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Smalltalk: Rhetoric of control as a barrier to growth in artisan micro-firms

Simon Parry International Small Business Journal 2010 28: 378 DOI: 10.1177/0266242610363528 The online version of this article can be found at: http://isb.sagepub.com/content/28/4/378

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Article

i s b j
Small Firms

Smalltalk: Rhetoric of control as a barrier to growth in artisan micro-firms

Simon Parry

International Small Business Journal 28(4) 378397 The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermission.nav DOI: 10.1177/0266242610363528 isb.sagepub.com

University of Cumbria, UK

Abstract This article reports on a study that uses discourse analysis to provide a social constructionist view of growth barriers in micro-level firms. Although barriers to growth have been the subject of prior studies, no study to date has taken a linguistic-based interpretative approach to understand the mechanisms by which such barriers arise. The study is based upon semistructured interviews with owner-managers of 20 micro-level artisan businesses. The analysis focuses on responses to questions concerning business growth. The analytical reading of these responses highlights references to business control and shows how the way control is discursively constructed influences management practices and in turn impacts on business growth. The findings suggest the need for a better understanding of the complex interrelationship between micro-firm management practices and participants lived business reality. The article identifies ways in which growth-barrier constructions arise and points to how they may be overcome through business intervention. Keywords artisans, discourse analysis, barriers to growth, micro-firm, social construction.

Introduction and rationale

This article reports on a study that uses discourse analysis to provide a social constructionist view of barriers to growth in micro-level artisan businesses. By analysing the discursive mechanisms through which such barriers are socially constructed, the study provides a better understanding of how they arise and points to how they may be overcome.

Previous research on growth and barriers

The question of what contributes to and what hinders small business growth lie at the heart of the small business research agenda (OFarrell and Hitchens, 1988; Storey, 1994; Orser et al., 2000).

Corresponding author: Simon Parry, University of Cumbria, Fusehill Street, Carlisle, Cumbria CA1 2HH, UK Email: simon.parry@cumbria.ac.uk

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This agenda is driven by the acknowledged economic significance of the small business sector (Wiklund et al., 2003; Berry et al., 2004) and the important contribution that small business research makes to both policy development and business support (Curran et al., 1986). Accordingly, economic significance is largely seen as being seated in the growth potential of small firms and the job creation such growth brings (Scase and Goffee, 1987; Birch, 1990; Davis et al., 1993). Researchers who have addressed the question of small firm growth have brought a wide range of theories, perspectives and methodologies to bear on the subject. OFarrell and Hitchins (1988) in a survey conducted 20 years ago identified five main perspectives in explaining small firm growth: (1) an industrial economics perspective; (2) stochastic models; (3) stage models; (4) a strategic management perspective; and (5) social and personality approaches. More recently Orser et al. (2000) determine four approaches: (1) biological models of growth; (2) growth and decision making; (3) social psychology; and (4) integrative (multi-disciplinary) studies. Grant and Perren (2002) surveyed and categorized articles on small business research published in 2000 to provide a meta-theoretical analysis of contemporary research using Burrell and Morgans (1979) taxonomy of subjectiveobjective, radicalregulation paradigms. Their study highlights how, despite the range of perspectives identified in the taxonomies above, the majority of small business studies remain within a functionalist paradigm. Since Grant and Perrens survey, the mainstream of research focusing on growth still remains within the functionalist paradigm. A popular approach is to correlate growth with institutional factors such as product innovation (Freel and Robson, 2004), training (Bryan, 2006), business ownership (Van Stel and Carree, 2004) or structure (Ghobadian and ORegan, 2006). Other studies have looked at owner-manager characteristics such as owner-manager age (Kangasharja, 2000), gender (Johnsen and McMahon, 2005; Roper and Scott, 2009), education and previous experience (Richbell et al., 2006). Even though some studies have been concerned with owner-manager attitudes to growth, they still tend towards a positivist methodology (Wiklund et al., 2003). Such studies are valuable and important in highlighting those factors associated with business growth. However, Grant and Perren (2002) call for a broadening of perspectives in order to generate new theories and understandings in small business research. In particular, Doern (2009) suggests a need for research which explores the meaning of growth barriers within the context in which they are perceived. Furthermore, the methodologies associated with the functionalist paradigm have been criticized as revealing little insight into the causality and processes of growth (Gibb, 2000; Ekanem, 2007). There is therefore, a need for more interpretative research that addresses the importance of understanding the motives of small business managers in order to improve support and legislation (Culkin and Smith, 2000).

A linguistic turn
A number of researchers are answering this call and conducting studies that operate within an interpretative paradigm (Rae, 2004; Cope, 2005; Ekanem, 2007). An important aspect of this development is the linguistic turn which is already well established in other areas of organizational research (Hjorth and Steyaert, 2004). Linguistic-based methodologies are being recognized as particularly well suited to researching owner-managed micro business (Parry, 2007). In particular, this approach has been found to provide a means of penetrating the often informal and idiosyncratic world of the owner-manager (Johansson, 2004). Furthermore, storytelling is being recognized as an important part of the entrepreneurial process (Rae, 2005). The stories that entrepreneurs tell affect their behaviour and their interaction with others (Martens et al., 2007).

