Publicly funded business advisory services and entrepreneurial outcomes

Given the mixed evidence for the impact of various publicly funded initiatives that aim to foster entrepreneurial activity, this paper empirically examines the efficacy of publicly funded business advisory services in relation to entrepreneurial outcomes. Based on a sample of 228 early-stage firms, of which 101 used business advisory services focused on helping companies secure 1st rounds of financing and start generating revenues, we examine the firm-level impact such services can have on sales growth, innovation, finance and alliances. We find services are positively associated with firms’ sales growth, patents, finance and alliances. We assess statistical and economic significance, and assess robustness to controls for the non-randomness of the firm's using business advisory service program, as well as endogeneity of advisors’ hours spent with firms. Other robustness checks are also included. We find significant robustness of hours spent on sales and finance, but sensitivity of the effect of hours on patents and alliances after controlling for endogeneity.     

General Motion Pictures

Eileen Sheahan's Moving Pictures: An Annotated Guide to Selected Film Literature With Suggestions for the Study of Film (South Brunswick: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1979 – $9.95 hardcover)

Anthony Slide, Films on Film History (Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1979 – $12.00 hardcover)

Hannah Elsas Miller, Films in the Classroom: A Practical Guide (Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1979 – $12.50)

Roy Pickard, Hollywood Gold: The Award Winning Movies (New York: Taplinger, 1979 – $1 4 .95/$9.95)

Legal and Business Problems of Financing Motion Pictures 1979 (Practising Law Institute, 810 Seventh Ave., New York, N.Y. 10019—$20, paper)

Nancy Allen's Film Study Collections: A Guide to Their Development and Use (New York: Frederik Ungar, 1979—$14.00)

David McNicoll, eds. A Guide to Film and Television Courses in Canada (Canadian Film Institute, 75 Albert Street, Suite 1105, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5E7 – $6.95)

Film Periodicals: A new journal, Discourse: Berkeley Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture (P.O. Box 4667, Berkeley, California 94704 – $9.00 for three issues for individuals, $12.00 for institutions, and $18.00 foreign)

Don Allen, ed. The World of Film and Filmmakers: A Visual History (New York: Crown, 1979—$19.95)

Raymond Fielding, comp. A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations on the Subject of Film: 1916-1979 (Houston, Tx.: University Film Association Monograph No. 3, 1979—$6.50, paper)     

Readers are very important people

Reading groups for visually impaired people (VIPs) are a relatively recent phenomenon. This article reports on an ethnographic study of a VIP reading group. It provides a brief overview of the history of alternative formats and then focuses on reading autobiographies which have been constructed with members of this group. It concludes by suggesting that VIP reading groups present interesting opportunities for exploring ideas of reading and readers.     

The effect of sensory awareness training on interpersonal social distance in fourth graders

The use of sensory awareness training and the place of training (youth hostel or regular classroom) were systematically controlled in 4 fourth-grade classrooms. The Horace Mann-Lincoln Social Distance Scale was given. A 2-way nested analysis of variance produced significant effects of intervention training in both settings. This supports the hypothesis that sensory awareness and personal contact promote lessening of social distance within groups. The training methods described in this study can easily be adapted for use in elementary classrooms as a part of group activities and as a counseling technique.     

President's Page

This month President Judy Springer has invited Eileen Spector to use this space to make some important observations. Eileen was Persident of the Chicago Chapter for two years. She is now National Awards Committee Chair, as well as Treasurer of the Chicago Chapter. She is a Senior Trainning Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where she does program development, internal consulting, O. D. and classroom instruction, She specializes in communications, management training, computer user training and basic psychology.     

Book reviews

The Peer-Reviewed Journal: A Comprehensive Guide through the Editorial Process by Gary Michael Smith, Chatgris Press New Orleans, USA, 80 pp & 63 pp of Figs., $35.00, ISBN 0-9658380-0-5 The Book in the United States Today edited by Richard Abel and Gordon Graham, Transaction Publishers, 1997., ix, 280 pages., Index., ISBN: 1-56000-972-1 (pbk), $21.95 / £14.95.