A Research Framework for Exploring Corporate Governance in SMEs

Governance is now a major area of study in the finance, accounting, and management disciplines that draws on a number of research frameworks and is attracting an increasing level of attention within the small business and entrepreneurship domains. As is often the case with phenomenon associated initially with large firms, the benefits associated with greater attention to governance issues in large firms are assumed to translate directly to small firms. Such assertions often lack a grounding in the theory and research that surrounds our understanding of the small firm. Nonetheless, in an environment of entrepreneurial dynamism it is still essential to ensure the advice provided to small businesses is based on appropriately structured and conducted research. This paper provides an overview of SME based research that identifies the difficulty of making simplistic assertions about the benefits of corporate governance activities and presents a framework for the future study of governance in SMEs.