Scotland failing entrepreneurs

[Scottish Business Owner]

A really interesting article from the Scotsman today about some studies from the Hunter Centre of Entrepreneurship that has revealed that business startups are falling in Scotland and are far behind other parts of the UK.

Scotland failing entrepreneur test - Scotsman.com Business

I'm getting the feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with this country and I think this article covers a part of why this is the case.

It seems all our politicians do is argue amongst themselves and playing a game of he said she said. If that type of behavious went on in businesses then they would all be bust!

Maybe it's time to look at new ways of running things right through the whole country from how we educate our children to how we support businesses that are actually the lifeblood of the country.

Interested to hear other peoples comments.

 

[Power Lunch Club]

Our goverment sets up agencies with the pretence of helping small businesses or start-ups with are as effective as chocolate tea pots.

But the goverment set these things up because it has to be seen to be doing something to justify themselves.

 

[Former Member 1]

If that type of behavious went on in businesses then they would all be bust!

And how often we can make that criticism of organisations in almost every role and at almost every level of public service... But I think we also see such modes of behaviour within large corporate structures too.

There is a certain level within public service and corporate culture where, though the consequences are very real, the people taking the actions from which those consequences arise are isolated from them. There's a level where what passes for 'business' isn't much more than a giant game of 'fantasy football league'. And where the running of the activity really takes place a street level... And such effectiveness as might exist does so despite what's going on in the boardroom rather because of it...

I don't think any of this is a particularly Scottish phenomena; rather it's part of the 'British disease'.

I learned my business skills at the feet of my Uncle; a man who came to this country in the late 50's with not much more than the clothes he stood up in. The people I've watched and admired in business have broadly similar stories to tell. And the businesses that have done the most good in terms of social impact, personal return and sustainability are all those where the people on the board not only have an up-close-and-personal relationship witht he business but carry a huge personal risk too... Be that financial, emotional or moral.

All of that is at odds with the very stupid games many, supposedly at the 'top of the tree' occupy themselves with...

20 years ago I was servicing that 'corporate sector'; and in terms of raw numbers I was doing well, extremely well. But it was sticking in my craw. I was 'having' to stay silent and 'diplomatic' while individuals who you literally couldn't trust to shovel sh*t from one place to another played their stupid games... It still goes on!

I remember once, about 1988, phoning up the SDA to complain about their 'better business scheme'.....

Basically you got up to £1K for development work from a registered provider. Printers (for instance) were charging £999.99 for layouts, and doing runs of 10,000 brochures for 1p (which is what the client actually had to pay for) ...an obvious abuse, but one that presented a virtual license to print money to those who could GET registered as providers....

The (supposed) idea was to help new, emerging businesses get high quality promotional materials. the problem came is you WERE a new emerging business providing such materials....

The 'big boys' WERE registered providers; the 'old boy' club had hooked them up almost instantly. And could effectively provide their services FREE to the end user. but new providers faced an impossibly convoluted process to get registered.... Try starting a business in a market where your major competitors can effectively provide their services for FREE!

When I phoned up the SDA to point out this was actually strangling new business at birth the TELEPHONIST just laughed at me and hung up! I didn't get to speak to a manager. And never got a response to my written complaint...

And you know something? In 20 years that mentality where fraud, deception, spin and flim flam are legitimised; where legitimate concerns are dismissed and even LAUGHED at isn't something that's been 'dealt with'! Rather it's what DEFINES the attitude of government agencies today...

The Great British Disease! ENC (Emperor's New Clothes) Syndrome... Why bother building a reality when you can get your skim from a fantasy.. Don't be negative, don't rock the boat.... Remember today's failed industrial estate is tomorrow's 'car-parking experience'....

Truly; Orwell WAS a prophet! Wouldn't surprise me if they dedicated a 24hr Shopping/Porn/Poker channel to him soon!

 

[Boxby]

I've had some dealings with SIE who work out of the Hunter Centre, and I have to say that they are absoultely brilliant. So my advice is for the government to ditch all of the enterprise agencies stuff and extend the university based business networks out to the real world. Because the one thing that the universities have that the agencies don't is a bloody good network of people that really know what they're talking about.

 

[Employment Law Services]

I don't think any of this is a particularly Scottish phenomena; rather it's part of the 'British disease'.

20 years ago I was servicing that 'corporate sector'; and in terms of raw numbers I was doing well, extremely well. But it was sticking in my craw. I was 'having' to stay silent and 'diplomatic' while individuals who you literally couldn't trust to shovel sh*t from one place to another played their stupid games... It still goes on!

Spot on!! Having come out of a corporate environment not that long ago, after working in it for several years, I can confirm that the 'stupid games' are still rife and I'm sure the public sector is as bad, if not worse in many ways.

Watching politics and in-fighting often define strategy, direction and personnel decisions which result in 'lunatics' being handed the keys to the asylum is enough to drive any normal person completely bonkers and quite possibly one of the biggest drivers for new business start ups there is!!

Back to the OP//////

The quality of the various 'agencies' set up by the gov't varies broadly and like in most areas, you get good ones and you get bad ones. Where the gov't could be more effective is in the way they measure the effectiveness of these appointed agencies and by making this much more transparent.

Lack of planning is the number one reason listed for new business failure. Other reasons include: lack of experience, money, and low sales.

