How entrepreneurs view and use property: an SME perspective

Small to medium enterprise entrepreneurs are often resource-constrained and have to rely on personal resources to support business operations. Property is one of the major decisions that these entrepreneurs have to make. In this study we investigate how entrepreneurs view and strategically use property. We do so by conducting a two-part study involving a survey of 194 entrepreneurs and followed by in-depth interviews. We find that entrepreneurs use property strategically for business, financial and personal reasons throughout the life cycle of their business operations. This has managerial and policy implications for SMEs and advances our understanding of the interface between entrepreneurship and property.