Management
Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. facilitated a series of four workshops with small business advisors. These workshops provided SBB with face-to-face contact with members of the business community to obtain feedback appropriate to a decision on whether or not to proceed with the development of a management competency tool.
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Entrepreneurs look for role models as they struggle with the challenges of starting and growing a business. Case studies illustrate the business strategies and management practices new entrepreneurs employ that can lead to success, especially in key areas such as finance, exports and skills development. These case studies could possibly serve to inform the development of future programs and services targeted at those key areas.
This pilot study reports on two relatively unexplored aspects of firm performance: the roles of management competencies and owners' perceptions about success. The research is a pilot test of a Management Competency Index, a diagnostic tool that seeks to measure the nature and diversity of managerial skills and knowledge of owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The background to this work stems from Industry Canada's central emphasis in the policy agenda on a strategy to encourage innovation as the engine of growth for productivity and competitiveness in the globalized knowledge-based economy.
There are just over one million small businesses in Canada that have employees.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
98 percent of businesses in Canada have fewer than 100 employees.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
Between 2002 and 2008, 100,000 new small businesses, on average, were created in Canada each year.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
Small businesses contribute slightly more than 30 percent to Canada's GDP.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
Small businesses employ about 5 million individuals in Canada, or 48 percent of the total employment in the private sector.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
Roughly 21 percent of small businesses operate in Canadian goods-producing industries; the remaining 79 percent operate in service industries.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
About 86 percent of Canadian exporters were small businesses. In 2010, small businesses were responsible for $77 billion, or about 25 percent of Canada's total value, of exports.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
The birth rate of Canadian firms has consistently been higher than the death rate.
Source: The State of Entrepreneurship
Just over half of Canadian businesses survive their first five years of operation.
Source: The State of Entrepreneurship
Canada's business survival rate compares favourably with other countries.
Source: The State of Entrepreneurship
Roughly 1 in 15 working Canadians owns an incorporated business.
Source: The State of Entrepreneurship
In 2007, 41 percent of all SME owners were between 30 and 49 years old.
Source: Profile of Mid-Career Entrepreneurs: Career trade-offs and income appropriation of high human capital individuals
The educational achievement of mid-career entrepreneurs is significantly higher than that of all Canadian business owners.
Source: Profile of Mid-Career Entrepreneurs: Career trade-offs and income appropriation of high human capital individuals
The two primary motivators for the decision to engage in an entrepreneurial venture at a midpoint of one's career were potential financial gain and work-life balance.
Source: Profile of Mid-Career Entrepreneurs: Career trade-offs and income appropriation of high human capital individuals
Prior industry knowledge is a major contributing factor to entrepreneurial success: 86 percent of respondents indicate that their former experience was the most significant factor in their success as an entrepreneur.
Source: Profile of Mid-Career Entrepreneurs: Career trade-offs and income appropriation of high human capital individuals
In 2011, the number of employer businesses was 1.1 million.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
In 2010, the debt financing request rate reached 18% with an 88% approval rate.
Source: Credit Condition Survey
Close to 48 percent of survey Canadian universities and colleges funded entrepreneurship activities with short-term/project funding (1-2 year commitment).
Source: The Teaching and Practise of Entrepreneurship within Canadian Higher Education Institutions
46 percent of SMEs in Canada were owned by at least one women in 2007.
Source: Financing Profile: Women Entrepreneurs
Only 4 percent of SMEs in Canada invest more than 20 percent of total investment expenditure on R&D.
Source: Small Business Quarterly - November 2011
In 2007, 9 percent of SMEs exported goods and services.
Source: Canadian Small Business Exporters, Special Edition: Key Small Business Statistics
The likelihood of exporting increases with business size (number of employees) but export intensity (percentage of revenues derived from exporting) does not.
Source: Canadian Small Business Exporters, Special Edition: Key Small Business Statistics
SMEs in tourism industries accounted for 8% of SMEs in Canada in 2007.
Source: Financing Profile: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Tourism Industries
Small businesses in the private sector were affected most by the 2008-2009 recession in terms of total jobs lost but they were the first to recover their losses three quarters after the trough.
Source: Small Business Quarterly - February 2012
Time spent by SMEs in 2008 complying with key government regulations: 10.4 million hours.
Source: Analysis of Regulatory Compliance Costs: Part II – Paperwork time burden, costs of paperwork compliance and paperwork simplification
Adjusted real costs born by SMEs complying with key government regulations decreased 2.8 percent between 2005 and 2008.
Source: Analysis of Regulatory Compliance Costs: Part II – Paperwork time burden, costs of paperwork compliance and paperwork simplification
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