Students, researchers, and organisations concerned with small business problems have an opportunity to base their arguments on hitherto unpublished or certainly not widely circulated data. Sections of the book tend to find justification for the existence and positive discrimination towards small firms. This is achieved in a non-political fashion and this should allow the book to be quoted in any debate on small business.

Although the title suggests equal weighting, the problems and not the prospects are emphasised. This may be a deliberate plot by the authors to highlight such areas as competitive disadvantage, lack of funding for research, the too few sources of finance and discriminatory tax legislation that is currently in existence in this country.

Although G.G. Meredith’s Small Business Management in Australia and L.G. Taylor’s Starting and Managing a Small Business have sections dealing with similar aspects of problems and prospects as this book, this, to my knowledge, is the first concise publication dealing entirely with the subject matter from an Australian viewpoint. It is therefore a worthy reference for all business studies courses, associations libraries and even for the shelves of interested small business owners.