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Despite this acknowledged importance of owner-manager narratives, a linguistic approach has not so far been used to explore the relationship between such narratives and small business growth. This article therefore, seeks to address this gap by using discourse analysis to examine the relationship between owner-managers discourse around growth and their business practice. The discourse analysis approach places language at the forefront of meaning and value creation (Edley, 2001). Underpinning this is the understanding that the way meaning is created through language usage in turn impacts on action (Willig, 2003). Such a perspective challenges the objective realist stance adopted by functionalist studies and so, presumptions that the meaning of business practices preexist their semantic content for the owner-manager. From the social constructionist viewpoint, meaning is seen to be the product of the subjective experience of the owner-manager and their interrelations with others (Gergen, 1999). The owner-manager can be seen as constructing a story about reality using such materials as interpretations of business activities and other facts as they find them. This is not to imply that the world does not exist prior to this point. Rather, it recognizes that owner-managers subjectively construct the facts about their businesses reality, even though they may then go on to reify them and treat them as if they existed independently of their subjectivity (through processes which Berger and Luckmann [1966] call externalization, objectivation and internalization).

Methodology
The data used in this study was collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of 20 artisan micro-businesses. It is generally agreed that the objectives of the small business are synonymous with those of the owner (OFarrell and Hitchins, 1988). When ownership and management reside in the same person, then future business goals are determined not only by commercial considerations but also by the owner-managers personal lifestyle (Birley and Westhead, 1990). It is for this reason that the study focuses particularly on artisan businesses; such businesses might reasonably be expected to be the least business orientated and so, more focused upon personal lifestyle goals (Smith, 1967). Businesses were selected for the study based on size, age and main business activity. All were at the micro level (DTI, 2005), ranging in size from one to eight employees, and varying time in business from five to 29 years (see Appendix). The businesses were located around Cardiff in South Wales and Bristol in the southwest of England. An artisan is interpreted as a skilful labourer (Metcalf, 1997) or an individual practising a trade in which manual techniques take precedence (Tregear, 2005). Choosing businesses that were at least five years old ensured that all businesses sampled had survived the initial start-up period and had time in which to experience the opportunity for growth. Asking a question of growth therefore, puts the owner-manager in a defensive position of justifying their lack of growth. Analysing responses to this question enables us to understand how this justification is constructed. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were then coded, starting with a thematic reading of each interviewees response to a simple question of business growth: Have you ever had any aspirations to grow your business beyond its current level? Examples of initial themes arising out of the readings are: a distinction between management work and handson artisan work; internal control requirements; and externally imposed business regulations that prompted control responses. As new themes were identified in the transcripts, coding was refined through reclassification and sub classification. This continued until no new coding nodes were emerging and all responses had been coded to one or more node. This coding was done manually. The coding and subsequent analysis was informed by Parkers (1992) steps in an analysis of discourse

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dynamics and is particularly influenced by the discussion and application of Parkers approach in two studies by Willig (1998, 2003). The thematic reading that produced the coding concentrated on the way in which issues of business control were brought into the interviewees narrative on growth, either directly or indirectly. This involved more than simply looking for key words or phrases. Each interview transcript was carefully read to identify both explicit and implicit references to control. In this respect, it was important to keep a broad interpretation of business control. It was also important to bear in mind during the analytical reading how references to certain activities or aspects of the business infer control. As pointed out by MacNaughten (1993), sometimes what is not said is as important as what is said. The fact that a text does not contain a direct reference to a discursive object can reveal a lot about how that object is constructed. Once coding was completed, each of the coding nodes was scrutinized in terms of the meanings that surrounded the way control was talked about within that particular theme. This discursive psychology approach involves the use of four key concepts: Discursive constructions are constructions of meaning around a discursive object, in this case business control (Potter and Wetherell, 1987). Action orientation describes what is achieved by a certain construction, for example a justification or a defence of a practice or action (Heritage, 1984). Interpretative repertoires are coherent repertoires of terms or metaphors drawn upon to characterize actions and events (Gilbert and Mulkay, 1984). Subject position is a position within which a speaker locates themselves or others through the use of certain discursive constructions and interpretative repertoires (Davies and Harr, 1991). The analysis began by asking: How is business control discursively constructed by the interviewee? From this analysis the discursive constructions were established. As part of this analysis the action orientation of the identified constructions was also examined. This was prompted by asking: What is achieved for the interviewee by constructing control in this way? The next step was to ask: What interpretative procedures are involved in the discursive construction of business control? By addressing this question the analysis of the discursive constructions of control is further developed by locating them within the interpretative repertoires used by the interviewee. The analysis thereby related the interviewees talk of business control to a wider interpretation of their social construction of the world. The third step was to ask: How does the way control is discursively constructed position the owner-manager and thereby shape the owner-managers selfidentity? This stage of the analysis looked at how the various discursive constructions of control positioned the owner-manager in different ways as artisan and as businessperson. Finally the analysis focused on the possibilities for action made available by the owner-managers subject positioning, This analysis sought to reveal how not only the business practice, but also the psychological and social reality of the owner-manager is shaped by the discursive construction of control, via its influence on the subject positions which he or she inhabits. These analysis steps and the related research questions are set out in Figure 1.

Findings
This section outlines the results of the analysis described above and provides illustrative examples from the interview transcripts to support that analysis. The interviewees, in each case being the owner-manager of the business, are referred to as OM A, OM B, and so forth.

