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Competing Perspectives of Small Business and Entrepreneurship SUPPORTING THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF SMALL MANUFACTURING FIRMS

Information plays a vital role in the operations of all businesses – it is needed on a daily basis to help resolve problems, but also plays a more strategic role in illuminating the options for business strategy, and for product and process design and development. For smaller firms, there can be a number of barriers to acquiring the requisite information, however. Many of these barriers are linked to lack of resources: lack of personnel with the depth and breadth of skills to identify the appropriate information; lack of money to purchase information; and lack of time for information gathering mechanisms such as attending conferences and scanning periodicals and the Internet. The availability of the Internet has to a certain extent altered perception of the value of information, since almost limitless information is available at low financial cost. This presents a challenge for both small business support organisations and commercial information providers who must deliver added value services that distinguish themselves from the extensive free resources. The value of information perceived by small firms appears to depend on a number of factors: direct relevance to the company’s activities, ease of access and perceived validity, as well as actual cost. Personal information sources, which are preferred by small firms, meet many of these requirements, and small firms can be very effective in networking and synthesising information from informal sources such as customers, suppliers and other contacts. Such sources may however be biased towards their own agenda, or may be of limited use to a firm that is seeking to enter a new market or utilise an unfamiliar technology. Commercial information providers and small business support organisations can offer greater breadth and impartiality of information, but face challenges in making the trade-off between more personalised and more cost-effective services. This paper explores the information acquisition processes of a range of UK manufacturing firms through the use of questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. The findings are then used as a basis for considering the most effective ways to support the information needs of small manufacturing businesses. Supporting the Information Needs of Small Manufacturing Firms 25 ISBA National Small Firms Conference: Competing Perspectives of Small Business and Entrepreneurship