Small Business Confidence is up!
Great news – Global SME confidence is at a 3 year High!
Are you feeling good about your business and it’s prospects?
I know my businesses are preparing for an amazing 2014 and here’s the top 3 things that we are doing, to prepare for more growth:
- Preparing for the growth of quality – quality in products, service and innovation – people want good quality at good prices. All my businesses have a fundamental belief and drive for quality – I no longer accept poor quality and service
- Preparing for the rapid growth of Mobile – it’s here and it is growing. Over 40% of amazon purchases are now on a mobile device – that is up significantly from last year and growing exponentially. We are adopting a “Mobile First” philosophy with all our websites and Customer interactions
- Thinking Global – We are all connected 24/7 to each other. The internet, easily accessible broadband and mobile devices means we are able to thin, act and be global. There are very few places in the world you cannot interact with – what an amazing place we live in! This makes our businesses and lives rich with different cultures and experiences…
………………Here’s to the Global Small Business
Small business confidence at 3-year high
Business confidence among small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) across the globe is at a three year high, according to a global survey of businesses, but access to credit and risk aversion remain a problem.
The Sage Business Index Index 2013, an annual global measures of confidence across SMEs, showed that confidence scores were at their highest level since the index began in 2011 as the global economy started to emerge from a prolonged period of economic crisis.
The survey of almost 12,000 businesses across 17 countries was conducted by online interviews. Asked to plot their confidence on a scale of 1-100 on three core areas affecting their business, confidence in their firms’ prospects had risen 5.5 points to 62.01 from a year ago. Confidence in their country’s economy had risen 6.38 points to 48.85.
Reflecting that businesses were optimistic about a continuing recovery too, confidence in the global economy had risen 6.01 points to 48.60.
Guy Berruyer, chief executive of the Sage Group which carried out the survey, told CNBC that while the results were “good news,” businesses in certain countries such as the U.K. still remained cautious on taking risks – an essential component of potential success in business.
“The only word of caution is that the attitude to risk remains quite conservative, in particular in the U.K. compared to other countries. I think that in a business environment where things are getting better for small businesses to take risk and to invest is important,” he said.
“They can learn and try new things -they may fail but at least they will increase their confidence. Doing nothing is a risk in itself,” he told CNBC Europe’s “Squawk Box.”
Many businesses have suffered or crumbled during the economic crisis and banks have become increasingly averse to lend to them. Such caution prevails despite U.K. government schemes such as “Funding for Lending” that have attempted to encourage banks to lend to consumers and businesses again.
In many European countries small and medium-sized businesses – or the “Mittelstand” as they’re known in Germany — constitute the backbone of the economy. Italy, for instance, has an estimated 5 million enterprises accounting for 80 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product.
Indeed, in the 28-nation European Union, some 23 million SMEs provide around 75 million jobs, according to the European Commission.
It defines small businesses as those with less than 50 employees and a turnover of less than 2 million euros ($2.73 million) while medium-sized firms have less than 250 staff and a turnover of less than 50 million euros a year.
Most businesses questioned in the Sage survey felt that banks and governments had been slow to respond to, and support, growing business positivity and that more should be done to encourage investment in small businesses the world over.
“There are two things that businesses complain about over and over again and that’s access to funding and bureaucracy,” Berruyer said, noting that U.S. companies complained a lot less than their European counterparts about a lack of access to funding.
“What’s different about the U.S. to Europe is that sources of funding are far more diversified in the U.S. – it’s not only banks that can provide funding but peer-to-peer lending, crowd funding – I think that diversifying the source of funding is the best thing that can happen.”