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Reasons for Not Doing Micro-Enterprise Support

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So just why is it so rare to see decent business support provision developed specifically with the micro-enterprise in mind?  Well I suspect because there is a perception amongst the powers that be that it is hard, expensive and wasteful.

  • There are just too many micro-enterprises to offer more than a generic website.
  • Micro-enterprises are just too heterogeneous – they all have different wants and needs.  There is no one size fits all solution for them.
  • They just don’t have the capacity to absorb and act upon the services and guidance we offer.  There is no HR team to work with our skills offering, no marketeers to get involved with our business development work.
  • Micro-enterprises just aren’t able to engage strategically with support.  Everyone in the micro-enterprise is too busy doing their day job to invest in their development. They have no discretionary time to invest.
  • There is little return on public investment in micro-enterprise. They start small stay small and die small.  They are just lifestyle businesses that have little potential for job creation.
  • We don’t really understand them.  Our boards and committees are overloaded with people from big business.
  • To make a significant economic impact it is much easier to work with the big employers.  One big employer could trigger thousands of apprenticeships across the UK.  We might need to work with 10 000 micro-enterprises to find just 100.
  • Big businesses understand how the game is played.  They come to breakfast meetings, read policy papers and generally know how to work with the system.  Micro-enterprises tend to be much more opinionated, impatient and generally difficult.
Personally I think that each of these are actually reasons why enterprise support should be emphasised.  It is a massive market, driven, focussed and unlikely to indulge in pointless grandstanding and meetings.  The diversity of the sector means that is faces every problem and opportunity imaginable but also that the sector has all of the experience and skills within it that it requires.  The challenge is to get the know-how flowing. HINT when dealing with a large market this is not done by fielding a few experts.  If we can influence just a small part of the micro-enterprise market then we can make a massive difference.
Perhaps it is time we changed the rules of engagement to recognise how micro-enterprises work.  Drop the committees, agendas and the policy reviews and start committing to action and learning instead.

Ethical Business and Progress?

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If owner managers were as adept at ethical decision-making as they are at financial and commercial decision making, might small business become a more powerful force for progress?

The role of Small Business in the Big Society?

The idea of the big society is being rolled out as a progressive way forward to improve society, embodying notions such as volunteering and working with and for the community. Irrespective of the role that we as citizens take on within this concept, what is the role of business?

The relationship between business and society has been debated for decades. At one end of the spectrum it is believed that business should concentrate on making profits and leave responsibility for society to others. At the other end it is believed that business has a duty of care to society and must do all it can to improve it.

The notion of corporate social responsibility has emerged as a banner under which (mainly larger) businesses articulate their relationship with communities and the environment. However, it is a notion that seems to have been hijacked by public relations departments as a tool to manage risk and reputation and to create and maintain competitive advantage.

If business does have the potential to make a major contribution to society and the environment, then we suggest that it is the smaller companies that hold the key. These are the unsung heroes who make contributions without one eye on the content of their website or the next CSR report. Small firms account for 99% of business numbers globally and account for half of global GDP. Ninety percent of working adults work in small to medium sized enterprises. The ethics of smaller firms are different. They often encapsulate the concepts of family, stewardship, community, connectedness and trust that their larger counterparts often lack.

A small step that we can take is to highlight as many cases as we can where small firms have endeavoured to make a difference to their community and/or to the environment in which they work. This will help to illustrate the true meaning of social responsibility and possibly provide inspiration, hope and guidance to others. It may show that the big society is already happening, that it should no longer go unnoticed, and that smaller firms should receive the recognition for the contribution they already make and could make in the future.

If you know of a business that fits the bill as an unsung hero, please let us know. We would like to talk to them as part of a study aimed at trying to learn lessons from the SME sector as to how business can play a more active role in creating a better society.

Please contact me, Paul Abbott at p.m.abbott@leedsmet.ac.uk or 07802 775608 if you have any suggestions or comments related to this endeavour.