Recent studies and surveys reveal sometimes conflicting data with respect to small businesses. A recent post by PYMNTS.com summarized some of the confusing data regarding small businesses:
Small business sentiment: Capital One reported a 9% decline in SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) sentiment while Chase’s surveys were more optimistic regarding how small business owners feel about the year ahead.
Small Business Fraud: 250,000 small businesses are targeted by cybercriminals, say researchers at JAVELIN. Each small business lost an average of $12,139 last year, due to fraud or crimes like unauthorized payments, fraudulent wire transfers or misuse of company credit cards. Small businesses are also found to be adopting anti-fraud tools more slowly than larger companies, researchers said.
Manufacturing Industry: 13% of small businesses in the manufacturing sector don’t have formal growth plans. However, 45% of small manufacturing business plan to invest in new assets over the next 5 years and 31% plan to hire more employees in order to grow.
Borrowing: 11 out of 18 sectors are seeing a decline in small business borrowing, according to the latest figures from Thomson Reuters and PayNet.