Advice to Entrepreneurs and Small Business

Abstract

Concerns about the quality of business’s management and productivity has increased the salience of advice for policymakers. For policymakers, possibilities exist to develop advisory services and improve business practices bringing wider benefits to the economy and society. For academics, the problem of advice has become more important as it relates to firm development. Major perspectives on advice have developed in isolation from each other, in particular the psychology of advice taking and the managerial and economic perspectives. Hence it may be time for a re-think. The appraisal will be timely, as it reviews the literature on advice to entrepreneurs and to small firm managers. Therefore, the objective is to review the literature on advice to entrepreneurs and small business managers. In order to take advantage of the iterative potential that different perspectives would bring, this narrative literature review will need to understand these through the eyes of the advice seekers and the context within which they operate. Having identified and defined advice, the review discusses the different perspectives and the implications under five different headings that reflect the customer journey in the advice process from the initial “attraction†to advice, to the implications for businesses of consistent advice-taking. Implication for future research are presented.