SUPPORT OF SMALL BUSINESS FIRMS: ENTREPRENEURS’ VIEWS OF THE DEMAND AND SUPPLY SIDE

Abstract

Like many other countries, Sweden is putting a lot of effort into the development of effective support for small firms. This has resulted in the emergence of a number of programmes intended to increase the number and quality of start-ups and to improve their chances of survival and further growth. In the development of support programmes, it is important to be aware of potential barriers on the demand side (the perceived benefit of taking part in programmes) as well as on the supply side (the support organisation’s ability to develop satisfactory programmes). This paper presents the preliminary results of a survey of 158 technology-based firms in and around Linköping, Sweden. The focus of this research was to study the dynamics of the firm’s participation in the support programmes. The firm’s attitude towards support programmes, how the gap between demand and supply occurs, as well as, how this gap could be bridged to achieve effective support activities was studied. The results showed that the supply-demand gap became apparent when the firm’s situation was compared to its participation in various programmes. The implications of the study are that the support organisations should be focused on the firms’ real needs, that they should facilitate communication between their organisation and the small firm sector and should secure a supply of good programme managers.

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