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Discursive constructions

How do discursive constructions of business control arise through the owner-managers talk?

Action orientation What is gained from constructing control in the particular ways used by the owner-manager?

Interpretative repertoires

What linguistic resources does the owner-manager draw upon in his/her talk of business control?

Subject positions

How do the constructions of business control position the speaker (the owner-manager)?

Legitimate practice

Subjectivity

What are the possibilities for action mapped out by the constructions of control?

What ways of seeing the world are made possible or not possible by the interpretative repertoires used by the owner-manager?

Figure 1. Steps in Data Analysis

Discursive constructions
The construction of business control as a barrier to growth was found to arise in two distinct ways. The first construction focused inwardly on the businesss own internal control mechanisms. The second construction focused outwardly on the businesss external environment. Although these represent very different constructions of control as a barrier to growth, there are strong links between the two. The barrier arises in each case because control is presented as preventing growth in a gradual, continuous way. Within the first construction, control is framed as something which is an important aspect of running a business, and which cannot be neglected. So much so, that the business should not and cannot be expanded if it would mean that control would suffer. This is seen in extract A below, where OM D (farrier) offers a cautionary tale of other owner-managers (certain people) losing control of their business through expansion.

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Parry Extract A
Q: OM D:

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Have you ever had any aspirations to, to grow the business, you know, bigger than it is at the moment? Not really, because its nice to, erm, keep tabs on whats going on. You hear of certain people, erm, expanding their businesses and basically losing control of them. I feel as it is at the moment that Im still in control. OK, I have to work 12 or 14 hours a day, erm, but Im in control, I know whats going on. Erm, more of a feel for the business.

The keep tabs expressed here is a reference to control. The claim for the importance of such control might be sufficient in itself. However, the claim is reinforced here by an allegorical tale of expansion that leads to loss of control. In telling this tale, the owner-manager positions control in opposition to growth. He establishes that the two cannot be simultaneously achieved by equating control with his time. He is already working 12 or 14 hours a day to keep control over the business at its current level. This reference to the length of his working day serves a two-fold role. First, it provides a measure against which an addressee will have a sense of what is reasonable. But equally, he provides as a measure of control a resource which is finite his time. Even with the best will in the world, he could not work many more hours than he currently does. Hence he could not expand his business much beyond its current level. In extract B, OM A (electrical repair engineer) constructs control (in this case stock control) in a similar way. As in extract A, control is equated with his time. The equation of control with the owner-managers time is established in the clause but you cant be working and watching them. Extract B
Q: OM A: Have you ever had any aspirations to grow the business beyond? ... We did, we did put our elbow in the water down that road. And er, and we, you know, you got a van, you put a 1,000 worth of stock in it. Give somebody some jobs to do. And, knowing all the tricks, because we worked for companies ourselves. We know exactly, and it was true to form. It was one job for us, and it was one job for himself. So, well I mean, your spare parts are being used fiddling, basically. So, unless youre prepared to to make a big step like employ maybe three blokes. Then employ, or do it yourself, but you cant be working and watching them, and employ a manager, to watch these guys, who are working for you, youve got no chance. So you either go down the road of having quite a few people work for you, or you dont bother at all. So after about a year and a half two years, we got fed up with it, and er, decided to keep the business small. And efficient.

The construction in this text is achieved through three argumentative steps each of which builds upon the last. First, the owner-manager offers a cautionary tale of growth that leads to loss of stock control: So, well I mean, your spare parts are being used fiddling, basically. The validity of this argument is reinforced by reference to his own previous experience: knowing all the tricks, because we worked for companies ourselves. Stock control is then equated with management time. In equating stock control with time, the owner-manager is able to construct a new argument. The time spent in control must either be his own, or that of an employed supervisor. If he undertakes the supervision himself, then it becomes a distraction from his own work. This leads to the third argument, which is that if a supervisor were employed, it would necessitate taking on several new employees. Implicit within this argument is the suggestion that it would require contribution from several employees to cover the additional overhead cost of a supervisor. The owner-manager is

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then able to dismiss this course of action on the grounds that it requires a large step-increase in the business size, rather than gradual growth: So you either go down the road of having quite a few people work for you, or you dont bother at all. The either/or construction serves to emphasize the dichotomous nature of the choice. Despite having built up this complex three-stage argument the owner-manager then cites efficiency to further justify his position. In citing efficiency the owner-manager is drawing upon another business discourse. The concept of efficiency has been a central tenet of management discourse reaching back to the early twentieth century (Taylor, 1903; Emerson, 1919; Harrison, 1930) and has come to represent a positive and desirable attribute. In both of the extracts cited above, business control is constructed as a barrier to growth in terms of the distraction for the owner-manager; control is equated with the owner-managers direct attention and therefore, time. This can be seen in the further quotes presented in Table 1. There also arises an entirely different second way of constructing control as a barrier to growth. That is in terms of managing externally imposed factors, particularly tax and employment legislation. In extracts C and D below, OM E (musical instrument maker) constructs a barrier to growth in terms of managing turnover in relation to the VAT threshold. Extract C
Q: OM E: Have you ever had any aspirations to grow the business bigger than it is at the moment? Hhh Yes. But its not practical, under the circumstances of this country, really. And the rules of business. Er. Youve really you either go for twenty employees, or none, virtually. One or two, on a really low wage is OK, I do it. But the move between turning over 50,000 and employing two people, to anything bigger at all, has to be you have to double that just to get through the barrier, because the costs are so much higher Its mostly the VAT problem. In that er, all our profits are because of our labour. So with our labour, we cant claim the VAT back on that. If we were just retailers, wed buy in, pay the VAT, sell out, collect the VAT, do the swap, and by the time youve added the motoring expenses and things like that in, its a dead breakeven job. All youre doing is some extra bookwork. But from our point of view, the raw materials are about 15% of the end cost of the product. So wed be claiming VAT back off 15% of what we were selling, and collecting VAT for the government at 17% of 100%. Which is a very different figure.

