Small businesses go under microscope

Photo / Thinkstock

Thousands of businesses are going under the microscope in a survey of small- and medium-sized companies across New Zealand, Britain and Australia.

The University of Auckland Business School is joining academic colleagues at UK's Cambridge University and the University of Queensland to gain an understanding of what is promoting and hindering business growth.

University of Auckland project head Hugh Whittaker said 12,500 forms in the Growing New Zealand Businesses survey have been sent to manufacturing companies and business service providers ranging in size from micro-businesses up to companies employing 500 staff.

"Broadly we want to get the same number of manufacturers as we do business services and we want to get some high-tech so we can compare high-tech here with high-tech in the UK and Australia," he said.

Companies are being questioned on innovation, growth aspirations, competitive advantages, internationalisation, collaborations and finance. While most questions have been standardised, each university was given leeway to customise a fifth of the survey with questions relevant to the local environment.

The New Zealand survey asks questions relating to family businesses and the relationship of the chief executive to the business.

Cambridge has run the survey six times over in the past 20 years with a focus on advising government policy to assist business growth.

"We're interested in comparing business performance among different industries and across countries so we can give feedback to business more than government," he said.

Whittaker is hoping to receive most responses before Christmas. The final results will available to businesses in the middle of next year through an executive summary and seminars, with more detailed analysis and a comparison tool accessible through the business school's website.

ON THE WEB

www.business.auckland.ac.nz/gnzb