Saltash Presentation of South East Cornwall Business Survey Results

8/14/2019 Saltash Presentation of South East Cornwall Business Survey Results

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South East CornwallBusiness Survey

2009

Saltash

24thFebruary 2010


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Contents

Constraints on business

Business support

Innovation, inc. ICT

Business growth

Premises

Methodology

Skills & training

Staffing & recruitment

Findings:

Sample profile

Introduction


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Introduction

To identify the current and future needs of

businesses located within South East Cornwall

as a means to facilitate the development ofstrategies to enable business support programmes toeffectively respond to the needs of local businesses

both now and in the future.


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400+ telephone interviews (CATI - Computer Assisted TelephoneInterviews) and in-depth face-to-face interviews.

Respondents: Key decision-makers or designated responsibility.

Face-to-face interviews drawn from telephone survey respondents andothers.

In total, 1918 businesses approached to achieve the target number of 400completed interviews (response rate of 21%.)

112 referrals to Business Link

Methodology


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Sample Profile (1)

Geographical location:21% Liskeard

21% Looe

21% Saltash

20% Calstock, Gunnislake and Callington

18% Torpoint and the Rame Peninsula

54% Rural business

46% Urban business

Legal Status:Self-employed/Sole trader (42%)

Private Limited Company (32%)

Partnership (21%)

Other legal status (6%)

Business Sector:

21% Retail and wholesale

17% Hotels and restaurants

13% Real estate, renting and business activities11% Other community, social and personal

services

10% Agriculture, forestry and fishing

7% Construction

7% Manufacturing

5% Transport, storage and communications

5% Health and care sector

5% Other business sectors


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Sample Profile (2)

Age of Business:18% Less than 2 years

14% 3 to 5 years

14% 6 to 10 years

54% 10 years or longer

Turnover:

19% < 100k

16% 100k - 499k

3% 500k - 1m

5% 1m and over

58% could not (or would not) say

Company Size:

26% No employees

58% 1 9 employees

11% 10 24 employees5% 25 employees and over

11% have increased and 16% reduced

the number of employees during thelast 12 months

19% intend to increase and 3% to

decrease employee numbers over thenext 12 months


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Key Findings


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Staffing and Recruitment: Methods Used and Groups Considered

11%

1%

3%

4%

21%

25%

27%

36%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Other sources

National newspaper

Internet

Recruitment Agency

Jobcentre Plus

Local newspaper

Word of mouth

Do not employ staff

3%

3%

31%

32%

33%

33%

38%

39%

51%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Other groups

Relevant qualifications/skills

Apprenticeships

No employees/No recent experience

Graduates

Overseas migrants

People with disability

School leavers

Returnees to the labour market


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Staffing and Recruitment: Recruitment Difficulties

16%

14%

17%

30%

35%

43%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Other difficulty

Poor level of education

People not interested in the industry

Shortage of necessary skills /

qualifications

Shortage of experienced people

Lack of motivation to work

9%

6%

8%

36%

64%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Other area

Management

Administration

Skilled workforce

(e.g. guild training)

General workforce

Q. Does your company experience difficulties recruiting staff in general?

33% no need; 48% never experienced recruitment difficulties; 14% sometimes experienced difficulties; 5% often experienced difficulties recruiting.

75% of those experiencing recruitment difficulties did so all of the time.

Base: Often/sometimes experience difficulties

19% of Saltash businesses

sometimes or often havedifficulties recruiting


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Awareness and UsageStaffing and Recruitment: Graduate Opportunities

Q. In what ways have you given opportunities tograduates?

78% work placements 16% management training schemes

Q. For what reasons does your company not

provide opportunities for graduates?

43% no graduate level jobs (56% for Saltash) 11% cannot afford to offer graduate opportunities

7% cannot find suitable graduates 7% had in the past but it was not a success

11%

89%

12%

88%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Yes No Yes No

Currently Offers Would Consider Offering


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Skills and Training: Training Needs Assessments

Q. Which organisation helped you to carry out your TNA?

71% undertook their Training Needs Analysis internally; 6% used Business Link / Train to Gain; 4% used Cornwall College.

Conducted a Training Needs Analysis

Yes, 28%

No, 72%

Q. Why not?

37% no need

36% do not have employee 10% not thought about it/not my responsibility

9% dont know what a TNA is.

