About the respondents
The UK Business Barometer surveys the people running small and medium size businesses. In the April 2006 survey 138 respondents were drawn with the following population characteristics:
| Sector |
| Production & Manufacturing |
Distribution |
Services |
Total |
| 25.4% |
8.7% |
65.9% |
100.0% |
| Turnover (£) |
| < 1 M |
1M-3M |
>3M |
Total |
| 71.0% |
18.8% |
10.1% |
100.0% |
| Number of Full-time Employees |
| 1-10 |
11-20 |
21-50 |
51-100 |
100+ |
Grand Total |
| 59.4% |
26.1% |
8.0% |
2.9% |
3.6% |
100.0% |
Survey Findings
Over the last 6 months 26% of respondents have seen pre-tax profit margins rise, while 36% have experienced decreases. This is an improvement compared with the last time we asked this question, in August 2005, when 21% had seen rises and 44% had seen falls.
The next 6 months appears brighter, with 29% expecting pre-tax profits to grow, while only 25% expect reductions. This still does not reach the levels of the August 2005 responses, when 32% looked forward to increases in the following six months, compared to 21% expecting decreases. (All percentages are after adjusting for those responding 'don't know')
Regarding costs, nearly two thirds of respondents say that there has been rises in the annual growth over the past six months - only 7% experienced falls. Looking ahead, 69% say that they expect rates of increases to rise over the next 6 months, while only 4% expect lower growth in costs to come.
Respondents are working at very similar levels of capacity compared with August 2005. Small increases in the 90%-100%, 50%-69% and below 50% categories were counterbalanced by a 3% decrease in 70%-89% category.
Over the last six months 21% of respondents have increased the number of full time equivalent employees in their businesses and 25% also expect to increase over the next six months. Although 18% said that the number of their employees has fallen in the last 6 months, only 12% expect falls in the next half year. All of these figures are very close to the findings of the August 2005 survey, when the question was last asked, and they are quoted after adjusting for 'not applicable' responses.
In October 2005 we asked panellists if they were more or less optimistic about the medium to long term future than they had been a year before. We repeated the question in April this year (2006) and found a small but positive change in attitude. 17% of respondents are more optimistic than they were a year ago, compared with only 8% last October, and the percentage feeling more pessimistic has decreased to 43% from 51% last October. Those who have not changed their view remain at 41%.
Putting would-be entrepreneurs and managers into television competitions has proved very popular with the viewing public. However for most young people, watching these programmes may be the only experience of the world of business that they have come into contact with, and there is a potential for either encouragement or discouragement of future generations. Our respondents were asked for their view of the accuracy of that world as portrayed in the programmes. The same question was asked of respondents in the parallel UK Business Adviser Barometer (UKBAB).
Results were very close between the two surveys. After adjusting for those responding 'not applicable', 32% of UKBB and 28% of UKBAB respondents thought that the programmes' depictions were highly or reasonably highly consistent with their own experience.
On the other hand, 35% of UKBB and 41% of UKBAB respondents thought the programmes' depictions were only slightly or not at all consistent with their experience. One respondent commented that "Shows like the apprentice are unrelated to the world of business. They appear to provide entertainment for those who, 1700 years ago would have held season tickets for the Coliseum. If they are seen as anything else they inhibit the creation of a culture of enterprise."
Although a (very) few respondents feel highly that smaller business issues are covered adequately in the media, 78% of UKBB respondents and 81% of UKBAB respondents feel that the media does not cover smaller business issues at all adequately or barely adequately.
Although 22% of respondents are presumed not to be members of a trade association (because they responded 'not applicable'), of the remaining 78%, 27% find that they gain significant or very significant benefit from their membership. 40% get some benefit, but 33% get very little or no benefit.
Only one out of three respondents find that environmental sustainability issues are becoming significantly or reasonably significantly more of a concern to their business, while 41% said that they were not at all concerned, or not very much. We asked the Advisers responding to the parallel UK Business Advisers survey (UKBAB) whether these issues were of increasing concern for their clients, and the finding was that only 16% thought so significantly or reasonably significantly, while 52% said that their clients were not at all concerned, or not very much.
A respondent whose company produces corrugated packaging commented that even though they use 90-100% recycled products, and all their waste products (off-cuts) are recycled back into paper pulp, the government's imposed regulation and administration is itself the real burden to their business.
Listed below are extracts from feedback received in Survey
BB95 April2006.
Comments are listed under sector headings.
Views expressed are those of individual panellists and may not represent those
of the University.
Production & Manufacturing
I feel that it is about time that we quantified what is a small business. I get the impression that to most in government a small business has around 100 employees. The really small business with less than five employees gets no consideration and generslly speaking is stamped on by all the legislation we get.
The last question regarding environmental sustainability is a tricky one for our industry (corrugated packaging). Even though we use 90-100% recycled products, and all our waste products (off-cuts) are recycled back into paper pulp, the government's imposed regulation and administration is itself the real burden.
Other
Q3 & 4 could be clearer ("How has the overall annual growth of costs changed ...". People could assume, for example, the answer "stayed the same" means "static costs" but I took it to mean "rising at the same rate".
Thanks
Business Services
Shows like the apprentice are unrelated to the world of business. They appear to provide entertainment for those who, 1700 years ago would have held season tickets for the coliseum. If they are seen as anything else they inhibit the creation of a culture of enterprise.
