- Over half of business owners prioritise growth as part of their business strategy with only 12% prioritising cost management
- ‘Wrong business model’ voted top reason for failure for entrepreneurs with growth seen as the biggest priority
- Legislation and economic climate are the biggest issues facing companies across 8 major sectors according to survey
The startup world is a fiercely competitive one, with companies across sectors opening and closing at a rapid rate. Safestore have carried out research to find the biggest concerns for biggest owners, their most fundamental goals, and what they believe to be the top reasons for a business failing.
Biggest Business Issues
In every sector, business owners are faced with a number of problems to solve every day of the week. We’ve looked at 8 major sectors to find what matters most.
- Legislation – Of all the metrics studied, legislation was the biggest concern on average. 30% of Agricultural companies place it as a key concern, with 1 in 5 owners of Transport, Real Estate and Business SME’s viewing it as a key issue.
- Finance – 16% of manufacturing businesses see cash flow as a large concern, more than any other sector. The same sector also rank highest for worries over ‘access to finance’ with 1 in 10 stating it as a prominent issue.
- The Economy – Only legislation is a more concerning factor for businesses than the current state of the economy, affecting 20% of Transport and Storage businesses.
Goals vs. Mistakes
By taking a look at existing survey data, Safestore have been able to highlight both the primary objectives for a business owner, and the most common reasons for failure. Some of the highlights from the research can be found below.
Objectives
- Aiming High – Growth is unsurprisingly one of the most important considerations for over half business owners outranking all other key goals
- Tech & Structure – Nearly a third of business owners list their primary objectives to be related to IT or to the development of their companies structure
- Clear Objectives – Less than 1 in 10 business owners place efficiency and innovation at the forefront of their business strategy, prioritising more practical goals such as workforce and finance.
Failures
- No Idea – The highest proportion of business owners (35%) see the lack of a business model as the reason for failure
- Money Talks – Over 1 in 5 of surveyed entrepreneurs claim that running out of cash was the reason for their ventures fall down
- Hot Competition – 11% of those surveyed believed that ‘more able competitors’ were to blame for their companies’ demise, which is notable when a lower proportion value innovation as part of their business model.
Below is a more detailed breakdown of the survey results for goals and failures across business owners.
| Priorities of CEOs | |
| Growth | 53% |
| IT-Related | 32% |
| Structural Development | 31% |
| Financial | 23% |
| Workforce | 21% |
| Reason For Failure | |
| No/Wrong Business Model | 35% |
| Lack of Business Development | 28% |
| Ran out of Cash | 21% |
| No product/market fit | 18% |
| Bad organisation | 14% |
You can view the full infographic here, which looks at each sector and region in more depth.