Small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland see more potential benefits from Covid-19 than Brexit, according to a new survey.
Research carried out by advisory service Business Gateway found that 78 per cent of 300 SMEs questioned remain concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their operations. However, 52% also anticipate some positive changes, such as more efficient working practices and greater resilience to the impact of future crises.
By contrast, only 38% expect any positive outcomes from Brexit.
More than half cited concerns that Brexit will result in increasing taxes or overheads (60%), exchange rate fluctuations (54%), impacts on their supply chains (52%) and a loss in sales (51%). Almost two-fifths agreed that Brexit will mean significant changes to their working practices, and 33% said they will have to restructure their business in response to the UK’s departure from the European trading bloc.
The findings coincide with the launch of a national Business Gateway campaign to ensure business are aware of and have access to support during these challenging economic times. The free support includes one-to-one advice, online resources and research services.
“Market conditions for Scottish businesses have never been more difficult,” Business Gateway chairman Steven Heddle said. “Many are still attempting to shore up resilience and survive the pandemic, while also preparing for significant trade disruptions following Brexit.
READ MORE: Vaccine hopes buoy markets
“These findings underpin the critical role that support services play in ensuring that businesses feel prepared and confident in their ability to survive this uncertain period. I would urge all owners and entrepreneurs to use the Business Gateway service to help identify strategies so that they can overcome future challenges.”
Nearly two-thirds remain worried about surviving a second wave of coronavirus infections, or another future pandemic. More than half – 56% – expect to streamline their working practices because of the Covid-19 crisis, while 53% said they feel better prepared in the case of a potential future pandemic.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article