•One tentative estimate places the incidence of transfer failure at around 100,000 per year, although many of these ‘failures’ involve micro businesses, with few assets or employees, and which may not be viable candidates for transfer. Through a literature review, focus groups with those...

The objectives of this study were as follows (1) determine the extent to which late payment is affecting businesses in the UK and how this has changed in ten years; (2) to provide as assessment of credit granting behaviour among UK businesses during the last ten years; (3) to assess the...

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of government regulation on small business performance outcomes. The received wisdom arising from previous studies often assumes a rather narrow view of regulation focussing on the burdens, costs and constraints that regulation imposes on...

 The purpose of this review is to investigate the extent to which perceived difficulties concerning access to finance discourage potential and existing entrepreneurs from demanding external finance. It focuses on evidence relating to the barriers to accessing finance that can arise because of...

This study was undertaken by Durham Business School on behalf of the Small Business Service from February to July 2006 and is intended to provide a better understanding of the perceptions of small business about growth. In total, 73 small businesses took part in 10 in-depth focus groups...

The aims of the project, in summary, are:● To provide an indication of the amounts of public money being spent on services to SMEs. The focus would be on central government, detailed mapping in three case study regions (covering all regional and local agencies), and headline mapping in the...

A thriving small business sector is central to the vision of economic and social regeneration of rural areas presented in Defra’s Rural Strategy 20041. Away from urban centres, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) provide local jobs, services and places to trade, as well as the potential to...

The issue of regulation and its adverse impacts upon small businesses has been noted by several organisations (Better Regulation Task Force, 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2001; Small Business Council 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; Small Business Service, 2004a). The recent ICAEW report on the 2004 Enterprise Survey...

The review shows that there are many different models of support to small business - different countries make different choices. The review developed a scale that outlines 26 different choices for policymakers in their design of programmes for business advice. It is important that these choices...

The Small Business Service commissioned BMRB Social Research to conduct a qualitative study to explore the small business experience of interacting with government services. The research is designed to map the channels of information and support used by small businesses, to explore their...