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In this paper a comparative analysis of the competitiveness and performance of business-service companies in two peripheral regions, Nova Scotia and Scotland, is presented. Several dimensions of performance are investigated for four industries: market research, management consultancy, advertising, and graphic design. Value added per person is one third higher in Scotland compared with Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotian offices derive a much higher proportion of their turnover from government and public-sector contracts. In general, however, a very consistent picture emerges of the relative position of business services in the two regions. Possible demand-side and supply-side causes of such differences are reviewed and potential policy responses considered.

In this paper we critically review the applicability of the dominant paradigm of international production theory, internalisation theory, and the eclectic paradigm, concluding that they are of very limited utility in analysing the process of internationalisation by business service firms. The principal aim is to conceptualise the influence of three key dimensions of business service activity on internationalisation: the external relations and patterns of interfirm networking adopted by business service firms; their close relationships with clients; and the significance of these relationships in home-region markets, affording regional externalities which also strongly influence their propensity to export. Evidence from Scotland and the South East of England shows a regional influence on the mode of foreign-market entry, although few firms explicitly choose particular foreign markets to enter. The most common entry mechanism involves responding to particular orders. Similarly, the entry-mode decisions of 70% of the firms were made without consideration of any alternative modes. The evident importance of interfirm, including client corporate networks, and the influence of regional conditions upon internationalisation, leads to a conclusion in which we draw on a recent socially based interpretation of business behaviour.

In this paper, aspects of entrepreneurship in Ireland—North and South—based upon a sample of 4300 male work histories are analysed. Complementary log-log models are employed to investigate the factors underlying the first business startup by an individual. A between-sector analysis of entrepreneurial behaviour is presented; the preceding employment experience of entrepreneurs is analysed; and their subsequent employment spell is examined. Results show that religious denomination is not associated with self-employment in any sectors, but that Anglicans are more likely to set up employer businesses outwith the construction industry. There are also spatial differences in entrepreneurial expression, with the highest levels of formation of employer business occurring throughout Northern Ireland and the Dublin region of the Republic.

In this paper the phenomenon of industrial closures among new plants which commenced production in Ireland between 1973 and 1981 is analysed. A major aim of the research is to develop a dynamic survival model of industrial plant closure which permits the introduction of time-constant and time-varying covariates. Results indicate that there is no duration-of-stay effect; that new British-owned branches are highly vulnerable; that grant aid reduces the chances of early closure; and that new clothing and footwear plants are more likely to close than are plants in other sectors.

This paper is an analysis of employment change in the stock of Irish manufacturing plants which was in existence throughout the period 1973–1981. Logit models are calibrated to test a series of hypotheses relating to the expansion or contraction of an industrial plant. The influences of previous employment history and size upon recent employment change are analysed, and the implications of the findings for industrial policy are discussed.