The small business owner and manager forms a part of the required labor pool. In this context, the skilled labor factor is closely related to individual characteristics of intelligence and knowledge.
4. The fourth factor essential to the success of family owned businesses and small business enterprise generally is the availability of venture capital (Kets de Vries, 1993, pp. 59 71). Insufficient capital is the number one reason for the failure of small business enterprise. The significance of sufficient capitalization for small business firms cannot be overemphasized.
Small Family Owned Business Management
The typical writing on small business activity indicates that the individual characteristics required for success are ability, education, and a willingness to take risks (Kets de Vries, 1993, pp. 59 71). Risk taking is often said to be absent in the individual who seeks a career in a large corporation; however, in actual fact, it is simply the nature of the risks involved that are different. The following list of characteristics includes those that an owner manager of as family owned business firm, a small business owner, or an entrepreneur should possess. The fact that the same characteristics would serve an individual well within a large organization does not diminish their value to the owner manager of a family owned business, a small business owner, or an entrepreneur.
1. The first of the characteristics is daring (Dumas, 1992, pp. 41 55). Daring incorporates a willingness to take risks.
2. The second characteristic is flexibility (Dumas, 1992, pp. 41 55). Flexibility is closely associated with an ability to cope with and effectively respond to rapidly changing conditions in the external environment. Steven Jobs, after participating in the highly successful launching of Apple Computer, lacked the flexibility to effectively deal with a changing external environment. One result was that ...