Small Business Training Needs: A Case Study

Russia, East Germany, and India are just a few of the many countries around the world which have opened up their economies to global trade in the last decade. This trend has forced organizations, especially state-owned enterprises, to face a changing environment, one driven by innovation, efficiency, competition, and marketing. Privatization of these enterprises has been taking place at record speed. National and multinational organizations have replaced state-owned operations in hopes of boosting a nation’s interantional competitiveness and economic growth. However, privatization alone will not solve the many problems created by open market trade. The vitality of these economies may well depend on the nation’s ability to foster its own entrepreneurial sector of small businesses. Continual training of these business is needed to ensure economic goals are reached. Each nation must determine the training needs of these businesses through needs analysis studies. A framework, based on a study conducted for the South Texas Regional Small Business Development Center (SBDC) located in San Antonio, Texas, is provided. Results indicate that the most frequently cited problem areas by small businesses fall into two general categories: Finance and Governmental Relations. The level of concern for the areas identified has been found to vary by the age of the business. However, the need for basic business skills, such as marketing, finance, and accounting, is ever present in differing degrees of specialization. Seminars and a mixture of communicational tools were found to be the most effective delivery system for the information required by businesses in the region. In addition, factor analysis was used to group together specific problematic areas for small businesses in the region. Seven dimensions were identified and include the following: Work force development, financing and legal issues, marketing, technology issues, daily operations, and selling.