As reported by The Business Desk today, there are tough times ahead, especially in regions of the UK outside of the south east of England.  One of the few business minds to spot the riskiness of the now infamous 'slice and dice' financial instruments such as credit default swaps before the credit crunch took hold is a voice worth listening to. Moulton suggests that one of the last things we should be doing is relying on public sector bail-outs and issues a call to deal with the recessionary problem now rather than later.

Relying on funding is indeed a risky strategy, especially since much of it is drying up (see Yorkshire Forward Suffers funding cuts).  But as I see very frequently indeed, this leaves business owners who are trying to grow their business whilst cash isn't forthcoming in a real dilemma... how do they afford to grow?

Well, it often has to be a gradual process to put the business back into a shape where investors will consider it as an attractive proposition, but there is still some help available to kick-start SME growth by helping owners and senior managers develop their business strategy - a crucial prerequisite fopr growth - and leadership skills.

If your business has between 5 and 249 employees and you haven't benefited from such funding before, then you can claim from £500 to £1000 worth of funding to help you develop and get a head start.  Business Doctors are happy to sign post you in the right direction if you get in touch.

Following yesterday's cabinet meeting in Bradford, it's been announced that Yorkshire Forward has been instructed to cut £40 million from its budget in a move that is undoubtedly set to affect the business support framework in the region, as reported by the Yorkshire Post.  Indeed, in my meetings with Business Link advisors, the news has already started to filter out that some important funding streams such as the Strategic Business Review have now been canned.  The news comes on top of recently announced cuts in council funding, such as the £1.5 million slashed from Bradford's business support budget.

Whilst the political squabbling about who is to blame for the state of the public finances and the economy more generally continues, it's important to recognise that every piece of bad news holds an opportunity for those prepared to seize it.

In this case, there's more at stake for businesses that are prepared to really focus on what they do, the value they add to customers and the way they do business.  In such a climate, it's more important than ever to take a step back from the business and get smart.  By doing so, you will set yourself apart from your competitors, who continue to plug away with the day to day grind of running their business - a risky approach indeed, since, as the above news goes to show, the macro economic environment is shifting rapidly.  One of the messages of the Business Doctors business growth seminars is that if you're a business owner, you'll just get run over if you stand still...

For those of us familiar with the problems caused in the 1980s in areas of the country that were previously heavily reliant on manufacturing industry, it came as a welcome relief to learn recently of Yorkshire Forward's new manufacturing strategy for the region.

Like all good strategies, it starts with a vision, which is to grow the manufacturing sector until it reaches 20% of the regional economy  in 20 years' time from its current level, which is nearer 12%.

It will achieve this by selecting and supporting strategically important manufacturing sectors to target (not to the detriment of other sectors, it insists, but presumably using something like the 80/20 rule).  These are:

• Advanced Engineering and Materials;
• Digital;
• Low Carbon and
• Healthcare Technologies.

Someone's clearly been doing their STEP analysis (see our Top Tips for Growing your Business), since these sectors are very much in line with where the added value work is in Manufacturing at the moment.  In other words, gone are the days where we should be competing on price, because the 'low cost geography sourcing' as I've heard it called (in other words, shipping stuff out overseas to be made cheaply) will always follow the lowest cost of production (i.e. low wage economies).

So here's a call to manufacturers in Yorkshire to tap into this regional strategy.  Use it as an opportunity to think about what your sustainable competitive advantage really is and get focussed to grow your business in the knowledge that the time is right and the support is in place.

What are your views on where manufacturing should be heading?  Leave a comment below, or if you've a specific business problem you'd like us to address, ask a question.

What with looming spending cutbacks as a result of the public sector borrowing requirements, plus the current political uncertainty around the future of business support agencies - in particular the regional development agencies - following the change in government, it would be fair to say that the current picture relating to business funding is also 'uncertain' (just goes to show you the benefit of doing your STEP analysis - see our free top ten tips for growing your business).

Connected with this, I've just fielded one of the most jaw-droppingly naive questions of my Business Doctors career so far from a member of the Bradford business support community that's compelled me to blog this entry.  Now, admittedly, Bradford has its own issues relating to poverty and regeneration, but I think we need to try a little harder to pull ourselves up by the boot straps.

Names have been witheld to spare any blushes, but the conversation was along the lines of:

Questioner: "Business Doctors - now that sounds interesting."

Me: "Yes, it is, it's keeping me extremely busy."

Questioner: "So what do you do, do you basically dish out loads of free funding to businesses"

Me: "Er, nooooo....! We help businesses to achieve their vision by helping develop a unique strategy that matches their own unique internal capabilities with the most attractive external opportunities."

Now to me, this highlights that whilst publicly funded agencies are working really hard to make the changes cities like Bradford need to see, potential clients need to look very carefully at any service they are being offered in order to check it meets their own needs.  If the wrong service is matched with the wrong client, then the business support community as a whole can be tarnished by the project failing to meet its objectives.

What are the benefits to business owners of getting professional outside help?

• As owners of SMEs have often undergone organic growth ‘from the tools’ themselves, they may not have the skills and experience to make the changes they need to make;
• There is usually value in taking independent advice because it challenges your own thinking; as humans we are poor at thinking through the downside of our bright ideas;
• Bringing in an extra pair of hands can help free up time to help prioritise what really needs doing – enabling the business owner to start to see the ‘wood for the trees’ and take a long term view of where he or she is going.

So I would say, let’s get away from this something-for-nothing trap that we can fall into and get real about the value that professionals deliver.  Business support is just that – it’s not free money to burn, it’s support to help entrepreneurs achieve their vision.

What do you think?  Leave a comment or contact me with your view.

As UK economic data and other indicators continue to paint a shaky picture of economic growth (according to Gordon Brown's latest warning, not to mention recent data including industrial output, balance of trade and house prices), it may seem like the green shoots of recovery are still some way off (although I'm wondering in an election year, which politician will be the first to overlook Norman Lamont's premature optimism in the early 90's recession and start to over-promise recovery at this time of of economic under-delivery).

An email I received from a contact this morning brought the message home to me - as if it were needed - that many real companies doing real work and employing real people really are struggling in the current climate; it really sounded like a cry for help.

Part of our role as Business Doctors is to provide a link between private sector SMEs and public sector bodies who are responsible for implementing economic policies aimed at stimulating and regenerating businesses - in fact, it's the Business Doctors' mission to help bring companies back to health and I for one believe passionately in that.

So without beating about the bush, the point of this blog is quite simply and unashamedly to make you aware that there's a strong possibility that Yorkshire companies who need help to grow may be able to benefit from a fully funded project worth £3000, which can be delivered by Business Doctors, to provide a full strategic review, implementation planning and support for your business operations.  This really is a fantastic way to get a clear picture of where you're going in business in these difficult times and get some help to make sure projects to deliver change are properly set up.

The funding is provided by Yorkshire Forward, and brokered by Business Link and there are certain criteria which companies should fulfill in order to qualify (namely your company should be based in Yorkshire, have been operating for a few years or so and be looking to grow).

Let us help you get your ideas off the ground - together we can beat the recession!