Issues for Investigation

The vast majority of companies in the United Kingdom are unquoted. That is to say, their equity shares are not quoted in any Stock Exchange listing, and cannot therefore be traded in a Stock Exchange as are the shares of quoted companies. This difference could have far-reaching consequences for the ownership, management control, financing and development of unquoted companies, as well as potentially important implications for their efficiency. Yet very little is known about the behaviour and performance of these companies, or about their contribution to the UK economy as a whole. Surprisingly little has been written which specifically focuses on their functioning, and few comparisons with quoted companies exist. There is virtually no recent work.