Time to stand up for the little man?

When you’re running a one man band it sometimes feels like the world is against you. This probably explains why the people who own and run small businesses sometimes feel like authority is out to get them.
Take it from me, authority – whether it’s the Government or the council – isn’t out to get you.
What it is out to do is conduct itself in a manner which almost wilfully misunderstands the world according to the sole trader.
Think about it: councils employ thousands and have departments full of teams of people to deal with issues. They lead a structured existence enforcing a regimented set of rules and regulations.
In the small business, it’s usually you, you or you who does everything. And you often make it up as you go along.
There’s nothing wrong with either approach: authority has to be comprehensive and consistent, small firms have to be flexible multi-taskers. But you can work out why they rarely see eye to eye.
We shouldn’t sit back and accept that as a fait accompli for two reasons. One is that they can both learn from each other. The second is that small firms account for 99% of businesses, 44% of employment and a walloping chunk of the wealth created in this region.
There is another pressing reason: in some areas of the economy, small firms are being shot to pieces by big business.
The Federation of Small Businesses’ attempt to bridge the gulf of understanding between councils and small firms is, therefore, not before time.
In parts its new ‘East Midlands: Going for Growth’ agenda reads like a plea to be taken seriously, and that in itself speaks volumes: if there really are people in councils who think small firms don’t matter they should be invited to take a short, sharp lesson in local economics.
The FSB warns that the shadow of big business is looming large in two areas.
One is council contracts. Generally, large organisations find it easy to deal with each other because they speak the same language, and the big firms who tender for major council work are full of people who know exactly which boxes to tick (many of them used to work for councils).
This is one of the reasons why small firms that are stretched to the limit find it hard to compete. The nature of the beast means they will never be able to meet some council demands. But it doesn’t mean they can’t do the job.
Councils are meant to put equality of opportunity at the forefront of their activities. This still isn’t happening with contracts, and councils have got to think harder about the wider financial and economic implications of local contractors being passed over for someone based miles away.
The second area where the impact of big business is being questioned is supermarkets. Be in no doubt that supermarkets have been responsible for creating large numbers of jobs, for dragging the retail trade on to a higher plane, and for putting the spotlight on rivals who, frankly, don’t deserve to be in business.
But their tendency to build one-size-fits-all hypermarkets, their ability to get what they want rather than what planners want, and their expansion into sectors way beyond food retailing are having consequences which will not be obvious when you park for free and wander down aisles groaning with goods.
It used to be that only grocers, butchers and bakers felt the sharp end of supermarket price-cutting. Now it’s the bank, the chemist, the electrical retailer, the book shop, the clothes shop, the off licence, the newsagent, the petrol filling station...the list goes on.
You don’t have to be an economist to realise that when a supermarket lands the town centre has few places to hide.
Paul Maloney, who leads the FSB in Notts, told me he wanted to see a more robust analysis of whether new supermarkets are needed and free town centre parking to ‘level the playing field’.
While councils could and should take a tougher approach to supermarket planning applications, the power supermarkets wield means this is ultimately a Government issue.
The record here isn’t encouraging. Investigations by the competition authorities have ultimately concluded that the best way to stop supermarkets stifling competition is to allow more supermarkets. Hmm.
Ultimately, the FSB and councils should be building bridges with the public. A public fully aware of the implications of supermarket dominance – and one able to park free in town centres – might yet rescue what Paul Maloney worries is a dying breed.