Major Survey Reveals Details of SME Funding
Latest press releasesThe Warwick Business School Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CSME) has been sponsored by a diverse consortium of 13 public and private sector organisations (see list below) to carry out a major survey of the financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
This is the first representative survey of SMEs in the UK to offer close analysis of businesses with fewer than 250 employees, their main owners and access to external finance.
The full results of this significant piece of research was presented on Monday May 23 in London (full report available through link below).
Dr Stuart Fraser of Warwick Business School CSME said, "This is the first survey to take an in-depth look at the range of finances used by SMEs in the UK. The data will be an invaluable resource for academics and policy makers and finance providers. Initial findings show that most businesses are accessing the finance they need. One in ten SMEs needing a new loan were rejected, but the majority of these businesses went on to obtain alternative funding, with less than one in 20 of those denied loans finding themselves with severe problems."
The aims of the survey were to:
- Provide benchmarking data on the availability of credit to SMEs and the types of finance used.
- Collect information on the relationship between SMEs and their providers of finance.
- Develop a general database for quantitative research on business finance providing scope for ongoing research or comparison with other countries.
Professor David Storey, Director of the Centre for SMEs, welcomes this research. He said, "We are delighted to have completed this major study but this is only the end of the beginning. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsoring consortium the full results will soon be available from the UK National Data Archive. Policy makers in the public and private sectors can use the data to understand better how SMEs finance themselves and to tailor their products and services accordingly. I hope the consortium will soon repeat the exercise, so that we can identify trends."
This study was sponsored by the following organizations:
Bank of England
British Chamber of Commerce
Confederation of British Industry
Federation of Small Businesses
Forum of Private Businesses
Institute of Directors
Small Business Service
HM Treasury
British Venture Capital Association
Factors and Discounters Association
Finance and Leasing Association
Abbey Business Banking
Bank of Scotland
Barclays Bank
HSBC
Lloyds TSB Group
National Australia Bank Group
RBS NatWest Group
The Co-operative Bank
See more:
http://www.wbs.ac.uk/go/sme0505
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