An emotional business: a guide to understanding the motivations of small business decision takers

Argues that the way in which the UK Government, through its various departments and quangos, approaches designed to approve the effectiveness of the small business sector, is based on a flawed understanding of how small businesses actually operate. Argues that this naïve, over-simplistic understanding of the motivation of those in the small business sector means that many government interventions that are made, are blunt instruments destined to fail, given the limited understanding shown of the complexity of the small business market. Presents evidence from two recent studies amongst small firms; a series of large-scale qualitative studies undertaken for a blue chip company and a mixed study on the Business Link network. The emphasis is based on – using qualitative research – getting to grips with the emotion, ambiguity and complexity that characterises this market.