A nationwide survey of approximately 1,000 small business owners and managers was conducted to investigate the perceived causes of small business failure. In addition, survey participants were asked for suggestions for reducing the number of small business failures. The major cause of small business failures—according to the individuals surveyed—is a lack of management expertise. Consequently, the survey participants’ primary suggestion for decreasing small business failures was to improve management education.1
This research was supported in part by a grant from Safeguard Business Systems, Inc.
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