This study examines the processes of advice seeking by small business owners and employs a Strategy-as-Practice perspective. The analysis of the data from 33 small business owners identified eleven factors that influenced the processes. These included: cost; proximity; technical skills and knowledge; business ties; similarity of goals; business savvy; appropriateness of advice; knowledge of the other; knowledge of the business and its context; personal relationships and trust. The extent of influence of the factors was shaped by the category of the advice provider as indicated by the type of relationship and the type and extent of trust in that relationship. This study makes two major contributions to knowledge. First, it highlights the fact that advice seeking is a practice within the broader practice of strategizing and shows the different roles advice plays in small business owner strategizing. Second, it develops a descriptive framework of the advice seeking practice of small business owners which shows that the small business owner’s practice of advice seeking is a set of open-ended activities which are cognitively ordered and spatially-temporally dispersed. High levels of trust and personal relationships are shown to create an advisory space in which the business owner is willing to be open and vulnerable to the advisor and so enables the advisor to gain knowledge of the business owner and his business which help shape the advice given.

É inegável a importância das micro e pequenas empresas para a geração de riqueza destinada à nação brasileira. As micro e pequenas empresas brasileiras são responsáveis por uma parcela expressiva do PIB nacional e dos empregos formais no país. Porém, estudos demonstram que uma grande parte destas empresas são encerradas em um período curto de operação, não passando pela fase de crescimento e maturidade, por causa, basicamente, de falhas em sua gestão. A organização objeto desta pesquisa, da qual o pesquisador é sócio, passou pela transação de micro para pequena empresa durante o processo de pesquisa dessa dissertação e enfrenta o desafio de crescer. Desta forma, surgiu a questão desta pesquisa: \"Como tratar os fatores limitantes e impulsionadores de crescimento de uma consultoria e assessoria empresarial?\". E o seu objetivo foi de propor uma sistematização das iniciativas que iriam suplantar as limitações identificadas e que possibilitariam o crescimento da consultoria e assessoria empresarial. Inicialmente levantaram-se as causas observadas das restrições ao crescimento desta organização, elaboradas entre o pesquisador e sua equipe, são elas: recursos limitados, baixo nível de padronização e posicionamento sem clareza. Quanto ao método de pesquisa escolhido utilizou-se de pesquisa bibliográfica para atender ao objetivo secundário de identificar os fatores limitantes e impulsionadores de crescimento na bibliografia, assim como soluções para o crescimento. Dentre o referencial teórico se utilizou dos seguintes temas: as particularidades da pequena empresa e o seu ciclo de crescimento, as características empreendedoras, melhores práticas de crescimento observadas nas pequenas e médias empresas, especificidades da prestação de serviço em consultoria e estratégia e posicionamento. A fim de pesquisar melhores práticas para crescimento existentes em consultorias ou assessorias empresariais realizaram-se 6 entrevistas semiestruturadas com proprietários de empresas prestadoras de serviço e correlatas ao segmento da organização estudada que passaram por um processo de crescimento. Da teoria e das entrevistas foram elencados 9 limitadores do crescimento empresarial. Das entrevistas elencaram-se 23 impulsionadores de crescimento e estes foram relacionados aos limitadores, gerando uma matriz relacional. Por fim, para elaborar uma sistematização das iniciativas que iriam suplantar as limitações identificadas e que possibilitariam o crescimento da consultoria e assessoria empresarial foi utilizado o método de pesquisa-ação. Através dos limitadores e impulsionadores identificados, além dos exemplos práticos citados pelos entrevistados, o pesquisador listou 17 iniciativas que compuseram um plano de intervenção, ou seja, uma sistematização. Ao longo da pesquisa, 5 das 17 iniciativas foram implantadas na organização estudada e os resultados observados. A média do faturamento bruto mensal da organização dobrou entre o período anterior ao início da pesquisa e o período posterior ao início da pesquisa, denotando uma correlação positiva às implantações de algumas iniciativas do plano de intervenção, não se limitando apenas às interferências destas variáveis. As limitações constatadas para esta pesquisa foram a falta de tempo (por se tratar de um mestrado) de aplicar o plano de intervenção na íntegra e também uma pesquisa quantitativa para validar este plano. Como contribuição desta pesquisa, espera-se que empresários ou aspirantes, que passam por situações semelhantes às enfrentadas pelo pesquisador, possam utilizar-se das evidências práticas deste material aplicando-o em suas próprias organizações. / The importance of micro and small companies for the generation of wealth destined for the Brazilian nation is undeniable. Brazilian micro and small enterprises are responsible for a significant share of national GDP and formal jobs in the country. However, studies show that a large part of these companies are shut down in a short period of operation, do not cross the growth and maturity phase, basically due to failures in their management. The organization object of this research, of which the researcher is a partner, went through the transaction from micro to small company during the research process of this dissertation and faces the challenge of growing. In this way, the question of this research appeared: \"How to deal with the limiting factors and growth promoters of a business consulting and advisory?