The argument against growth is both textually and logically constructed in the same manner as OM As argument in extract B. The owner-manager uses an either/or construction to create a dichotomous position between substantial growth to twenty employees or no growth at all. The owner-manager develops this argument by drawing upon an economic discourse in his use of the term breakeven. The significance of the concept of breakeven is that it focuses attention on how costs change with levels of activity. The owner-managers use of this concept reinforces his argument that the disadvantageous differential between input and output VAT would become worse as turnover increased. This therefore becomes a matter of control because the owner-managers response is to purposely keep his turnover below the VAT threshold. He asserts that his business would grow if the barrier were not there: Extract D
OM E: Theres no problem. The orders are there. We can make much, much more than we are making. But we darent because as soon as we hit the VAT well be uncompetitive. So weve just got to stay out of it.

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The interviewee claims the orders are there for the business to grow. However, he then draws upon a capitalist discourse of competition to frame growth in such circumstances as not making good business sense because it would make the business uncompetitive. Further examples regarding the management of externally imposed factors are presented in Table 1. A common ingredient of the arguments analysed above is a reference to a need for a large increase in business. The owner-managers suggest that a gradual increase is not possible, but rather a step-increase in business activity is required. This was a recurring theme in the interviewees discussion of growth: Extract E
OM S: Er, and then of course, the government muddied the waters, as far as I was concerned, by producing all the rules and regulations about employing five people or more. Whereby you have to offer pensions for instance. And er, that was mooted a couple of years before it actually came in. And I said well there are definitely no incentives, as far as I am concerned, to get involved in more red tape. So, on that basis, I said we would stick at four people, and I still think we can make it. I still think we can make a comfortable living at that. So the government was directly responsible for me not doing any more, from that point of view. Have you at any time thought, that, despite these reservations, Ill still No. If I went and did anything else, I might start up a, er, separate company, independent of this, but also, er, keep it at less than five people. Because it simply doesnt by the time youve probably got about twenty-five, its not so bad. That gap between five and twenty-five is a real tough break.

Q: OM S:

In this extract, OM S (stationery printer) uses the same argument about the need for substantial, rather than gradual growth, which acts as a barrier to growth: by the time youve probably got about twenty-five, its not so bad. That gap between five and twenty-five is a real tough break. The ownermanager underlines that this is a business reality for him rather than an excuse for not growing by suggesting that he might still pursue growth but by means of a separate business, also kept below five employees. Further examples of this need for a step-increase in business size can be seen in Table 1.

Action orientation
Bakhtin (1986) maintained that all utterances are dialogic. That is to say, their meaning should be understood with reference to other utterances. In the extracts cited above the utterances are quite obviously dialogic in nature as they are a direct response to a question concerning growth from the interviewer. As the businesses studied were chosen for their lack of growth, then asking a question of growth places the owner-manager in a defensive position of justifying his or her lack of growth. In forming this justification, the owner-manager mobilizes aspects of business control, and through control, a legitimate business reason, for the lack of growth. Hence, control is the vehicle for a business-oriented legitimization of the owner-managers position. The action orientation of the constructions of control as a barrier to growth can therefore, be seen as forming part of the owner-managers justification for the continuing small size of his or her business. In the interview extracts above, justification is made, in terms of business control, by drawing upon various accepted business concepts such as efficiency, profit margins and breakeven points. In constructing such justifications the owner-manager positions the business as being necessarily small. This necessity is framed in terms of what size the business must be to optimally

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Table 1. Discursive Constructions

