Mon, 10 Jan 2011
Running a business can be difficult at the best of times, especially for smaller companies that may not have the financial clout that larger ones do.
According to insolvency trade body R3, more than a quarter of small UK firms think they will become insolvent if a double-dip recession occurs.
The effort to stay afloat has hit many companies hard and confidence is so low that if the UK was to experience another economic downturn, many will not be able to stay afloat next time.
Businesses in the hotel and catering sector are the least confident, the survey found, with 47 per cent claiming another recession could result in them becoming insolvent.
The most positive UK sector is manufacturing, where 19 per cent of businesses think they will be impacted upon if the economy suffers.
One explanation given is that this sector is often the first to recover after a downturn because people start to slowly demand more goods.
President of R3 Peter Sargent said: "The low level of business confidence is to be expected. Many struggling businesses drew heavily on their reserves in order to survive and their resources have now begun to run out."
Company owners who are worried about what their future holds may want to undertake running a business training to ensure they are in a good a position as possible to withstand any financial shocks.
"The journey back to recovery is slow and uncertain and we advise any business owner who believes their company may be on the path to insolvency to seek help sooner rather than later," Mr Sargent stated.
It was recently suggested by Cisco that some small firms are risking their stability by not altering their practices to cope with changing consumer demands.
Many have a good "fighting spirit" but need to go further to secure their future.
Read more about the benefits of training with learndirect to ensure you nurture the best talents from your workforce. 
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The learndirect team