When the agencies engage with business owners do they produce an action plan and define success criteria at the outset then measure results in relation to it?

Do the business owners themselves have any way of providing independent feedback on their experience with said agencies?

Should there be some sort of 'qualifying criteria' before someone can register a new business?

I'm sure the list could go on and on...............the bottom line is there is more that can be done to support SMEs but instead of engaging with heads of large corporates who are so far removed from reality its unreal, why not identify successful SME business owners and pick their brains instead.

 

[Former Member 1]

I'm sure the list could go on and on...............the bottom line is there is more that can be done to support SMEs but instead of engaging with heads of large corporates who are so far removed from reality its unreal, why not identify successful SME business owners and pick their brains instead.

In my opinion this is down to a lack of sincerity; a lack of basic honesty on the part of our political overlords. And indeed the individuals who benefit from these agencies (who are the people who run them, not the people they're supposed to be servicing)...

I gave one small experience from over 20 years ago. The SDA didn't CARE that they were damaging tiny fragile little business that were being started by people on inner-city housing estates. This sort of thing STILL goes on! By way of another example, go to this site and try to find MY business....

West Lothian Business Portal - Business Directory

I've been based in West Lothian since 1995.... Tried DOZENS of times to have my company listed in that directory.... The reason I'm not there is that In 1999 I was directly responsible for exposing certain matters of maladministration on the part of the council in the press... Along with a raft of other things (constant hassle with getting bins emptied, council tax payments getting 'lost', garage applications getting 'lost'; God help me if I ever tried to build a house in West Lothian!) this seems to be part of my 'punishment' for 'rocking the boat...

The problem is the mentality of the people who are running these agencies and that cuts across all aspects of our public services. Scotland (and the rest of the UK) is failing its entrepreneurs because the people running these things lack integrity. They are disconnected from and uncaring about reality, preferring instead silly grandiose schemes that yield foreign trips and champagne suppers....

Another example.... The Chunghwa plant in Mossend. I seem to recall the figure of £12Million being floated in 1995 to bring this monstrosity to Lanarkshire.... AT THAT TIME I and MANY other commentators were pointing out that the picture tube industry was in terminal decline; and would be dead in ten years. The writing was WELL on the wall!

DESPITE that the stuffed shirts decreed that public money should be spent shipping Taiwan's OBSOLETE and ILL-MAINTAINED rubbish. What was shipped over would have cost more to scrap that it did to dump it here and squeeze the last bit of life out of it. Meanwhile, back in Taiwan, it was replaced with equipment to produce the new cutting-edge flatscreens that were ultimately to see the demise of the CRT as a display technology....

Predictably, the plant didn't travel well; and never worked properly.. And even if it HAD would be a white elephant by now in any case. All this WAS predicted at the time.In total somewhere in the region of £20Million was wasted... In a region laid waste by Thatcher's rout; STILL a wasteland in fact.

And the question I and many others asked at the time.... How many of the small, specialised shops, garages, factories, workshops could have been brought back to life for £12M? Given an average investment of £10K each (very realistic back in '95) over a THOUSAND new businesses could have been seeded...

The decision to invest in ChungHwa was a dishonest one; As is the investment in the Edinburgh Trams Project. As will be the investment inthe new Glasgow Supercampus...

Nobody will get a knighthood out of a project to invest a few thousand quid to set up an affordable private nursery in the City Centre, or an after school club in your local village. There will be no Champagne and after-dinner speeches when that shop unit that's been lying empty for years in your local high street gets opened up by a single-mum to sell decent affordable baby clothes... The opening of a new Chinese take-away won't result in a banquet being laid on in honour for the Chinese Ambassador.... AND FOR THOSE reasons NOBODY in government or the 'agencies' REALLY gives a flying fart about these things...

From the Scotsman Article....

Sir Tom Hunter, whose grant funded the launch of the Hunter Centre, called for local authorities to "step up" in an impassioned foreword to the report.

"At its heart economic recovery will be delivered by business and small businesses and their growth has never been so important," he wrote. "For that reason, local authorities, now responsible for enterprise service delivery, need to step up to supporting those businesses in their area – we're watching,"

Well Tom; there's a bloody good chance your eyeballs will dry oot before ye see much action from local authorities! I don't believe my own treatment is at all unusual. And when you're dealing with people whose heads are so filled with childish spite that they behave in this way... Many of my friends and family could tell you similar tales; Government agencies are more likely to OBSTRUCT your business than help it!

Scotland is failing its entrepreneurs because it puts fantasists in place in these agencies instead of serious-minded credible adults! Dreamers who seem to imagine "Howards Way" was actually a series of management training videos!

I've been in business for over 23 years... And never had, because I've never been able to successfully source, a bare brass penny's worth of help or assistance from any government agency... Can't even get my business listed in the local authority's directory!

 

[Employment Law Services]

And the question I and many others asked at the time.... How many of the small, specialised shops, garages, factories, workshops could have been brought back to life for £12M? Given an average investment of £10K each (very realistic back in '95) over a THOUSAND new businesses could have been seeded...

I think you've hot the nail on the head with the above statement Matt and Chungwa is only one example of pointless gov't investment.

Look at more recent events - tax payers bailing out badly run banks.

Whilst I understand the importance of making sure the entire banking system didn't collapse, surely the gov't could've redirected some of that investment into the sme sector for the exact same reasons you've mentioned above.......