Would Like Help Conducting a TNA

Yes, 11%

No, 89%

37% in Saltash


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Skills and Training: Use and Needs

Has Higher Skill Training Needs

Yes, 12%

No, 88%

Supported Qualification Based Training

Yes, 17%

No, 83%

Was Staff Training Funded?

Yes, 48%

No, 52%

Q. What types of training does you business need?

73% either did not have or had already catered fortheir business training needs; (65% in Saltash)

10% required industry specific training;

5% needed manual skills training.


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Skills and Training: Benefits Gained and Barriers Experienced

Q. What barriers do you experience that prevent you from supporting staff with training leading to a recognisedqualification?

35% did not have a need for qualification based training; (26% for Saltash) 28% did not experience any barriers; 7% said no such training is available locally;

7% said training is too expensive;

7% said there was no funding available.

28%

3%

6%

9%

10%

22%

33%

38%

46%

51%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Other benefits

Highlighted other training needs

Increased customer satisfaction

Helped grow the business

Increased profitability / turnover

Added value to the product / service

Increased efficiency

Helped employees work better

Increased staff morale / motivation

Helped staff development / attain new skills


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Booking and PaymentInnovation: Importance of ICT and the World Wide Web

Importance of Computers and Other ICT

18%

10%

8%

13%

52%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Not at all

important

Not very

important

Neither

Fairly important

Essential

Importance of the Internet and www

18%

12%

9%

19%

42%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Not at all

important

Not very

important

Neither

Fairly important

Essential


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Booking and PaymentInnovation: Internet and the World Wide Web

World Wide Web Presence

38%

2%

13%

53%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Not at all

Yes - other

presence

Yes - dedicated

page on otherweb site

Yes - own web

siteFuture World Wide Web Presence

Yes dedicated

page on otherweb site

5%

Not at all

74%

Yes own website

21%

Q. Which of the following features are included or are true of your web sites?

95% of those with a web site included their full contact details; 41% said their web site had been optimised for search engines;

19% had provided an online catalogue for people to place orders; 10% contained an online payments facility;

10% had a website that had a content management system or an integrated blog.


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Booking and PaymentInnovation: Support for Innovation

Areas Where Support for Innovation is Required

2%

4%

5%

7%

11%

12%

15%

72%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Other area

Staffing

Collaborations /

knowledge sharing

Training / Skills

Technology

Sales or marketing

Finance

None

Is Able to Access Support for

Innovation

Yes, 52%

No, 48%

45% looking to innovate in atleast one area.


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Innovation: Need and Capability to Innovate

11%

9%

23%

28%30%

3% 3%

13%

38%

43%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

No need

at all

Not much

need

Neither Fair need Essential Not at all

capable

Not very

capable

Neither Fairly

capable

Very

capable

Need to Innovate Capability to Innovate


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6%

1%

21%

62%

10%

2%

1%

34%

58%

5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Sell the business

and/or retire

Become Smaller

Stay the same

Grow moderately

Grow substantially

5 year objective Next 12 months

Business Growth: Aspirations

Q. In what ways are your looking to growthe business?

79% Increased turnover/sales;

28% Via existing product/market mix; 26% Introduce new products/services; 23% Enter into new markets; 17% Bigger Internet presence/ online store.

Q. Why are you not looking to grow thebusiness?

53% Happy with current size; 30% Want to remain independent; 26% Looking to retire/sell the business; 7% Too complicated to take on staff; 7% Would cost too much/go into debt.


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Business Growth: Requirements

17% stated that they did not know what was requiredto enable them to grow their business in the short tomedium term.

12% simply indicated that they did not require any ofthe listed options

Requirements for Growth

2%

19%

19%

20%

31%

42%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Other requirement

Train / up-skill staff

Expand premises /

more sites

Seek external funding

/ borrowing

Buy more capitalequipment

Take on (more) staff 51% for Saltash


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Business Growth: Funding

Preferred Source for Funding Growth

5%

3%

3%

4%

12%

19%

65%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Other funding option

Private investors (excl.

family/friends)

Family / friends

Other source of

commercial loan

Commercial loan from

current bank

Grant funding

Internal finance

12% stated that they did not know how they wouldfund their growth aspirations.


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Business Growth: Planning

70%

7%

7%

14%

18%

74%

4%

6%

13%

17%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

None of the above

Employed external

business/marketing

consultants

Used external

business support

agencies

Produced/updated a

formal marketing plan

Produced/updated ashort - medium term

business plan

Next 12 months Past 12 months


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4%

9%

10%

33%

44%

3%

7%

6%

35%

48%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Not at allsatisfied

Not very satisfied

Neither

Fairly satisfied

Extremelysatisfied

Future plans Current needs

Premises: Satisfaction

Reasons for dissatisfaction with premises:

We are an office based organisation and we are on anindustrial site.

