ERC Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) research showcase event.
The LSBS is an annual telephone survey of UK SMEs led by the DBT, which has been running since 2015. It covers a broad range of topics around the factors that affect SME performance, including ambition, innovation, exporting, training, access to finance and business support.
The LSBS is a large-scale survey with official statistics status. The ERC has had a long association with the survey, shaping its design since its inception. For a number of years, we have also co-funded a competition with DBT to fund researchers to undertake secondary analysis of the survey. On November 25th we showcased this year’s papers.
DBT’s Jayshree Varsani gave an overview of the survey and some of the headline findings, including on changes in employment and turnover, obstacles to growth and trade patterns. Emma Osborne of BMG Research set out the methodological approach and challenges involved in administering a survey of this scale and type. ERC’s Stephen Roper then presented insights from the LSBS panel report, which tracked 1,484 businesses over time between 2021 and 2024. Stand out findings included a continuing decline in SMEs engaging in innovation and exporting – both key drivers of growth and productivity. We then heard summaries of the findings from the five analysis projects:
José Manuel Liñares-Zegarra of University of Essex presented his analysis done with John O.S. Wilson of the University of St Andrews on technology adoption and productivity
Jorge Velez and Michael Breslin of The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) presented their work on the impact of R&D and exporting on advanced technology adoption
Kevin Mole of University of Warwick – Warwick Business School presented his work with Ketan Goswami on business planning and its link with productivity
Dr Lorna Treanor FRSA and Pattanapong Tiwasing and Gary Chapman of the University of Nottingham presented their work on understanding women-led business exporting
Eimear McGeown of University College Cork presented her work with Sylvia Gottschalk and Robyn Owen (Baldock) of Middlesex University on external finance and SME Growth and the Net Zero transition.
A variety of themes were covered , illustrating some of the challenges and opportunities SMEs are navigating, with lots of scope for further analysis identified from this rich survey and all of the papers presented are available on the ERC’s website. All Publications – Enterprise Research Centre
