Q&A talks about small business with Quinnipiac University professors David Cadden and Sandra Lueder, who have written a book on the topic.
Q:You are co-authors of the textbook ‘Small Business Management in the 21st Century.’ What was the genesis for the book, what is it about and what in your backgrounds makes you the best authors for the topic?
A: The impetus for the books goes back more years than either one of us care to think about. Sandy’s father — Donald Lueder — was an entrepreneur who created two cutting edge businesses. He was an author of the most important textbook in his field — “Aerial Photographic Interpretation” — at that time. He suggested that we collaborate on writing a textbook on small business. He carefully reviewed many small business texts and found them wanting. He described them as “big business light,” believing that one could have easily replaced the term corporate anywhere in the text where you found the term “small business.” Basically, his — and our — critique was that most texts failed to concentrate on the unique problems and challenges faced by small businesses. Unfortunately, we were unable to work with Don on that project. One benefit of the delay was that it enabled us to bring decades of teaching experience to the project. Between us, we have had the chance to teach courses on small business, marketing, management, operations, strategy and quality.
Q: What’s your definition of small business? How did you select the businesses (The Notch Store, Cheshire Package Store, Elegant Touch, R.W. Hine, Consolidated Industries, Simione Consultants of Hamden, SoBe Beverages of Norwalk, Westbrook Lobster of Wallingford, and the New Britain Rock Cats) that are studied in the book?
A: We didn’t have our own definition of small business. We accepted the Small Business Administration’s (SBA: definitions. We say definitions because the SBA has different standards for small and midsize enterprises (SME) depending upon the industry. The definition can be measured by the number of employees or the dollar value of revenues. Again, depending upon the industry, the upper limits may change. We selected the firms used in the book because we wanted a broad diversity of examples from retail, manufacturing, service sports, consulting and technology.
Q: You have a great observation, “Small business is where the action is. It accounts for more than 50 percent of private-sector jobs and is a major driver of innovation, but it’s also the bastard at the family reunion who never gets the recognition it deserves.” Why does small business continue to be the bastard at the family reunion?
A: It is a bewildering issue. Small business plays a dominant role in the U.S. and global economy. It is the driver of new job creation. Yet, unfortunately, in many environments it fails to receive the respect, support and media coverage that it deserves. Far too often when the media highlights small business it is part of a human interest story. While that is welcomed, it tends to focus on a single tile rather than the mosaic that is small business’ contribution to our and other societies. Another possible explanation is the relatively limited political clout of small business. There are several small business advocacy groups that try to promote legislation that would support the development of small business at the local, state and national level, but their potency pales in comparison to what large corporations or industry advocacy groups can bring to bear in terms of the number of lobbyists and money.
Q: If the corporate and academic worlds have ignored small business, why are you focusing in on it?
A: We wouldn’t go as far as saying that the academic world has ignored small business. In fact, entrepreneurship programs seem to be proliferating at business schools across the United States and the world. In these programs, entrepreneurship and small business are given their due. They are recognized for their power and vitality. This is even occurring in MBA programs, which for decades have been training farms for corporate management. Some corporations implicitly recognize the innovation, creativity and dynamics of small business by promoting “intrapreneurship” programs in-house. The goal for our book was to bring 21st century realism to a small business textbook, a textbook that would solidly integrate what we felt were core themes: the creation of customer value, a laser focus on cash flow, and the importance of e-business/e-commerce.
Q: You advise small businesses to always be on disaster watch. Is it effective to run a business with that Damocles sword hanging over your head?
A: Most small businesses lack the resources to be cavalier about making a major or even minor mistake. You can’t afford the luxury of being an ostrich and ignore on-coming crises. Both of us sincerely believe that preparing students for the challenges and difficulties of being a small business owner is one of the best ways of improving their chance of success.
