Better times on horizon - Entrepreneur Insight Survey

Thursday, June 04, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: Thought Leadership | Tags: entrepreneurs, statistics, economy, survey, financial sector

Grant Thornton’s latest Entrepreneur Insight Survey was conducted at the beginning of the year and covered a period of severe financial crisis. The latest Office of National Statistics figures suggest that the economy shrunk by 1.6% in the last three months of 2008, and, in the words of one senior banker, ‘the demand side has shut off: consumers aren’t spending, businesses aren’t borrowing and there is no corner of the economy or region of the country not being affected’.

Unsurprisingly, the survey of 500 of the UK’s independent owner-manager and entrepreneurial businesses underlines just how tough it is out there.

IN TOTAL, 36% saw their business as having performed worse than expected over the past six months compared to 24% in September.

RESPONDENTS ARE focusing on tightening management and financial systems and increasing sales. Resources are being committed in the form of marketing and public relations spend. The interviewees expected an upturn in their sectors and the economy as a whole within the next two years – arguably too short a time span to make irreversible and drastic cuts in staffing or resources.

ALTHOUGH 74.3% have little or no confidence in the banking sector as a whole, this does not seem to translate into a general dissatisfaction with their own financial arrangements or relationships. Most see the financial climate as improving in the next two years.

THE OWNER-MANAGER knows their workforce well and sees it as the main asset that the company has. The respondents clearly had an eye turned towards recruiting for the future, with nearly 76% expecting the recruitment environment to ease over the next 12 months.