Hot topics now in vogue at social gatherings
Jul 8 2008 By Denise Craig
When at social gatherings I try to keep the response to the inevitable ‘what do you do?’ questions short and sweet, steering the conversation to hobbies or personal interests instead, knowing that business and politics rarely help develop a convivial atmosphere.
I expect that many of the small business members I represent do the same.
However, these days, business and politics seems to be what everyone is talking about. Concerns over the state of the economy, rising prices, changing spending habits, job worries and even elections are now regularly and openly discussed.
It’s hardly surprising; news coverage seems to be dominated by business issues at the moment and the reports are getting gloomier by the day. But small businesses in some sectors have been experiencing increasingly difficult trading conditions for some time – long before the headlines appeared. This is being felt even more keenly now, as the big players’ problems create a knock-on effect, adding to the challenges felt by small businesses.
A struggling small business doesn’t grab the media attention in the same way as a household name does because it is always assumed that the large corporations know what they are doing and are big enough to cope with the challenges. My own experience suggests the opposite is true. The really big businesses are often constrained by their size; procedures must be observed; customers have to follow the company rules. The current volatile market conditions require a flexibility the big boys don’t always have.
Small businesses do have that flexibility as well as bigger incentives to survive – if they fail, they can lose everything. So, just like their customers, they have to do things differently and more creatively. Finding ways to reduce costs, looking for alternative options, getting back to basics – these apply equally to both. The small businesses are much closer to their customers, so they know what they are experiencing and don’t have to work through shareholders to change business direction.
Some sectors will find it much harder than others – and sadly there will be casualties, but there will also be winners. The slow-down in the housing market is hitting estate agents and constructors very hard. But as more homeowners favour home improvement projects over moving house, small contractors are now quoting competitively for the jobs they have previously been happy to ignore. Supermarkets are reporting reduced sales, but higher interest in growing your own fruit and vegetables has led to increased sales of seeds, planting materials and new equipment. The electrical goods market is sluggish, but repair shops are doing well. Levels of waste are under the spotlight, because the cost of dealing with it all is spiralling, but the upside means more opportunities for those in the business of turning waste into resource with added bonus of helping the environment; we’ve even had Gordon Brown exhorting us to use up our left-overs.
Like many others, I hope solutions to the problems are found quickly and the casualties are kept to a minimum. And while the focus on the big business casualties may be understandable, our small businesses should be supported just as much, because they will be the ones who drive our recovery and will secure our futures.
Denise Craig is the West Midlands policy manager for the Federation of Small Businesses.
