Omnibus Survey of Small Businesses in Scotland 2002: Rural Analysis
7 Appendix 1 - Additional results
7.1 Discrimination
7.1.1 Suffered discrimination
All respondents to the survey were asked if they ever suffered discrimination in the course of running their business. 11% (n=819 - 95% confidence limit within 3%) of Businesses reported suffering discrimination in the past. Half of those are in the urban/small town area, compared to 9% of the firms in the remote rural area.
Respondents that had suffered discrimination were asked who discriminated against them. The options were band/finance provider, employer, employee, customer, supplier, landlord, advisor, other business owners or any other. A third of the Businesses in the accessible rural area and a third of the Businesses in the remote rural area had been discriminated against by customers. The full results are shown in the table below:
Who discriminated | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Bank/financial provider | 22.8% | - | 12.7% |
Employer | - | - | 12.7% |
Employee | - | - | 2.3% |
Customer | 21.0% | 33.0% | 30.1% |
Supplier | 16.5% | 19.9% | 25.4% |
Landlord | - | - | - |
Advisor | - | - | - |
Other business owner | 11.4% | 29.4% | 17.4% |
Other | 45.9% | 26.0% | 1.6% |
Table 15: Who discriminated by geographical area
Other instances of discrimination mentioned were discrimination by governmental bodies (planning department, Scottish Executive and Enterprise Council), public agencies, local authority.
7.1.2 Reasons for discrimination
Respondents were asked what the main reason for discrimination was. The main reason for discrimination is size of the business, cited by 48% of the Businesses in the urban/small town area, 50% of the Businesses in the accessible rural area and 68% of the Businesses in the remote rural area. All results are illustrated in the table below:
Reasons for discrimination | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Race | .5% | 18.9% | 2.3% |
Gender | .3% | 4.7% | - |
Disability | - | 1.5% | - |
Age - too old | 4.1% | 1.5% | 12.7% |
Age - too young | - | - | - |
Size of business | 47.6% | 49.9% | 68.3% |
Other | 52.2% | 28.1% | 16.7% |
Table 16: Reasons for discrimination by geographic area
Other reasons for discrimination cited were religion, nature of the business, location, competitors.
7.1.3 Government help
57% of the Businesses that think the government could take actions to alleviate the problem of discrimination are in the urban/small town area. Some of the comments cited by all respondents are given below:
- "Government should appreciate the fact some small Businesses can compete with the big boys."
- "Talk more to SMEs and get their views. The paperwork involved with employment/ vat/tax etc. does not help the owners run the business effectively."
- "Government could come up with a fairer system of tendering."
- "Could make petrol cheaper or reduce general transport costs."
7.2 Awareness of other schemes to assist small Businesses (weighted results)
The proportion of Businesses aware of and/or using other schemes designed to assist small Businesses is shown below for each individual scheme. The results have been weighted to represent the population of SMEs in each geographic area:
SMART | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 12.3% | 9.6% | 8.8% |
Used service | .8% | .2% | - |
Not heard of or used service | 87.0% | 90.2% | 91.2% |
Teaching Companies/TCS | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 6.8% | 4.4% | 1.0% |
Used service | .1% | .2% | .1% |
Not heard of or used service | 93.1% | 95.3% | 98.9% |
Benchmark Index | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 11.9% | 10.2% | 8.4% |
Used service | .9% | .1% | .1% |
Not heard of or used service | 87.2% | 89.7% | 91.5% |
IUKE | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 9.3% | 5.4% | 5.9% |
Used service | .0% | .2% | .1% |
Not heard of or used service | 90.6% | 94.3% | 94.0% |
Business Growth Fund | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 8.4% | 9.2% | 5.2% |
Used service | - | .2% | - |
Not heard of or used service | 91.6% | 90.7% | 94.8% |
Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 19.5% | 18.7% | 15.0% |
Used service | 2.4% | 1.5% | .1% |
Not heard of or used service | 78.1% | 79.8% | 84.9% |
STEP | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 11.0% | 8.5% | 7.5% |
Used service | .1% | .2% | |
Not heard of or used service | 88.9% | 91.2% | 92.5% |
Invest for Growth | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 21.1% | 12.2% | 15.5% |
Used service | .2% | .2% | .2% |
Not heard of or used service | 78.7% | 87.6% | 84.3% |
RSA | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 14.3% | 10.8% | 9.3% |
Used service | .8% | .9% | .1% |
Not heard of or used service | 84.9% | 88.3% | 90.6% |
Scottish Trade International | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Heard of service but not used | 17.5% | 19.8% | 9.4% |
Used service | 1.9% | .9% | .4% |
Not heard of or used service | 80.6% | 79.3% | 90.2% |
7.3 Satisfaction with other schemes to assist small Businesses (weighted results)
| SMART | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | 73.2% | 73.5% | - |
Satisfied | 13.4% | 26.5% | - |
Dissatisfied | 13.4% | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Teaching Companies/TCS | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | 25.5% | 82.4% | |
Satisfied | 74.5% | 17.6% | 100.0% |
Dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Benchmark Index | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | 11.7% | 50.0% | - |
Satisfied | 24.1% | 50.0% | 100.0% |
Dissatisfied | 64.2% | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
IUKE | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | - | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Satisfied | 100.0% | - | - |
Dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Business Growth Fund | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | - | - | - |
Satisfied | 100.0% | - | - |
Dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | 32.4% | 80.7% | - |
Satisfied | 63.3% | 19.3% | 100.0% |
Dissatisfied | 4.3% | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
STEP | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | - | - | - |
Satisfied | 100.0% | - | - |
Dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Invest for Growth | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | - | 50.0% | 100.0% |
Satisfied | 50.0% | 50.0% | - |
Dissatisfied | 50.0% | | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | - |
RSA | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | 22.6% | 52.4% | 100.0% |
Satisfied | 59.3% | 32.0% | - |
Dissatisfied | - | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | 18.1% | 15.6% | - |
Scottish Trade International | Urban/small town area | Accessible rural area | Remote rural area |
Very satisfied | 33.3% | 43.2% | 21.0% |
Satisfied | 64.7% | 56.8% | 21.0% |
Dissatisfied | 2.0% | - | - |
Very dissatisfied | - | - | 58.1% |