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Internal control taking up time and distracting from hands-on work OM C (basket maker) Its got to a level now where, I mean, I dont have any plans to take, if I was to grow any bigger it would mean taking somebody on. And, er, I dont feel like I want to do that at the moment. So Im quite happy to keep it ticking at its current level really. I may be just jiggle things around a bit, because Im at a point now where theres more work coming in than I can cope with. And trying to control the sort of level of work. OM J (model maker) Oh, yes, Id definitely like to grow, but I wouldnt say that big. Seeing how, you know, one big company I know in particular is very er. Put it this way, its its not the most efficient of companies from, er, they seem to waste a lot of money, where it especially, I think, on wages. I see a lot of people who arent really pulling their weight.You know? And it could be streamlined a lot, more. And from that point of view, I dont think I really want to grow that big. OM K (painter and decorator) Theres some people thats suited to working on their own. And were not, I dont think, erm the type to be employers. Er, and I think maybe that its the worry of the job. Then it would be the worry of the mans effort.Youve got to be pretty tough, I would say, you know, to keep maybe five or six men, working. Erm, having the responsibility of that. OM O (artist/designer) People were saying you should really be getting offices and employing people to work for you, and you can then, build up your turnover and that. Im not that sort of businessman.You know? I know that that job has to be finished on that deadline. If I decide, its a sunny day and I want to lounge about in the garden or do anything, Ill work right the way through the night to do it. But the job is Ive never not hit a deadline.You know, if I had people working for me, and they were working from nine to five, you know, Id hate it. So, Im very much, just on my tod. OM Q (designer/printer) Yes, we certainly thought we would grow. If you told me once it started going, if you told me that at this time thered still just be the two of us, Id have been quite surprised that we hadnt made it bigger .Yer. But we discovered that neither of us like managing really, very much. We dont like being Erm, dont particularly like having people to manage. External factors OM C (basket maker) Theres so many I cant say really pressures thats the wrong word. Theres so many external influences that could steer you in all sorts of direction. Its just being aware of those deciding which way you want. OM J (model maker) Its not in my interest to be registered for VAT or anything like that. Just because, you know, if I was to add seventeen percent onto my, er invoice every month, then Id be uncompetitive with everyone else. OM M (furniture maker) Its grown so now Im employing three full-timers, as well as a couple of part-timers. We try and keep below the VAT threshold. The need for a step-increase in business size OM P (falconer) The problem is, when youre working for yourself, you can only take so much work on.You have people working for you, you can only do so much. Unless you expand so big. And I mean if you expand so big you could be on a loser like, you know, so. youve got to be careful, like if Im employing people, that Ive got to be able to cover them. Know what I mean? (Continued)

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Table 1. (Continued)

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OM M (furniture maker) And you know, talking to people, its just hassle, big business. If youve got over five people youve got health and safety written policies.Youve got to just be a lot more onerous, its just a management job then really. From what I perceive it to be anyway. Its bad enough being tax collector,VAT, PAYE and all that lark. I want to do less of that, not more. OM Q (designer/printer) Its a very big step up from doing what we do, to employing somebody because you need them.Youve got to, pay somebody, you need probably to increase your turnover by something like twenty-five thousand a year, just to pay somebody. Just to stand still. Otherwise, to make it worth the extra effort, youve maybe got to increase your turnover by thirty-five, forty thousand a year. To bring in that extra work, you also need a bigger advertising budget.You probably also need secretarial help, which again has got to be paid for. So the whole thing, turns, just one employee, you know, turns into an increase in turnover by a hell of a lot. OM R (graphic designer) I have been frantically busy, from time to time, over the years. But I have never felt confident enough, perhaps, to take anybody on. Because taking somebody on will either mean them coming here to my home to work, or me having to get premises somewhere. Which is another big, you know, too big a step again for me to Im a very cautious and careful person when it comes to that. It is working totally against the er, the business ethic, I suppose, that I started with. To try and keep it small and to keep costs down. To be competitive.

function as an artisan business, and in terms of what size it must be for him/her to maintain adequate control, while maintaining a hands-on position of artisan owner-manager.

Interpretative repertoires
The next step of analysis involved looking at the interpretative repertoires that underpin the constructions of business control identified above. The importance of such analysis lies in the way it can provide a broader understanding of how a speakers actions and beliefs are portrayed through the discursive constructions which they use. The concept of interpretative repertoire provides a framework for understanding the impact which the constructions of control have on the social positioning (and therefore, the identity) of the owner-manager, and the possibilities for business practice which arise out of that positioning. In the passage set out in extract B above, the owner-manager uses two different arguments to justify the lack of growth in his business. In so doing, he draws upon two distinctly different interpretative repertoires. First, he suggests that what is needed is a big step like employ maybe three blokes. In order to overcome the internal control barrier, growth would have to be substantial in a big step. Lack of such substantial growth is easier to defend than a lack of growth achieved gradually through taking on extra employees one at a time over an extended period. Second, such substantial growth is far more likely to take the owner-manager away from his preferred hands-on work. By using this two-fold argument, the ownermanager justifies the lack of growth drawing upon both a business perspective (there are good business reasons for not growing) and a personal perspective (there are good personal reasons for not growing). The construction in extract B could be described as psychological in basis. OM A talks in terms of his distrust of employees and the resultant need to control stock. Thus, he is therefore calling upon his psychological state in making the construction. In extract A, conversely, OM D draws upon his physical state to make the construction. The barrier is in terms of the number

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of hours work he can fit into a day, which is a physical, or physiological basis to the construction. By introducing an allegorical tale that illustrates the adverse consequences of attempting growth, the owner-manager is able to present his actions as being a good business decision in comparison, and so defends his lack of growth against criticism. Thus, although the construction of his arguments are very different to those of OM A found in extract B, OM D also uses two elements to his argument which in turn defend his lack of growth from within both the personal and the business repertoires. The barrier of his time is a defence from within the personal repertoire; the allegorical tale of disastrous growth is a defence from within the business repertoire.