\". Its objective was to propose a systematization of the initiatives that would overcome the limitations identified and that would enable the growth of business consulting and advisory services. Initially, it raised the observed causes of restrictions of growth of this organization, elaborated between the researcher and his team, it are: limited resources, low level of standardization and positioning without clarity. Regarding the chosen research method, a bibliographic search was used to meet the secondary objective of identifying the limiting factors and growth promoters in the bibliography, as well as solutions for growth. Among the theoretical references, the following themes were used: the particularities of the small company and its growth cycle, the entrepreneurial characteristics, the best practices of growth observed in small and medium enterprises, the specifics of the service rendering in consulting and strategy and positioning. In order to research best practices for growth existing in consultancies or business advisors, six semi-structured interviews with owners of service companies and correlated to the segment of the organization object of this research, which underwent a process of growth, were carried out. From the theory and the interviews were listed 9 limiters of business growth. Of the interviews, 23 growth promoters were listed and these were related to the limiters, generating a relational matrix. Finally, in order to elaborate a systematization of the initiatives that would overcome the identified limitations and that would allow the growth of the consulting and business consultancy, the action-research method was used. Through the identified limiters and drivers, in addition to the practical examples cited by the interviewees, the researcher listed 17 initiatives that comprised an intervention plan, that is, a systematization. Throughout the research, 5 of the 17 initiatives were implemented in the organization object of this research and the results observed. The average gross monthly turnover of the organization doubled between the period prior to the start of the survey and the period after the start of the survey, indicating a positive correlation to the implementation of some initiatives of the intervention plan, not limited to the interference of these variables. The limitations found for this research were the lack of time (because it is a master\'s degree) to apply the intervention plan in full and also a quantitative research to validate this plan. As a contribution of this research, it is expected that entrepreneurs or aspirants, who undergo similar situations to those faced by the researcher, can use the practical evidence of this material applying it in their own organizations.

According to Johansson & Hjalmarsson (2003) the business advice industry targeting microenterprises, small and medium sized businesses is a multibillion pound activity throughout the world, but little research has been conducted upon the theoretical basis for this field. The content of the advice coming from the advice industry targeting microenterprises is questioned by both micro-entrepreneurs and researchers, according to Johansson (1997), who describes that the use of support services among microenterprises doesn’t answer to their needs. To figure out why the conception of growth advice doesn’t correspond between academics, entrepreneurs and advisors, the research question for this study is – what similarities and differences in content of microenterprise growth advice are there between entrepreneurs, academics and advisors? The purpose of the study is to identify and analyse these areas. This is a qualitative study that will be carried out with an inductive approach and exploratory design. Interviews and focus groups have been conducted with advisors and entrepreneurs, and in addition to this, a literature study has been performed. Further, the contents of business advice have been analysed, and in the final section of this paper conclusions are presented regarding what the conceptions are of microenterprise growth advice among academics, entrepreneurs as well as advisors. By having identified the differences and similarities among these conceptions a general statement about the business advice industry is made; in relation to both empirical findings and the theoretical background of this study.