Training for the Small Retail Business: The Results of a British Experiment

Abstract

Dr. David Kirby is senior lecturer at St. David's University College, University of Wales, Lampeter, United Kingdom. When compared with Britain's larger retail outlets most of the country's smaller stores are inefficient and poorly managed and over the years this situation has worsened as the management gap between the small and large store has widened. Faced with a marked decline in the number of small, independent retail businesses and the growing awareness of the socio- economic importance of the small store there has been a greater emphasis by government on the training needs of the small retail business. The subject of this paper is an experiment in the provision of a training and advisory service conducted in rural Wales in 1981-82.