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Business development in the home based business sector
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Practitioners in Small and Micro Business development can testify that this is a business sector which under utilises formal training and learning opportunities. Sue Kilpatrick and Suzanne Crowly (1999) noted this in their paper 'Learning in Small Business'. They identified that small business relies upon informal, contextualised learning: learning by doing; learning from suppliers or other businesses; learning by making mistakes and so on, and to some degree distrusts other more formal methods. Our own research supports these findings.
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In another survey we recently conducted of export businesses, we found that 50% of businesses had never pursued any sort of formal training in export activity. Of those who had attended some formal training, the vast majority indicated this to be one-off seminars. Only 8% had pursued any extended formal training.
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Other grounded research in this area supports the notion of low uptake of formal development opportunities and a preference for informal or self-driven learning. Holmes, MacLean and Coughlin (1996) in an extensive survey of small business in Victoria identified that 77% of respondents had undertaken no training or formal business development of any kind in the 12 months prior to their survey. Of those who responded that they had undertaken some specific knowledge or skills development, the highest responses were given to buying books journals and 'reading up' on latest information (23%), attending seminars (17%) and consulting with others in the same business (16%). All formal training options scored 6% or less.
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Programs that support small business development must address the issue of why this sector is so reluctant to pursue formal training and development opportunities. From our experience a number of factors are influential.
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Time
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The first is limited time and financial resources. As our survey results show, people running small businesses often work long hours. For many, training options just seem too time demanding or costly. Even when a training need is perceived small business operators rarely act upon that need. Longer term development issues can rarely take priority over immediate business needs, especially in business hours.
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Delivery
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Flexibility of delivery is a second issue. Whilst many small business owners seem to prefer face to face contact, the timing of development programs is crucial. In a recent survey of small business exporters we found breakfast time sessions to be most popular. Other research by Holmes, MacLean and Coughlin (1996) identified that many small business people are balancing other life commitments with their business commitments which add a further factor into the equation of whether small business operators can take advantage of structured learning opportunities.
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Targeting
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Tied to this issue of time and resources is the degree to which development events meet the small businesses immediate and most pressing needs. Our experience of evaluating business development programs indicates that training events are often perceived as too general, and not focused tightly enough to provide information of specific relevance to a business at a given time. Business people want to find quick solutions to immediate problems with the minimum of distraction from their most pressing tasks.
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Learning style
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We believe that a fourth, and again interrelated factor, is that of learning styles. Chell et al (1991) recognise that most successful entrepreneurs have a strong personal drive to achieve and a belief in their capacity to influence their own situation (internal locus of control). Other entrepreneurial traits include a strong sense of urgency and impatience, a strong capacity for creativity, and a desire to understand their own activity with reference to the 'bigger picture'. A survey conducted in 1993 for the Outer Eastern College of TAFE in Victoria revealed similar traits:
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"The majority of... home-based, self employed, and small business owners... see themselves as practical people who prefer problem solving and 'hands on' learning."
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To put it another way, many small business proprietors are independent individuals who prefer very active forms of learning.
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Given these four factors it is not surprising that trial and error, or learning by doing, is more appealing than the more abstract, expert driven, out of the business environment 'chalk and talk' that many formal training opportunities provide.
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