Entrepreneurship Report: SME Impact, UK Economy, and Regional Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and their significant contributions to the UK economy. It begins by defining SMEs and discussing their role in job creation, tax revenue, and corporate social responsibility. The report then examines the impact of political and economic factors on SME development, highlighting the importance of government policies and initiatives. A key aspect of the report is the comparison of SME impacts across different UK regions (London vs. Yorks and The Humber) and industries (service vs. construction). Furthermore, it compares the impact of SMEs in the UK with those in other EU countries (Romania and Germany), providing a broader perspective on their economic contributions. The report concludes by summarizing the vital role SMEs play in national economic growth and development. The report includes figures and tables to support the analysis and cites relevant academic literature.

Entrepreneurship
Title: Entrepreneurship
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Entrepreneurship
Table of Contents
Task 2 - Report...............................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Concept of an SME..........................................................................................................................2
Contribution of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Organizations to the UK Economy...................3
Impact of Political and Economic Factors on the Development of SME’s In the Country.............5
Role of SMEs and Analysis of their Contribution to the National Economy..................................6
Comparison of the Impact of SME’s For Two UK Regions.......................................................6
Comparison of the impact of SMEs for the UK utilizing two different industries......................7
Comparison of the impact of SMEs in two EU countries...........................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Task 3 - Essay...............................................................................................................................12
Introduction....................................................................................................................................12
Analysis of Entrepreneurial Characteristics and Factors that Impact on the Entrepreneurial
Success...........................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20
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Task 2 - Report
Introduction
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the major contributor to the economy of
many nations including the United Kingdom. These organizations are potential in making
improvements, especially in the developing countries by reducing the unemployment rate,
paying tax to the government and participating in CSR practices. The report explains the
concept of SMEs and analyses its impact on the UK economy.
Concept of an SME
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are business organizations that independent
and non-subsidiary and usually employ less than a particular number of workers (Herliana,
2015). This number of workers differ across nations. In most of the cases, the upper limit of the
workers in SME is 250, For example, the European Union. Nonetheless, a few nations set the
breaking point at 200 workers, while the United States defines SMEs to incorporate
organizations with less than 500 workers.
According to the new definition of SME given in 2005, the revenue of medium-sized
ventures ought not to surpass £50 million and it must employ 50-249 employees; whereas the
revenue of small should be below £10 million and the number of employees must be between 10-
49. In the case of micro businesses in the UK, the number of employees should be below 10 and
revenue not greater than £2 million. On the other hand, balance sheets for small, medium and
micro businesses must not surpass £10 million, £43 million, and £2 million (Flynn, 2018).
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Fig 1:- Classification of SMEs
(Source: researchgate.net)
Contribution of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Organizations to the UK
Economy
UK business statistics reveal that in 2018, a total number of 5.4 million microenterprises
were operating in the market of UK that contributes to 96% of total businesses in the country.
The number of large enterprises was announced to be 8,000 that estimate to 0.1% of total
businesses in the country. It is also observed from the business statistics that in 2018, in terms of
the revenue, the contribution of the micro businesses to the UK economy is £808 billion, which
is 21% of the total turnover of all the businesses. The medium and small enterprises contribute to
the economy, which is 15% of the total revenue of all businesses. Thus, it is clear that the
financial contribution of the SMEs in the economy of the UK is much greater than that of the
large businesses, which have contributed to the economy with 48% of the total revenue
(Rittenhofer, 2015).
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Fig 2:- Share of businesses in the UK according to size
(Source: beta.parliament.uk)
SMEs play a pivotal role in the growth and development of the social economy in every
nation all over the world. Such sort of companies administers inventive and innovative thoughts
of goods, services, business operations and processes, technological advancements that
encourage individuals to satisfy their desires and requests. It has been additionally revealed that
start-ups of small ventures are effective in catching the market rapidly and can secure and gain
an enhanced amount of revenue in an exceptionally lesser period of time (Zoghi, 2017). The
governing body of the UK gets a greater amount of tax from SMEs that adds value to the growth
and development of the nation. SMEs offer a greater amount of work opportunity to the public
that diminishes the rate of unemployment of the nation. The measurements demonstrate that in
2018, employment was provided to 0.8 million people by the UK through micro-businesses
whereas medium and small enterprises had employed and medium organizations have employed
more than 7.3 million people in the UK (Mattevi and Jones, 2016).