Subject positioning
The analysis so far serves to illustrate how the construction of control as a barrier to growth enables the owner-manager to legitimately justify a lack of growth in the business. This suggests that the most significant barrier to growth for the artisan owner-manager lies in the way growth threatens self-identity as an artisan. If this self-identity is linked with the hands-on dimension of artisan work and it is perceived that growth will take the owner-manager away from this activity, they will be reluctant to grow the business. This is seen more explicitly in the following extract from OM T (stained glass maker). Extract F
Q: OM T: Did you ever have any aspirations to grow the business bigger than it is? I did in the late eighties. Erm. It was a sort of continued growth, erm, from starting off in business. It was getting slowly busier and busier and I did, er, find myself employing, er, about six people. Erm, but just found I was chasing work and organizing work. And it was, sort of, taking me away from actually what I wanted to do. That was just to work with the glass, in a creative way.

The owner-manager links his identity as artisan with a hands-on aspect of work that cannot be maintained if the business grows. The continued connection with the hands-on aspect of the business limits the owner-managers ability to manage, particularly staff. Consequently, this restricts growth in terms of the number of employees. Beyond a certain number of employees, the ownermanager must relinquish hands-on work to manage staff. His artisan ideology prevents this. This would suggest that the subject positions adopted by the owner-manager through his constructions of control are not conducive to business growth. Positioning as artisan means that business growth is neither easy to achieve nor desirable. It will take the owner-manager away from the hands-on work that is the essence of the artisan existence. Further examples illustrating this positioning are presented in Table 2. As was shown in the analysis of interpretative repertoires, this positioning can present both psychological and physiological barriers to growth. If these barriers to growth were simply issues of positioning arising from the personal repertoire, they could be countered through appeal to business principles via the business repertoire. However, the owner-manager also used the business repertoire to justify the lack of growth in economic-rational terms. Concepts of efficiency and the need for adequate business control are used to give a business rationale to the lack of growth (see Extract B and Table 1).

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Table 2. Subject Positioning

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OM A (electrical repair engineer) I really enjoyed the tools, as opposed to the measuring up and writing it all out. Im more of a hands-on person than an office person anyway. Even though I obviously had to do a lot of office work its not my greatest pleasure. My biggest pleasure is to see something fixed after its broken down. OM C (basket maker) I think, well, one of my reasons for wanting to work for myself is, erm, is just kind of the directness of it really. Ive done my share of I managed a team with six people. And although theres elements of it that I love, I just know how much work that takes, managing a small team. I just know that taking someone on with my willow it would be less time for me kind of hands on. OM D (farrier) I enjoy the metalwork side of things practical side of things. OM G (homoeopath) I do enjoy that variety in what I do. Erm, so again, thats not conducive to being a businessperson. I think that because of the nature of homoeopathy, you know. OM J (model maker) I wouldnt want to lose the hands-on sort of part of it and just have it as a business.You know, running it as a model making business. Because, to be honest, if I was just running a business, I could make a lot more money probably running a different type of business. What I enjoy is the hands-on model making side of things. Thats the reason I do it. So to lose that and just run it as a model making business from the office and have other people doing all that, would be er, well it just wouldnt make sense really. OM M (furniture maker) Its really difficult keeping up with things. The scale of the business could be much bigger, but I dont want it to be. I think it would probably become too stressful And to get bigger, employ more people...its kind of taking me away from what I want to do. I dont want to just manage. I want to be part of this work.

Impact on business practice

The final step of the analysis explores how owner-managers talk about control and the implications of this in terms of how the business is managed. A consequence of the personal repertoire with its emphasis on the hands-on dimension of artisan work is that the owner-manager talks about business control in those same hands-on terms. OM H (leather worker). Extract G
Q: OM H: Q: OM H: So youve not been tempted to grow the business then? Ive always kept it under control. Weve always kept a long leash over it. Right. What do you mean by under control? That it it was not to a point where I had to employ more than about four people.

In this passage, the owner-manager makes a connection between growth and control that is similar to that seen in the extracts previously cited. The owner-manager uses a metaphor of direct physical control when he says Weve always kept a long leash over it. The artisans vocabulary of physical control and physical involvement in his craft extends to his talk of business management. Just as the artisan is concerned with direct physical involvement in the work of his craft, this same concern extends to control within the business. In particular, control is equated with the owner-managers time and physical presence rather than a more abstract system of control. (See further examples in

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Table 3.) This might be expected with very small businesses like that of OM H above, where the owner-manager is very much involved with the day-to-day hands-on craft work. However, a similar way of talking about control can also be seen in the larger businesses in the sample. For example, OM N (foil printer) ran the largest business in the sample (eight employees) and was no longer directly involved in the hands-on aspect of the businesss work. However he still talks about business control in direct and physical terms: Extract H
Q: OM N: Whats the issue with not growing? I like the control weve got. We we we see most of the customers. We know all the jobs that are going through. So we see the customer and we might actually monitor the job as its going through. So were controlling it all the way through. Whereas we find, larger printers, they have a salesman that goes and picks the job up. Brings it back to the factory. Then they have a, you know, manager who manages various parts of it. And er, quite often when were dealing with companies like that, and we phone then up to find out about, you know, the position of our job, or whatever. Its you just get passed around. And we didnt want that to happen. We wanted people to be able to phone us up and say hows the job and wed know straight away. Wed know what was going on.

