This book presents case material on modern small business enterprises, in the form of novel Profiles. These are constructed on a consistent basis for seventeen small firms, using a contemporary framework drawn from business strategy and industrial organization. Each Profile shows how an entrepreneur has tried to achieve a competitive advantage in the market-place by fighting against the forces of extended rivalry', market competitors, buyers, suppliers, substitutes, and potential entrants. As well as looking at comprehensive and defensive strategies, the book extends analysis to financial structure, including discussion of reasons for cash flow problems and problems associated with excessive gearing'. A comparative analysis of the Profiles, grouped according to the degree of market concentration and associated market structure, enables new conclusions to be reached about resources of competitve advantage. The co-authors of this book bring to it varied insight from managerial economics, industrial organization and small firms' consultancy. Their guiding light in writing this book was that the analysis should always be well-grounded in the reality of small business existence. This approach helps them reach conclusions on a highly practical and useful level.