According to Yapa Abeywardhana (2015), SMEs in the UK are more concerned about
their corporate social responsibility. Especially the start-up businesses are more involved with
this approach by raising and donating funds to the charitable organizations for the welfare of the
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community and wellbeing of the vulnerable and homeless people. They are also involved in the
betterment of the environment and the economy through a range of policies. An investment like
this greatly contributes to the economy and promotes its growth.
Impact of Political and Economic Factors on the Development of SME’s In
the Country
The assessment of the rate of business births and deaths can give an estimate of the
growth of SMEs in the UK. The term business birth rate signifies the number of active
companies that are active and have begun its operation in that particular year and the term
business death rate signifies the number of companies that have stopped operating in that specific
year. Statistics show that in 2017, the UK has experienced the maximum fall in the rate of
business births, as the number of business births was 382,000, which was recorded to be 414,000
in 2016. Additionally, the rate of business deaths was also greater than in 2016. A number of
political and economic factors are behind this major fall in the birth rate and enhancement in the
death rate. However, globalization is one of the factors that also hinder the performance of new
SMEs.
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Fig 3:- The rate of business births and deaths in the UK
(Source: beta.parliament.uk)
Insufficiency in the financial resources was a primary obstacle for SMEs and thus it is
indeed a challenge for entrepreneurs to gather and utilize own property and resources for the
establishment or expansion of their own businesses (Love et al., 2016). The significant
contribution of SMEs in the UK economy reflects its importance to the government, which
insists the government build up policies for supporting SMEs. The UK government has made
changes in the regulations that allow SMEs to function in an efficient manner and to decrease the
operational costs to some extent. Though there are several government initiatives for promoting
and supporting SMEs for increasing their own growth and development, it also insists the
companies take the necessary steps for reducing the poverty of the country by employing more
people and taking steps for CSR (Anzengruber, 2015).
Role of SMEs and Analysis of their Contribution to the National Economy
Comparison of the Impact of SME’s For Two UK Regions
Obviously, London brags the maximum proportion SMEs, which is determined by
looking at the number of organizations per 10,000 grown-up residents in every area of the UK.
As indicated by the Energy and Industrial Strategy figure and Department for Business, London
offers 10,000 grown-up residents with 1,563 businesses for each, which is much higher than the
national average. Thus, there is a greater contribution to London in the UK economy (Gumparthi
and Manickavasagam, 2010). On the other hand, Yorks and The Humber is a region that is below
the level of the National average. The Yorks and The Humber is a region with slow growth and
the rate of growth of SMEs is 7%. In 2017, the biggest number of business birth and death rates
were experienced by London with 92000 business births and 86000 business deaths. However,
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the death rate of businesses had exceeded the business birth rate in Yorks and The Humber in
2017. Statistics reveal that in London, the amount of employment provided by the SMEs is also
greater than that of the Yorks and The Humber and the contribution to the economy in terms of
revenue is also higher in London (Hilmersson and Johanson, 2015).
Fig 4:- Private sector UK businesses based on regions
(Source: www.merchantsavvy.co.uk)
Comparison of the impact of SMEs for the UK utilizing two different industries
In the year 2018, the service industry of the UK was populated by 4.2 million businesses,
which stand for three-quarters of all types of businesses in the country. The percentage of retail
businesses in the service industry is 10%. Companies in the retail industry solely had offered
19% of total employment and 34% of total revenue in the year 2018. It is clear from the statistics
that the SMEs in the retail sector accounts for one-third of the turnover of the UK. On the other
hand, SMEs in the construction industry justifies 17% of total businesses. It contributes to the
economy with only 8% of turnover and 8% of employment. This is because a greater fraction of
the workers in the construction industry is generally self-employed. This enhances the number of
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organizations but does not increase the employment rate of the country (Saarani and Shahadan,
2013).
