In a perfect world, becoming a successful small business entrepreneur would be easy. Entrepreneurs would possess superlative business skills that would translate innovative ideas into financially lucrative businesses. But the world of small business is not perfect and the reality is that most entrepreneurial ventures fail. In Small Business Entrepreneurship: An Ethics and Human Relations Perspective, Lavern S. Urlacher provides a knowledgeable, hands‐on guide to launching and managing a successful small business. Urlacher draws on a wealth of experience in writing this book as a small business owner, a consultant to small businesses and an instructor. The book was written specifically for classroom purposes and arose out of the author’s frustration over existing texts for his small business management course. The espoused purpose of the book is to provide a practical, step‐by‐step approach to setting up and running a small business. Commendably, the author clearly achieved that purpose. The result is a very hands‐on, practitioner‐oriented text.
Based on his years of experience managing a small business and consulting, Urlacher developed a “bridge model”, which he uses to both introduce the book and as an overarching theme throughout. The premise of the latter model is that ethics is the foundation of any successful small business. From this foundation emerge two sets of pillars which determine the success or failure of the business: human relationships and the quality of the product or service. The human relationship’s pillar refers to both internal and external relationships. Internal relationships encompass manager‐employee relations, while external relationships encompass manager‐outsider (vendors, creditors, customers, etc.) relations. The caliber and ethical nature of both the internal and external relationships constitute a material factor in the success of a small business. The second pillar of the bridge model is the quality of the product or service provided. This pillar is equally critical to the success of a small business, since quality is often the one way a small business can differentiate itself. The twin pillars of human relationships and quality in turn support the key functional areas of the business and the girders of customer information systems and management information systems. The final elements of the bridge model are the six environmental forces which influence the success of the small business: sociocultural, government, technological, economic, competition and legal and regulation.
Given the prominence which the author places upon his bridge model and its avowed purpose as a pedagogical tool, the conception and presentation of the model leaves room for improvement. While the elements selected by the author for inclusion in the model are sound, the depiction and subsequent discussion of them as a “bridge” is both forced and confusing. Furthermore, the continuous interrelationships and interplays among the elements are not clearly represented with the bridge approach. The latter limitations do not lend themselves well to an effective pedagogical tool. The author would have been better served by employing an open systems model rather than the forced contrivance of a bridge.
The book is organized into three parts. The first part begins with a discussion of the author’s bridge model. An overview of the entrepreneurial qualities needed in a small business owner and the operational realities of running a small business are then examined. The latter are followed by an excellent chapter on ethics in which the role of ethics in establishing a successful business, the alignment of personal values with business conduct and the ethical dilemmas faced by a small business manager are perused.
Part II constitutes the majority of the book and focuses on the operational aspects of launching and managing a small business. The financial area is often the Achilles’ heel of small businesses. One of Urlacher’s strengths is his intimate knowledge of the sound financial and accounting practices needed in a small business. In Part II, Urlacher is at his best and his practical experience is exemplified. Here, the author probes in depth the financial aspects of running a small business with a strong emphasis on the finance and accounting areas. This section begins with a thorough discussion of the various venues and methods of securing financing. Additionally, Urlacher devotes an entire chapter to the critical task of constructing financial statements, ratio analysis, the time value of money and capital budgeting. Yet another chapter is dedicated to the importance of constructing and maintaining a sound accounting system. In line with the author’s practical, step‐by‐step approach, considerable coverage focuses on the numerous federal and state tax reporting requirements that are vital to a small business’s survival, such as payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, withdholding, and unemployment taxes. The author includes an appendix with an extensive array of the relevant federal and state tax forms. Franchising, marketing strategies and marketing research are also examined in this segment of the book.
Part III concludes the book with chapters on management information and the impact of the general environment on the small business. Woven into the narrative throughout the entire book, as well as in sidebars, are entrepreneurial profiles and insights culled from actual entrepreneurs. The latter were gathered from extensive fieldwork for this book by the author and add substantial value and credibility to the work.
A notable omission in this book is the relative absence of substantive discussion of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The author’s discussion in the book of the Internet’s role and impact on small businesses is essentially limited to one page in the chapter on marketing research. Along the same vein, Urlacher makes scant reference to a handful of small business‐related Web sites in the text. The lack of emphasis on the Internet is particularly evident in the end‐of‐chapter exercises which stress the collection of more information, yet none of which reference the Internet. In this era of the information age and the global marketplace, the Internet plays an increasingly important role in commerce. Considerably more attention to the Internet was warranted. Small businesses in particular have greatly benefitted from the Internet in terms of a certain leveling of the playing field vis‐à‐vis larger competitors, greater access to customers, and better access to information vital to the operation of their business. One example of the role of the Internet to small businesses is e‐bay. Small businesses comprise an overwhelming presence on e‐bay. Of the four million listings per day on e‐bay, the top 38,000 power sellers account for 2.7 million items. Power sellers move substantial volume through e‐bay and consist of small businesses such as mom and pop entrepreneurs selling collectibles, liquidators, wholesalers, small business retailers and home entrepreneurs (Guernsey, 2000).
Another omission in the book is the paucity of coverage on human relations. Given the importance the author placed on human relationships as a critical pillar of the small business, a separate chapter was warranted on the topic. Instead, human relations issues were addressed sporadically throughout the book. Additionally, while this text is clearly practitioner‐oriented, it nonetheless is directed primarily toward a collegiate audience. As such, the lack of references cited is disconcerting. In some instances, entire chapters include only one to three references. Needless to say, the text contains essentially no academic theory.
In Small Business Entrepreneurship: An Ethics and Human Relations Perspective, Lavern S. Urlacher has written a highly knowledgeable and practical guide to launching and managing a small business. Urlacher’s book adds to the existing texts in the field by the extensive operational detail it provides, as well as its strong ethical emphasis. This text would be well suited for small business management or entrepreneurship courses. Additionally, it would make an excellent reference for those interested in opening a small business or those currently running one. Notably, the text is targeted primarily at a US audience, as evidenced by extensive references to US tax codes, laws, and governmental agencies throughout. Nonetheless, the basic managerial, ethical and financial information contained therein can easily cross international borders.
