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Business blog
Do we need the RDAs?
The Taxpayers' Alliance would like the regional development agencies abolished. M Institute co-founder Jyoti Banerjee studies their report - he likes their data but disagrees with their recommendation.
Understanding M
Mid-size enterprises are the powerhouse of the UK economy.
Despite their sterling performance, mid-size enterprises are nearly invisible.
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IoD finds SMEs are limited by growth ceiling
The Institute of Directors (IoD) has released a policy paper entitled "The SME glass ceiling - growth obstacles in 2007", which identifies a series of priority issues for SMEs.
Taxation, regulation and education are considered the top sources of concern but, since the IoD has already published major reports dealing with these subjects, it is the next tier of issues on which the paper focuses. These issues are:
- Late payment
- Lack of business finance
- National Insurance contributions
- Business rates
- Levels of government business support
The report remarks that figures showing an increase in the number of SMEs based in the UK are misleading because this growth has happened almost exclusively to individual entrepreneurs and sole traders. The World Bank 'Doing Business 2007' report illustrates the point: while the UK performs strongly at 'Starting a Business', it stumbles over 'Enforcing Contracts', 'Employing Workers' and 'Dealing with Licenses'.
Yet again, from a medium perspective, a report from an influential body brackets medium companies with micro and small companies. As a result, the bulk of the issues it deals with are more focused on the larger population of small enterprises. Question: how different would the findings have been had only medium companies been considered?
