Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between 'pre-start-up planning' - i.e. written business plans prior to enterprise foundation - and success of small businesses. Our own empirical results, based upon a longitudinal survey of 468 small businesses from Austria, support the claim that the existence of written business plans is beneficial for company success. A positive relationship could be identified by the use of a logistic regression model. Furthermore, a significant difference between pre-start-up planners and their non-planning counterparts could be identified and thus confirm our second hypothesis that pre-start-up planning leads to ongoing planning. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.