In this passage OM N equates control with his own time and direct involvement, rather than systems and procedures. He thereby places a limit on his ability to control in terms of the time he has available and the amount of work he can personally track. Again, we see the use of an allegorical tale of larger businesses losing that control. Control is equated with his having a feel for what is going on in all areas of the business. There is a reluctance to delegate and to split control into different function areas within the business (a salesman that goes and picks the job up. Brings it back to the factory; a manager who manages various parts of it). This illustrates how another artisan concern of a holistic approach to work is reflected in management practice. The owner-manager is resistant to a reductionist approach to business control in favour of personally overseeing a whole job. In extract B, the interviewee made a similar link between his direct physical involvement and control of stock. He linked control of employees, and in particular, control of employee use of stock with direct physical control, in terms of being overseen by a manager. This way of seeing control precludes any more abstract, systems-based method, which might enable the owner-manager to maintain control of stock without the need for directly overseeing employees. In fact, the same owner-manager goes on to talk about how he sees no need for stock accounting because what he sells is his repair abilities. Extract I
OM A: Some stock might last for donkeys years and we never use it. But when we, when we need it, my God, were thankful that weve got it. But we sell mainly, well, our knowledge. Our repair abilities. You might use a starter or a valve, put some gas in, but youre not selling produce, and making thats not you dont primarily make your profit on what you sell. You make most of your profit on th- the labour that you charge for.

This passage suggests that a positioning as artisan worker means that the owner-manager sees himself as primarily selling his skill. This has implications for what the owner-manager sees as

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Table 3. Impact on Business Practices

391

OM B (carpenter) Basically, if you cant invoice the stock when you get it, in the month, then Im not getting it. I can manage it OK that way. OM C (basket maker) So its entirely for selfish reasons that I dont want to be bigger. But, erm you know I feel like Ive worked quite hard to get the business to where I want it. I can keep a handle on things as they are now. Why change it? Thats what I want to do. OM F (aromatherapist) Physically, as you can imagine, I work from morning to night. I take my last client at eight oclock. So, I dont know how I would do it without [husband] doing everything. I havent time to carry it all myself. OM I (reflexologist) Erm, reflexology and reiki is just superb. Its such a brilliant way to work. To earn a living doing something that you passionately enjoy. Its just fantastic. So it takes a life of its own. There is a danger that you become too involved and it takes over your whole life. So you have to section off Im trying to find space in my life to actually, er, get the business side of things done. OM J (model maker) I dont think I ever it would ever be anything big. Just because I wouldnt want to lose that I always want that hands-on, you know, Id always want to be making stuff anyway. Well, at the moment, thats how I feel. So if I was going to employ any people, it would only be two or three, just to help me sort of meet the deadlines. OM P (falconer) Theres certain things that I wont trust my lads to do. I handle it myself. Even though Im twice the frigging age of them, you know.

being important or unimportant in terms of control. OM A sees no need for stock accounting, even though such a system might help with the control problem he discusses in extract B. In that passage he complained of having to watch employees to ensure that stock is not misappropriated. An adequate stock accounting system would keep control of stock parts without the need to direct supervision. An irony in extract I is that it includes an admission of the importance of stock to the business: But when we, when we need it, my God, were thankful that weve got it. The ownermanagers subsequent argument suggests that he does not see that without having the correct stock in place, he might not be able to sell his skills.

Discussion
The analysis above has shown the way in which control is discursively constructed and so, influences the practices which constitute organisational life for the micro-firm owner-manager. It contributes to the shaping of the owner-managers practice by establishing what constitutes normal or appropriate practice. The discursive mechanisms employed in establishing appropriate behaviour include the use of allegorical tales to define and illustrate inappropriate behaviour. The way control is constructed therefore, offers the owner-manager a means of defining both their behaviour and that of others. This is seen to have a rhetorical function in that the owner-manager is able to portray a particular version of events in a way that justifies their actions. Criticism and justification are important features in the rhetorical shaping of business practice. Through the use of stories of inappropriate behaviour the owner-manager can construct his or her own behaviour as appropriate or normal in comparison. The immediate rhetorical benefit is that

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this serves to defend the owner-manager against criticism. However, a wider implication is that such discursive activity reinforces the owner-managers existing behaviour and makes it more difficult to change.

Practical findings: Barriers to growth

This article provides new insight into four important aspects of micro-firm growth barriers. First, the article demonstrates how the artisan identity can in itself be a barrier to business growth. Through its focus on linguistic constructions of control the analysis shows that the owner-managers approach to control is not just a matter of an inability to delegate or operate more complex systems, as has been suggested by some previous research (Bolton, 1971; Lang, 1973; Lewis and Toon, 1986; Storey et al., 1987). Rather, it is part of the lived reality of what the business is to the ownermanager. That direct involvement in the running of the business is an integral part of what it is to be an artisan. It is part of the owner-managers self-identity. Second, the article demonstrates how owner-manager self-identity impacts upon the types of management practices adopted, and how these can have a knock-on effect on business growth. In particular, the holistic, hands-on approach which is characteristic of artisan work is reflected in the artisan management style. This holistic approach limits the level of growth in terms of span of control and volume of activity. Third, the article highlights how owner-managers address, or more importantly, fail to address some of the real problems of breaking through the micro-firm barrier, particularly in terms of management of additional employees and the legal and accounting burdens that such growth brings. Finally, the owner-managers discursive constructions are characterized by the frequent use of allegorical tales drawn from the experiences of other similar businesses. These tales form an important part of the mechanism for legitimization of the owner-managers actions, through their reference to real-world evidence. This underlines the importance of story telling and shared experiences, which in turn suggests the importance of mentoring and networking as elements of manager learning and development.

