Why do some firms survive a crisis and others don’t? Europe-wide study launched to find out
9 February 2018
An international study of small and medium-sized firms has been launched to find out why some are more resilient than others when a crisis hits, at both the level of the firm and in the wider economy.
Small and medium-sized businesses make up 99 per cent of all firms across Europe and provide around 70 per cent of employment.
During the financial crisis of 2007-08 the Federation of Small Business (FSB) estimated that up to 50 companies were closing every day in the UK, and yet many survived and there are now more SMEs than ever with the FSB calculating there were 5.7 million in the UK in 2017.
The two-year study, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, will involve surveying 3,000 SMEs – defined as firms with less than 250 employees – in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid.