Not practical to move but the layout is all wrong.

Would like more space really if my business does

manage to grow.

I am unable to expand the premises because of theblocks East Cornwall Planning Department put on me.I have to pay to have a feasibility study carried out,when they know the answers already and so do I.

I need larger premises; require more space forworkshop


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Premises: Requirement for Additional Premises

Requires Additional Premises

Yes, 14%

No, 86%

Type of Premises Required

11%

2%

2%

5%

5%

11%

11%

11%

16%

22%

25%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Other requirement

Hybrid office/workshops

Live/work

Showrooms

Land

Land to develop

Retail

Hospitality

Warehouse

Workshop

Office


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Premises: Additional Premises PreferencesDesired Size

13%

13%

35%

40%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

More than 200

sqm

100 to 200 sqm

50 to 100 sqm

Less than 50

sqm

Preferred Tenure

Freehold, 42%

Leasehold,

22%

No

preference,

36%

Preferred Location

27%

13%

16%

16%

25%

29%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Other Location

Callington area

Torpoint area

Looe area

Saltash area

Liskeard area

15%Other facilities

13%Water frontage

15%Access to labour market

25%Public transport links

29%Visual presence

36%Wide broadband

73%Good road access

PercentageRequired facilities


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Constraints: Constraints on S.E. Cornwall Businesses

10%

14%

14%

28%

33%

25%

29%

30%

48%

66%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Environmental legislation/waste

disposal costs

Lack of customers

Level of business taxation

High fuel and energy costs

State of the UK economy

Increased competition

Level of business taxation

Lack of customers

High fuel and energy costs

State of the UK economy

Top 5 Perceived Constraints

Top 5 Constraints Experienced

26% stated that their were no constraints on the ability of theirbusiness to develop and grow in the foreseeable future butonly 18% of Saltash businesses


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Constraints: Current Issues Faced

5%

7%

8%

8%

8%

12%

13%

14%

14%

16%

17%

19%

19%

32%

41%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Access to supplies/suppliers

Current business location

Access to workforce

Access to external training facilities

Available land/buildings for expansion

Access to experienced/skilled staff

A good internet connection

Access to customers

Car parking provision

Relevant business support

Public transport

Traffic congestion

Quality of the road network

Uniform Business Rates

Heating and fuel costs


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Business Support Services: Availability and Required Need

Business Support Services Available

Yes, 64%

No, 36%

Where Business Support Could Help

11%

4%

4%

4%

6%

7%

7%

12%

12%

21%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Other

International trade

Taxes, returns and payroll

Environment & efficiency

IT & eCommerce

Health & safety, premises

Innovation

Sales and marketing

Business growth

Finance and grants

59% were of the view that businesses support services would not have been able toprovide them with help or assistance in any of the listed areas.

72% in Saltash


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Business Support Services: Awareness and Usage

5%Family / friend4%Bank5%Family / friend

5%Federation of Small

Businesses4%Trade association10%Bank

5%Trade association5%Consultants12%Accountant

6%Bank5%Federation of SmallBusinesses

12%Trade association

11%Accountant6%Accountant12%Federation of SmallBusinesses

13%Business Link13%Business Link34%Business Link

PercentageOrganisationPercentageOrganisationPercentageOrganisation

Top 6 First Port of CallTop 6 UsedTop 6 Aware


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Thoughts in Conclusions

Most (63%) planning growth over 12 months

Two thirds employ

1 in 5 predicting increase in staffing

1 in 5 have difficulties recruiting

General workforce & skilled staff

Motivation & experience

Most recognise need to be innovative

Few graduate opportunities?

6%

1%

21%

62%

10%

2%

1%

34%

58%

5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Sell the businessand/or retire

Become Smaller

Stay the same

Grow moderately

Grow substantially

5 year objective Next 12 months


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Challenges

Many do not recognise a need for business support

Many do not recognise need for training

Three quarters dont have a business plan

Majority satisfied with premises. but a significant few have greater needs

State of the economy worry for many

Energy costs

Business rates

Legislation


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Thank you

Download full report from

www.pfa-research.com/blog

Or email

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Documents

Saltash Presentation of South East Cornwall Business Survey Results