A new analytical approach to small firms' cases, which

* Uses rich primary source data on modern small businesses

* Combines business strategy and industrial organization

* Presents detailed Profiles on diverse small businesses

* Shows how successful small businesses achieve competitive advantage

* Considers both extended rivalry and financial structure

* Shows how to `ground' small business theory in reality

Profiles in Small Businesses has a companion volume Small Business Enterprise by Gavin Reid (also published by Routledge, Hb: 0-415-05681-0: £45.00) which contains a full analysis (ranging from econometrics to the ethics of competition) of the larger sample of small businesses from which the Profiles are drawn.