•One tentative estimate places the incidence of transfer failure at around 100,000 per year, although many of these ‘failures’ involve micro businesses, with few assets or employees, and which may not be viable candidates for transfer. Through a literature review, focus groups with those...

This Report was commissioned to identify the importance of business angel investment in the UK, summarise previous approaches to mapping the scale and scope of the business angel market, identify new approaches to measuring business angel activity and assess the implications for policy.A...

The objectives of this study were as follows (1) determine the extent to which late payment is affecting businesses in the UK and how this has changed in ten years; (2) to provide as assessment of credit granting behaviour among UK businesses during the last ten years; (3) to assess the...

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of government regulation on small business performance outcomes. The received wisdom arising from previous studies often assumes a rather narrow view of regulation focussing on the burdens, costs and constraints that regulation imposes on...

This study was designed to ‘sense check’ emerging estimates of the monthly administrative costs associated with personal accounts arrangements in SMEs. The principal aims were to:(a) Solicit views on the accuracy of estimates of time/costs based on internal government analysis.(b) Identify...

In December 2006 the Government announced proposals to promote private pension saving across UK workplaces. These proposals are explained in the Government’s White Paper, ‘Personal accounts: a new way to save’ . The proposed personal accounts system will operate from 2012 and will require...

 The purpose of this review is to investigate the extent to which perceived difficulties concerning access to finance discourage potential and existing entrepreneurs from demanding external finance. It focuses on evidence relating to the barriers to accessing finance that can arise because of...

This review of the empirical and theoretical literature was commissioned by the Small Business Service (Department for Trade and Industry). Our brief was to consider existing research that has examined the causes and the impact of economic churn on productivity, employment and ultimately...

This study was undertaken by Durham Business School on behalf of the Small Business Service from February to July 2006 and is intended to provide a better understanding of the perceptions of small business about growth. In total, 73 small businesses took part in 10 in-depth focus groups...