Implications for policy and intervention

The findings of this study suggest that if the artisan owner-manager is to be engaged upon issues of business practice, then this must be at the level of interpretative repertoire; that described in this study can be seen to set certain parameters regarding what constitutes good business practice artisan owner-managers. The influence of both business and personal repertoires must be recognized. Business intervention is most likely to engage the owner-manager through the business repertoire. However, the findings suggest that if this intervention is not sensitive to the ideological constraints of the personal repertoire, it will not be successful. Intervention intended to stimulate business growth is unlikely to engage the owner-manager if it conflicts with personal repertoire ideals. The form that management control practices take within the artisan business is influenced by the complexities of the interplay of the owner-managers interpretative repertoires and the expectations which they convey. The personal repertoire is of particular importance to those seeking to intervene, as this is the repertoire most likely to prove problematic. The aim should be to integrate business control activities into the owner-managers ideal of the artisan lifestyle. The challenge for change lies in finding

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new subject positions for the artisan owner-manager that are not so detrimental to business development and growth. One route to achieving such change is suggested in recent work on narratives and storytelling in entrepreneurial research (Rae, 2004, 2005; Johansson, 2004; Downing, 2005). Rae (2004, 2005) advocates the study of life story narratives as a means of better understanding the processes of entrepreneurial learning. Downing (2005) suggests that an appreciation of narrative and dramatic processes is important in understanding how organizational and personal identities are produced. Such a methodology could be useful in understanding the personal repertoire and how it develops. Johansson (2004) argues that the narrative approach to research enriches understanding of what motivates entrepreneurs and the way they run their business. In challenging the owner-managers discursive practices, we are also challenging associated business practices. To become more growth oriented for the artisan owner-manager involves more than an attempt to change the nature of his or her social interactions with the business world. The absence of growth orientation and management focus from the personal repertoire means that such a change would involve taking on new interpretative repertoires, or at least, substantially changing current interpretative repertoires. These findings take understanding of owner-manager motivation beyond a simple recognition that they often eschew growth in favour of other lifestyle rewards (Buttner and Moore, 1997). Recognition of the issues set out above can help policy setters and business advisors acknowledge the problems of change and can provide a basis for overcoming them. In particular, such intervention practices should become more sensitive to how their actions reinforce or challenge the subject positions adopted by the artisan owner-manager. Further, strategies can be devised for moving unhelpful subject positions and creating new acceptable subject positions with different interpretative repertoires.

Conclusion
This article commenced by suggesting that small business research is driven by an agenda of support, intervention and policymaking aimed at encouraging growth. This agenda can be understood in terms of a desire to achieve some sort of change in the small business, usually one of increased investment, development and increased employment. The discourse analysis approach taken in this study provides a framework for understanding and thus, enabling change through the recognition of how the owner-managers discursive practices, and the subject positions that result, are shaping the owner-managers business practices. By focusing on discursive constructions of control and the context of their use, this study has highlighted the action orientation of those constructions and hence the pragmatic, contextual nature of control activities. This has provided new insights into micro-firm growth barriers. In terms of future research, these findings suggest the need for a better understanding of the complex interrelationship between micro-firm management practices and participants lived business reality. Through the adoption of a linguistic-based social construction lens this study has been able to provide insight into micro-firm management activities within the context of the conditions which have resulted in their emergence and development, and the forces that contribute to their significance. Accordingly, the impact on business research goes beyond issues of growth barriers upon artisan businesses. Any aspect of research into micro-businesses would benefit from a cognisance of the role of interpretative repertoires in determining business practices. The article has provided pointers as to how that may be achieved.

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For entrepreneurs and those directly involved in their support, the findings are emancipatory in terms of understanding the interplay between business activities and self-identity. Effective change is enabled through a better understanding of how current practices are formed and reinforced. The social construction lens allows an analysis that reveals the interrelatedness of business control activities and organizational reality. This is in contrast to the more widely adopted functionalist approach, which can obscure the pragmatic way that management actually occurs. The article thereby provides new insight into why business intervention can fail. It also suggests how networking and mentoring can be effective vehicles for changing discursive and hence, business practices. The contribution of this study has been underpinned by a use of discourse analysis that has made visible aspects of the owner-managers world that are not revealed by other methodologies. By moving the unit of analysis to language, it has become possible to examine the way in which different discursive constructions shape and limit the owner-managers understanding of their position and practice. In particular, the study has provided a coherent framework which helps explain and resolve some of the contradictions found in previous studies by revealing the why and how which lie behind the findings of studies which purely reveal what. References
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Parry Appendix
Table A1. Summary of Businesses Sampled Business/Owner-manager Reference Business Activity OM Gender Number of Employees (Including Owner-manager) 3 2 1 5 4 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 7 8 1 3 2 1 4 1 Age of Business (Years) 23 14 8 26 25 5 9 29 8 7 23 5 12 24 15 8 19 11 12 20

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T

Electrical repair engineer Carpenter Basket maker Farrier Musical instrument maker Aromatherapist Homoeopath Leather worker Reflexologist Model maker Painter and decorator Joiner Furniture maker Foil printer Artist/Designer Falconer Designer/printer Graphic designer Stationery printer Stained glass maker

M M M M M F F M F M M M M M M M M M M M

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