UK small businesses need to build partnerships in order to achieve their growth ambitions, according to a new report.
Pivoting your Products, a new study conducted by Enterprise Nation for RB, has found that 78% of UK businesses plan to scale and grow – both domestically and internationally – over the next two years; and 63% of British companies are “confident” or ‘”very confident” about developing a new purpose for their product or expanding it to a new audience segment.
However, significant barriers are stopping business owners from moving forward. Nearly half (41%) say they can’t find the right partner. There are also concerns over lack of expertise (25%), knowledge of how to market to a new audience (23%) and understanding of process (21%).
The findings show that UK businesses are looking for support to expand, with 66% saying they would partner with a multinational organisation to scale their business or take it in a new direction. UK SMEs with growth plans are looking for partners that can inject market expertise (43%), marketing and PR (36%) and product development (19%) as well as direct funding (57%).
However, while small business owners often consult peers (52%), online business networks (50%) and friends and family (44%), only 4% say they have approached large corporates.