Corporate Flexibility: A Comparative Analysis of Small Firms in Northern Ireland and Massachusetts

This book examines the rhetoric which advocates flexibility in small firms as central to economic rejuvenation. The main questions addressed are, to what extent are disparities found in the adoption of flexibility within small manufacturing firms in a low productivity region, Northern Ireland, and a high productivity region, Massachusetts; and is there a positive correlation flexibility and company growth? Significant growth disparities between the small firms in Northern Ireland and those in Massachusetts were identified. It is demonstrated that on a corporate level, flexibility and in particular functional flexibility, is positively associated with competitiveness, yet the extent of corporate flexibility within the small firms in Massachusetts, was much more constrained than suggested by the theorists.