Page 205 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

194 Michael D. Woods and Glenn Muske

Table 10.2. Top Ten Problems of Microbusiness Owners

The smaller the business, the more likely they are to report problems
staying current with the market, meeting the competition from larger busi-
nesses, and dealing with pricing issues. Microbusinesses also struggled
more with seasonal sales. It is interesting that microbusinesses had less con-
cern with low employee productivity. Although not of great concern, the
study also found that obtaining information is difficult for microbusiness
owners. The owners were affected by anticompetitive practices, interest
rates, and earning a living wage (Phillips 2004).
A recent issue of Entrepreneur magazine reported three of the top five con-
cerns of small business owners as developing new products or services, ex-
panding to other markets inside of the United States, and cutting costs.
Three wild card factors they saw for the immediate future included in-
creased competition, rising health-care costs, and new government regula-
tions (Henricks 2007). Supporting this article is a study done by Walstad
and Kourilsky (1996) of existing small business owners reporting that gov-
ernment regulations, financing, controlling costs, competition, and devel-
oping sales were the greatest challenges faced by small business owners.
From a slightly different perspective, a review of small business manage-
ment texts discloses what professional authors consider major areas of con-
cern for microbusiness owners. Two texts, Homemade Money by Brabec
(1994) and Business Savvy for Today’s New Entrepreneur by Burns and Mc-
Cullough (2001), although written for general small business owners, are
closest to assisting the microbusiness market. The emphasis of these books
are similar to other small business management guides such as the Kauf-
man Foundation’s (2001) Planning and Growing a Business Venture. All of