Small business performance: a UK tourism sector focus

Discussion and analysis of small businesses tends to work on generalised, popularised understanding and knowledge of what their motivations are and how they behave in a business environment. The need to explore below these generalisations into the submerged variables and relationships is argued in this paper if academics and policy makers seriously want to interpret and induct theory and practice from the key actors within their natural habitat. Thus, this paper provides a conceptual framework relative to small, urban tourism business performance, which is used as an analytical framework to guide the interpretation of qualitative research undertaken with small businesses in the City of Glasgow. Specifically, discussion and conclusions focus on the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of small tourism business performance, aspects pertaining to competitive advantages, and the enterprise development issues arising from the prioritisation of lifestyle objectives over those of a more explicit economic nature. Conclusions are drawn relative to research, managerial and enterprise policy implications.