Volatile economy remains UK business’ biggest threat

Over half of British SME owners see tough economic conditions as the main threat to their business continuing for the next two years, according to Scottish Provident’s Business Protection report.

According to the survey, the second biggest threat to SMEs (small to medium enterprises) (20%) between now and 2013 is the impact of climate change on the environment. Just one in ten view cash flow issues such as late payments as their biggest threat to survival, while just one in a hundred SME owners see red tape as their biggest burden.

While SME owners are most worried by these external threats, some realise there are also internal threats which could cause problems. Over one in five believe that there is a fairly high chance (at least one in three) of losing one of their key employees to a serious illness before retirement which will keep them off work for six months or more, showing that the threat of losing a key worker is a worry for many firms.

Read full article: http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/news.php?CID=&NID=7668&Title=Volatile+economy+remains+UK+business’+biggest+threat

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