§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what research his Department has recently undertaken into barriers to growth for small firms; and what his Department has identified as the main barriers. [39859]
§ Mr. PageThe Department has undertaken and published a number of studies which examine particular barriers to growth for small firms
'Management Training for Growth SMEs' (1995) looked at linkages between small and medium enterprises investment in management training and business growth. It also identified factors that are likely to limit the ability of the firm to maximise the benefits of external management training.667W'Globalisation of SMEs' (1994) discusses the factors affecting the globlisation process and the resource and organisational difficulties encountered by SMEs.'Small Firms in the Inner City' (1993) was involved in identifying the different opportunities for growth as well as the constraints on the development of firms in different types of location.The Department is due to publish shortly two other reports that relate to barriers to growth for small firms:'Growth Constraints on SMEs' explores barriers to growth of SMEs in internationally tradeable sectors. It will identify the main barriers and assess how companies identify and manage constraints.'Franchising' examines the role of business format franchising as a strategy to facilitate small firm growth.