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2009 Business Pulse: what is the impact of the recession on SMEs?
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Thousands of businesses responded to our 2009 Business Pulse survey questions about the recession. The results are particularly important at this time because it tells us exactly what is happening and who is affected most by region, sector and other factors. It means that we don't have to rely on hearsay or doom and gloom reports because we now have the facts.
We asked businesses about a number of factors that showed how or if they had been hit by the recession, for example, had turnover increased or decreased? How has the downturn changed the way you operate for better or worse? Have costs increased? Are you still training staff? And many other questions that led us to compile our results.
48 per cent of businesses say that their turnover had decreased. However, 30 per cent said that the recession had not made any difference. In fact, 8 per cent said they had increased turnover by over 10 per cent in the last year! 45 per cent said that the downturn had had a positive effect on the way they operate; with 42 per cent citing better management of costs.
43 per cent said they were still training employees proactively in order to remain competitive. 36 per cent said they trained staff as they needed new skills or updates.
In summary, the facts are these: businesses in Wales, Scotland and the east of England say that that they have been least affected by the recession. Businesses in the north-east, West Midlands, London and Northern Ireland say that they have been hardest hit.
Looking at sectors, insurance, business and professional services, technology, IT and telecoms sectors consider that they have not been hit so hard. Whereas financial services manufacturing and property sectors say that they have suffered significantly. And it appears that the medium-sized SMEs are doing best, particularly those with between 201-250 employees, with smaller firms being hardest hit.
And, in this recession, length of time in business and experience seems to matter a great deal with businesses who have been around for more than five years saying that they're doing OK, whereas business up to three years old are more concerned. Paradoxically, younger business people say they haven't been hit so hard, with those who have been around for a bit longer reporting that they have.
So, in this part of the survey you can see where businesses they are. Other parts show what people are doing that is working well and vice versa. We hope you find the information useful.
