Death is not a success: reflections on business exit

Coad, Alex (2014) Death is not a success: reflections on business exit. International Small Business Journal, 32 (7). pp. 721-732. ISSN 0266-2426

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Abstract

This article is a critical evaluation of claims that business exits should not be seen as failures, on the grounds that may constitute voluntary liquidation, or because they are learning opportunities. This can be seen as further evidence of bias affecting entrepreneurship research, where failures are repackaged as successes. This article reiterates that the majority of business exits are unsuccessful. Drawing on ideas from the organisational life course, it is suggested that business ‘death’ is a suitable term for describing business closure. Even cases of voluntary ‘harvest liquidation’ such as retirement can be meaningfully described as business deaths.

Item Type: Article
Schools and Departments: School of Business, Management and Economics > SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business
Depositing User: Catrina Hey
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2014 16:43
Last Modified: 06 Mar 2017 21:16
URI: http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/51701

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Project NameSussex Project NumberFunderFunder Ref
Workforce skills and InnovationG0736ESRC-ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCILES/F008427/1
Brighton Fuse 2 (Brighton University lead)G1311AHRC-ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCILAH/L504026/1