Office Depot’s Small Business Index, states that small businesses are still facing difficult times and are still continuing to feel the effects of the financial crisis, despite the reports that the economy is on the road of recovery.
The survey was conducted on more than 1,000 small businesses, of them 38% responded that they have been affected by the economic slowdown and are compensating the losses by limiting business travel, 29% by cutting advertising/marketing expenditures and 22 percent are outsourcing fewer jobs. Further it was found that the small businesses are less divided regarding the recovery of economy with 45% viewed that they are seeing signs of growth and 55 percent reported there will be no increase.
More over, keeping the current situation in the market in mind, 36 percent of companies(with 1 to 99 employees) are unsure about the time period of improvement of economic conditions. However, 22 percent of small business owners believe that full recovery will take place in next five years.