The second issue in a new series, Global Financial Development Report 2014 takes a step back and re-examines financial inclusion from the perspective of new global datasets and new evidence. It builds on a critical mass of new research and operational work produced by World Bank Group staff as well as outside researchers and contributors.

New textbook presenting the enterprise environment in Ireland and the concept of entrepreneurship, together with the principles of business management and their application within an Irish SME start-up context. Reviews current enterprise policies, focusing on research, development and innovation within a 'smart economy' with details of various State agencies and the assistance they can offer. Clearly explains the concept of entrepreneurship and explores the main sources of business ideas. Explores the main areas of business management within an Irish context: Identifies various types of business organisations Outlines sources of finance, public procurement, financial management and auditing principles Presents key Irish taxation obligations of small and medium enterprises Highlights relevant Irish employment legislation, insurance information and legal issues relating to the sale of goods and services Strong focus is placed on intellectual property rights. Considers various issues that arise in a business start-up, such as new product development, stages of growth, options for insolvent companies, as well as exit strategies Provides a sample layout of a feasibility study and a business plan to aid the student when embarking on an entrepreneurship project. WRITTEN FOR - Students taking entrepreneurship courses in universities and Institutes of Technology - Failte Ireland courses where entrepreneurship is a module - Any course where entrepreneurship is a module - People managing their own business, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs

Using a unique firm-level survey data base, covering fifty four countries, the authors investigate whether different financial, legal, and corruption issues that firms report as constraints, actually affect their growth rates. The results show that the extent to which these factors constrain a firm's growth depends very much on its size, and that it is consistently the smallest firms that are most adversely affected by all these constraints. Firm growth is more affected by reported constraints in countries with underdeveloped financial, and legal systems, and higher corruption. So, policy measures to improve financial, and legal development, and reduce corruption are well justified in promoting firm growth, particularly the development of the small, and medium enterprise sector. But the evidence also shows that the intuitive descriptors of an "efficient" legal system, are not correlated with the components of the general legal constraints that predict firm growth. This finding suggests that the mechanism by which the legal system affects firm performance, is not well understood. The authors' findings also provide evidence that the corruption of bank officials, constraints firm growth. This "institutional failure" should be taken into account, when modeling the monitoring role of financial institutions in overcoming market failures due to informational asymmetries.

In discussing a management topic, scholars, educators, practitioners, and the media often toss out the name of a theorist (Taylor, Simon, Weber) or make a sideways reference to a particular theory (bureaucracy, total quality management, groupthink) and move on, as if assuming their audience possesses the necessary background to appreciate and integrate the reference. This is often far from the case. Individuals are frequently forced to seek out a hodgepodge of sources varying in quality and presentation to provide an overview of a particular idea. This work is designed to serve as a core reference for anyone interested in the essentials of contemporary management theory. Drawing together a team of international scholars, it examines the global landscape of the key theories and the theorists behind them, presenting them in the context needed to understand their strengths and weaknesses to thoughtfully apply them. In addition to interpretations of long-established theories, it also offers essays on cutting-edge research as one might find in a handbook. And, like an unabridged dictionary, it provides concise, to-the-point definitions of key concepts, ideas, schools, and figures. Features and Benefits: Two volumes containing over 280 signed entries provide users with the most authoritative and thorough reference resources available on management theory, both in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. Standardized presentation format, organized into categories based on validity and importance, structures entries so that readers can assess the fundamentals, evolution, and impact of theories. To ease navigation between and among related entries, a Reader’s Guide groups entries thematically and each entry is followed by Cross-References. In the electronic version, the Reader’s Guide combines with the Cross-References and a detailed Index to provide robust search-and-browse capabilities. An appendix with a Chronology of Management Theory allows readers to easily chart directions and trends in thought and theory from early times to the present. An appendix with Central Management Insights allows readers to easily understand, compare, and apply major theoretical messages of the field. Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each entry guide readers to sources for more detailed research and discussion. Key themes include: Nature of Management Managing People, Personality, and Perception Managing Motivation Managing Interactions Managing Groups Managing Organizations Managing Environments Strategic Management Human Resources Management International Management and Diversity Managerial Decision Making, Ethics, and Creativity Management Education, Research, and Consulting Management of Operations, Quality, and Information Systems Management of Entrepreneurship Management of Learning and Change Management of Technology and Innovation Management and Leadership Management and Social / Environmental Issues PLUS: Appendix of Chronology of Management Theory PLUS: Appendix of Central Management Insights

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Economics - Micro-economics, grade: B, The University of Chicago, language: English, abstract: About 99% of all the enterprises in the world are small or medium enterprises characterized of start up firms at the infant stage or well established SMEs. SMEs are essential in all economies especially to the developing countries characterized by major unemployment and income distribution challenges. In Kenya, SMEs are essential to the economy for which they are considered the main drivers. There are about 7.5 million SMEs in Kenya providing employment and income generating opportunities to low income sectors of the economy. The official policy framework of SMEs in Kenya is contained in the Sessional Paper No 2 of 2005: Development of Micro and Small Enterprises for Wealth and Employment Creation for Poverty Reduction. The policy forms the basis for enacting the SME Act which institutionalizes SME policy in Kenya (Syekei & Opijah, 2012). The contribution of the SMEs sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Kenya increased from 13.8 percent in 1993 to about 40 percent by 2008. The sector further provides approximately 80% of the total employment and contributes about 92% of the new jobs created within the economy. The sector serves as the bedrock for industrializing the country in the future (Capital Markets Authority, 2010). In the developing countries such as Kenya, with large informal or micro enterprise sectors, SMEs constitute the middle of the size range, hence their strategic importance. SMEs are considerably more complicated in terms of the organizational structure as opposed to microenterprises but less complicated as opposed to large corporations with layers of management and high division of labor among other characteristics. In terms of technology SMEs are intermediate between high labor intensive technologies and high capital intensive technologies providing SMEs with a special role in generation of adequate or decent employment (Palma, 2005). Due to these characteristics various constraints lower SMEs resilience to risk and prevent them from growing and attaining economies of scale. The challenges faced by SMEs in Kenya are not limited to the areas of financing investments and working capital but also include human resource development, market access and access to modern technology and information. Consequently, there are various factors that have supported SMEs growth since the 1990s (Capital Markets Authority, 2010).

Habitual Entrepreneurs examines the scale of habitual entrepreneurship and uses insights from human capital theory and cognitive theories to present a theoretical case for distinguishing between different types of entrepreneurs with reference to their prior business ownership experience.