As the economic continues to bump along the bottom in the
UK, there is a continual focus on the ways to increase entrepreneurship and
stimulate the economy. Many of the
people who have found themselves outside of regular employment are setting up
in business for themselves, creating a new wave of business start-ups. There is considerable academic (and far from
academic) debate about how best to support entrepreneurs, whether we should,
and if we do what types of entrepreneur to support. Should support be focussed on so called “high
growth” prospects, which have the capacity to grow rapidly from a few founders
to companies employing hundreds? Should
we instead focus support on the large established companies that employ
significant numbers of people? Or are
those businesses types of business able to support themselves, and should we
focus on the small one man band new entrants to the commercial world?
These arguments are not new, and I have just finished
reading a book that covers some of this ground.
Intervention – the battle for Better business (by Elliot Forte) covers the history of the
BusinessLink business support group in the UK since its introduction by Michael
Heseltine to the effect abandonment of the model under the current coalition
government.
In the name of full disclosure I should point out I was both
a client of and supplier to a variety of Business Link organisations, and so benefited
greatly from their activities during the past 15 or so years.
The book is written by a Business Link insider who obviously
valued their activities, and sees it as a shame that they have been closed down
to be replaced by a website containing basic business information. He is hardly uncritical of the way the
organisation(s) operated, and in particular the way they had to adapt to constantly
changing political priorities. (one
Business Link Operator I worked with closely changed its name, remit and
organisation every 2 years for a decade – which was hardly beneficial for
productivity).
I tend to agree with his conclusions that Business Links
were particularly beneficial for the smaller operators. There is an argument put forward that most of
the information needed to setup and run a successful small business is
available on the web – but many people setting up for themselves are practical
people who benefit from a conversation rather than trawling through web
pages. For the same reason the excellent
books provided by banks to new starts tend to sit on the shelves. I think these micro start-ups are the ones
who benefit from business advisors – but they are exactly the people who do not
have the money (or self awareness) to employ one. The larger and potentially more successful
businesses can buy in their own support rather than using a government
subsidised service.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the 10 to 50 man business
that would benefit from external business advice, but is sceptical of
consultants and will not employ them.
Here the Business Links provided a good introduction at subsidised
prices, often free.
The book highlights the relatively low cost of Business
Links and the large number of businesses that they touched – however
lightly. The current Business Link
website largely duplicates and consolidates
information available in other places.
The government is focussing resources on companies with potential for
rapid growth through the Regional Growth Fund, which is equivalent to the
running costs of Business Links for a decade.
So we are placing quite a large bet on companies meeting their
potential.
My concern is that we have a new community of small scale
entrepreneurs starting in business during the depths of a recession. Those that come through this will be the
foundations of Britain’s next entrepreneurial community – but many will fail
when their redundancy money or savings runs out. A little bit of government funded support
could increase the percentage making it through, and give a stronger business
community in the future. I too think the
Business Links were a useful, if far from perfect, contributor to business
success in the UK.