Fig 5:- Businesses by industry in the UK, 2018
(Source: beta.parliament.uk)
Comparison of the impact of SMEs in two EU countries
There is a significant benefaction of SMEs in development and growth and sustainable
development of the economy with the help of their commitment in particular projects and by
raising the extent of their investments. A greater portion SMEs in Romania have participated in
activities that are specific to the circular economy and it can be said that their involvement with
the activities would persist at a moderate level in future years also (Suh and Kim, 2014). The
activities are the usage of renewable energy, designing environment-friendly and smart products,
energy labelling, strengthening of the policy of guarantee for online customers who purchase
goods, improvements of manufacturing equipment for supporting clean production of goods
(Fassin et al., 2014). Value added per employee had increased by 44.6 % in the SMEs of
Romania between 2012 and 2016.
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SMEs in Germany are regarded as the backbone of the economy. It has been identified in
2015 that 99.6% of all companies in Germany were SMEs, and they have created 58.5% of total
job opportunities in the country. The amount of sales is recorded to be 35.3% of the total sales
volume of all business organizations in the country. In 2015, SMEs in Germany framed 54.9% of
gross value added. Moderately good working and social conditions in the sector of SMEs are the
major elements of the social market model of the country and it is necessary for the growth and
development of the society and economy (Ulewicz and Kucęba, 2016).
Conclusion
From the report, it may be concluded that SMEs play a pivotal role in the growth and
development of countries. The activities of SMEs in the local and national context is discussed
which depicts that in developing countries SMEs are involved with various activities that
smoothen the way of success and growth of the respective countries.
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References
Anzengruber, J. (2015). Discovering Gaps in Internationalization Competences of SMEs–a
Comparative Case Study of Austrian SMEs. Business and Management Studies, 1(1).
Fassin, Y., Werner, A., Van Rossem, A., Signori, S., Garriga, E., von Weltzien Hoivik, H. and
Schlierer, H. (2014). CSR and Related Terms in SME Owner–Managers’ Mental Models in Six
European Countries: National Context Matters. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(2), pp.433-456.
Flynn, A. (2018). Investigating the implementation of SME-friendly policy in public
procurement. Policy Studies, 39(4), pp.422-443.
Gumparthi, S. and Manickavasagam, V. (2010). Risk Classification Based Ondiscriminant
Analysis For Smes’. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, pp.242-246.
Herliana, S. (2015). Regional Innovation Cluster for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME): A
Triple Helix Concept. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 169, pp.151-160.
Hilmersson, M. and Johanson, M. (2015). Speed of SME Internationalization and Performance.
Management International Review, 56(1), pp.67-94.
Love, J., Roper, S. and Zhou, Y. (2016). Experience, age and exporting performance in UK
SMEs. International Business Review, 25(4), pp.806-819.
Mattevi, M. and Jones, J. (2016). Traceability in the food supply chain: Awareness and attitudes
of UK Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Food Control, 64, pp.120-127.
Rittenhofer, I. (2015). The reflexive case study method: a practice approach to SME
globalization. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 21(3), pp.410-428.
Saarani, A. and Shahadan, F. (2013). The Determinant of Capital Structure of SMEs in Malaysia:
Evidence from Enterprise 50 (E50) SMEs. Asian Social Science, 9(6).
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Suh, Y. and Kim, M. (2014). Internationally leading SMEs vs. internationalized SMEs: Evidence
of success factors from South Korea. International Business Review, 23(1), pp.115-129.
Ulewicz, R. and Kucęba, R. (2016). Identification of problems of implementation of Lean
concept in the SME sector. Ekonomia i Zarzadzanie, 8(1), pp.19-25.
Zoghi, F. (2017). Risk Management Practices and SMEs: An empirical study on Turkish
SMEs. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 8(2), pp.123-127.
Image References:
Beta.parliament.uk. (2019). SME - Search - UK Parliament. [online] Available at:
https://beta.parliament.uk/search?q=SME [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].
Merchant Savvy. (2018). UK SME Data, Statistics & Brilliant Charts (2019 Update). [online]
Available at: https://www.merchantsavvy.co.uk/uk-sme-data-stats-charts/ [Accessed 7 Jun.
2019].
Researchgate.net. (2016). [online] Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Branislav_A_Zdenka_Dudic/publication/311103335/
figure/tbl1/AS:669337354526728@1536593869984/Classification-of-SMEs.png [Accessed 9
Jun. 2019].
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