development being the funding agency of the project. Please refer to url for paper.