STRATEGY EDITOR'S NOTE Some New Things We Are Doing As we go to press with the Fall/Winter 1998 issue of the Journal of Small Business Siraiegy (JSBS), there are a number of dynamics which should be of great interest to our readership. t In addition to our regular subscribers, JSBS is being distributed to over 650 AACSB member and candidate schools for the next year. It is hoped that this exposure will provide visibility for JSBS as well as SBIDA and the Small Business Institute (SBI) Program. t We continue to work with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and their National Business School Network (NBSN) who, like SBIDA, are involved in doing field consulting cases with small to medium sized businesses. In this regard, we are presenting a series of three articles in this issue beginning with New Siraregiesfor Inner City Economic Development: Iniiiaiive for a Competitive Inner City by Michael E. Porter of Harvard University and the founder of ICIC. This article lays out the foundation for the inner-city work being performed by the NBSN in urban areas. Subsequent articles profile the NBSN and the Small Business Institute (SBI) programs. t We welcome Radha Chaganti of Rider University aboard as our Book Review Editor. In this capacity, she will be responsible for coordinating book reviews that will be invited or solicited (or readers may initiate on their own by contacting Dr. Chaganti). Relevant reviews may include monographs on topics related to small business or entrepreneurship including management and other disciplines, consulting related books as well education- oriented publications and textbooks, etc. She may be reached at the following address: Radha Chaganti College of Business Administration Rider University Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 Telephone: (609) 895-5529 Email: Chagantirider.edu Journal of Small Business Strategy Volume 9, /Vo. 2 Fall/Winter l998 As we prepare for the National Small Business Consulting Conference in San Francisco February 10-13, 1999 (see advertisement in this issue), I would like to remind the attendees that a minimum of two articles, perhaps as many as four, will be selected from the submissions/proceedings for publication in JSBS. t We have established a relationship with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the newly merged international accounting firm whereby they will publish condensationsof articles from JSBS in their on-line Executive Digest. We are one of a select number ofjournals whose work will appear from time to time. You may even find an article or two from this issue! Check them t h .) «~uhu h hr yh gh h r* hhg* (click on to "Insights and Solutions" and then "Executive Digest" ). t We have converted JSBSto a Microso(I Word format. In the future, we ask that all accepted manuscripts be submitted in this form for publication. Jn the Near Future Some additional objectives we are planning to pursue in the near future include the following: ~ Increase the number of issues from two to three per year. ~ Expand the content of the journal to include appropriate book reviews, noteworthy news, insightful letters to the editor, and increase the number of invited papers from notable practitioners, scholars, and elected and appointed governmental officials. ~ Solicit and/or develop shorter articles through the normal editorial process for inclusion in the journal (titled "Small Business Briefs"). ~ Expand the subscription base of JSBS. ~ Expand the non-academic editorial review board of the journal. ~ Maintain and increase the quality of the journal in terms of both its scholarship while focusing on application to entrepreneurship, small business, family business, education, and economic development. JVhatis JSBSABAbout? Based on the JSBS mission, we believe that articles published in JSBS should be of value to small business & entrepreneurship educators/scholars, small business consultants or individuals involved in economic development in terms of at least one of the following: ~ Assist in the formulation or implementation of small business strategy ~ Be directly applicable to consulting projects and solutions ~ Generate ideas and approaches to problem solving in small business ~ Be presentable to a small business owner/manager for application ~ Relate to small business & entrepreneurship education Our "definition" of small business conforms with that of the U S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and includes quite a range of sizes of businesses. For example, the following is a brief summary of some of the criteria employed by the SBA in defining "small business": Journal ofSmall Bnsmess Strategy Volume 9, No 2 F'o///Winter /998'HAT IS A "SMALL BUSINESS?" Maximum Annual Sales or T e Of Business Number Of Em lo ees Wholesale Trade $ 9.5 - 22 Million (Varies Across Industries) General Construction $ 17 Million Services $ 2.5 - 14.5 Million (Varies Across Industries) Retail Trade $ 3.5 - 13.5 Million (Varies Across Industries) Agricultural Production $ . I - 3.5 Million (Varies Across Type) Restaurants Up To $ 10 Million Manufacturing Maximum Of Either 500, 750,1000, Or 1500 Employees (Depends On Industry) With our readership increasing and our desire to expand the scope of the journal, we encourage you to submit your work to the Journal ofSmall Business Strategy for consideration for publication. We are endeavoring to shorten our turnaround andincrease the number of arricles and issues of thejournal and provide opportunities for showcasing your research. In This Issue New Strategies for InnerCity Economic Development: Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) by Michael E. Porter of Harvard University and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, is a presentation of his economic model which describes the plight and opportunities of the inner- cities in this country. This article provides the foundation for the establishment of the ICIC and the National Business School Network (NBSN) discussed in the next article. Initiative For ri Competitive Inner City: The /Vational Business School Network by Monica Rivera Dean of the National Business School Network, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Marilyn L. Taylor of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, discuss the ICIC and National Business School Network (NBSN) which have been created in response to the economic model presented by Michael Porter. The NBSN and its member schools avail MBA students the opportunity to work with inner city businesses on meaningful consulting projects for the benefit of both the students as well as their clients. The Small Business Institute Program: High Impact Entrepreneurship Education by Charles H. Matthews of the University of Cincinnati and Immediate Past President of the Small Business Directors Association (SBIDA), gives a concise summary of the origin, purpose and impact of the Small Business Institute (SBI) Program. Exploiting the lnternetr Strategiesand Frameworksfor a Small Business by Vivek Choudhury Florida State University and Dennis Galletta of the University of Pittsburgh, is a very user- oriented piece on the use of the internet. The article is comprehensive and may easily be implemented by small business owners/managers and can serve as an effective consulting tool. Journal ofSmall Business Strategy Volume 9, No. 2 Fall/Winter /998 Improving Proftlabililyof Very Small and Small Firms: The Impact of Quality Practices in the Human Resource Area by Ronald Cook, Radha Chaganti and Cengiz Haksever, all of Rider University, was one of two Distinguished Papers from the 1998 SBIDA Conference held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Small Business Solulionst Building and Leveraging a Competitive Intelligence Capability IVIrhour Going Broke by John E. Prescott and Cynthia E. M iree of the University of Pittsburgh provides a framework for small businesses to employ to meaningfully engage in the increasingly important process of competitor intelligence. The article includes a number of frameworks and a valuable appendix which contains a number of resources that a small business can effectively employ. An Exploration of Diversity Practices In Small Successful Companies by Sandra Powell, H. Lon Adams, and Brian Davis, all of Weber State University, addresses the important issue of diversity as it relates to small business, an issue that has traditionally been associated with larger corporations. Small Business Brief - Hoiv Small Businesses in the United Stares are Responding to rhe Challenges and Opportunities of IVorkforce 2000 by Arthur Shriberg, Thomas D. Clark and Sherrie E. Human, all of of Xavier University, addresses the extent to which small firms are responding to the diversity issue. This article is an extension of their work which appeared in the Journal vf Small Business Strategy in Spring, 1995. We have introduced a new feature in this issue of JSBS in the form of a book review, Lean ~Thinkin by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones has been reviewed by Robert Kemp, a past President of SBIDA. I hope you enjoy this issue of JSBS. If you have any comments, please send us a letter or an email. Stephen Osborne, Editor