Supporting New Small Business Start‐ups

To increase survival rates in the small and medium‐sized manufacturing enterprise (SME) sector, Devon and Cornwall TEC sought to enhance the support provided to individuals wishing to enter self‐employment. As advisers to the project. Plymouth Business School adopted a strategic planning approach in the design and development of an integrated support programme for scheme participants. This incorporated consideration of participant motivation, adequacy of the learning environment, desired outcomes and the competences which needed to be acquired. The final scheme offers a three‐phase system of:assisting individuals to determine their suitability for self‐employment; helping participants acquire skills to create a business plan to be evaluated by an external assessor; and ongoing counselling support for the first 12 months of trading. Evaluation of the new scheme could be improved by implementing large‐scale longitudinal tracking studies of participants. Furthermore, the TEC aim of improving SME survival rates over the longer term will require further research on owner/managers during the second and third year of trading. These data can then be used in the design of additional support schemes in Devon and Cornwall.