Economic and Social Research
50 RESEARCH
Economic and Social Research
‘ How different is my business going to be from the others on the same street in terms of the products and services ?” “ Who are my target customer groups ?’.
For more information on this project , please get in touch with Dr Levent Altinay and
Dr Catherine Wang : E-mail : laltinay @ brookes . ac . uk catherine . wang @ rhul . ac . uk should continue to work closely in collaboration with community-based organisations and in particular with ethnic accountants to help integrate these business owners into the UK business environment . Among various channels ‘ ethnic accountants ’ are perhaps one of the most appropriate ones as ethnic minority business owners are reluctant to attend the workshops organised by the local council and business development units because of the ‘ time constraint ’. However , they seem to spend a considerable amount of time ( both social and formal occasions ) with their accountants .
The Councils should try to find ways to reduce the extent of bureaucracy , responding to small business owners ’ needs . One way of doing this is to implement an effective customer focused ‘ performance measurement system ’ in the Councils that place emphasis on service quality and customer satisfaction . Customer focused targets can be set for the Councils , council units and the representatives of the Councils in order to measure their performance against a number of measures ( i . e . availability , responsiveness , reliability , and speed of service ) monthly and annually . Such a mechanism can bridge the gap between the expectations of the small business owners and the Councils .
The Councils should be more responsive to the concerns of the small businesses . Business rates paid by small businesses in different boroughs should be monitored regularly and aligned with the changing economic conditions and earnings of the individual businesses . In addition , a thorough assessment of the different sectors should be carried out whilst monitoring and adjusting the business rates as it was found that different sectors are at different stages of development . For instance , it was found that small businesses in catering and retailing sectors are doing less well than the businesses in other sectors due to the extent of competition . Added to this , is the problem of the lack of skilled and committed workforce resulting in relatively poor service quality in these sectors . A stronger and more transparent justification for the business rates is a widely shared desire by Turkish and Chinese business owners .
Turkish and Chinese entrepreneurs should minimise direct competition with their ethnic counterparts by not starting up new business in the same line ( in the same sector with the same products and services ) within close geographical proximity . They should be creative and innovative with their ideas when it comes to business start up and seek for differentiation even before the start up . We do not recommend them to open a business without answering the questions : “ How different is my business going to be from the others on the same street in terms of the products and services ?” “ Who are my target customer groups ?” If they are not in the position to answer this question , they should seek advice from business link or other business support bodies . The Councils should also play an important role in this endeavor and consider not issuing a license to those applicants unless they present a business plan addressing the issue of ‘ differentiation ’.
The Councils should be more participative and inclusive in taking decisions about the issues including parking , roadwork and change of rules and regulations which have likely impacts on the businesses . Likewise , ‘ Traders Committees ’ can be formed by the small business owners in order to make stronger representation at the councils .
We would like to acknowledge the support of the ESRC for the project ‘ Socio-Cultural factors , ethnic minority entrepreneurial orientation and a firm ’ s growth : A comparative study of Turkish and
Chinese small firms in the UK ’ ( Project Reference : RES-061-23-0051 )
Councils could set up risk / crisis management units and work collaboratively with the local police in order to help small businesses to reduce the risk of a possible crime to themselves , employees and customers . Given that several small business owners lost their lives and were also injured whilst responding to the crime , a well coordinated risk management training appears to be crucial . engage | uk ISSUE SEVEN 2008