Challenges Faced By Small And Medium Enterprises In The UK: An Analysis Of Emilia Crafted Pasta

Emilia Crafted Pasta: An Example of SME Challenges

Th report is prepared to gain an understanding of the strategic challenges faced by small and medium enterprises (SME) during the implementation and development of goods and services. The chosen SME for which the external and internal environmental analysis is performed is Emilia Crafted pasta. Emilia pasta is a small chain of restaurants that serves Italian cuisine. The mission of the organization is to bring down the memories of traditional techniques of the freshly made pasta (Emiliaspasta.com, 2022). The external and internal environment of Emilia pasta is assessed by the application of theoretical framework of PESTEL and SWOT analysis. Lastly, the operations of the restaurant in the foreign market such as Netherland is discussed in relation to entry modes and CSR practices. 

In this section, the contemporary challenges faced by small and medium enterprises concerning their strategy in United Kingdom is evaluated in detail. The challenges during the implementation and development of goods and services from the perspectives of SME entrepreneurial is explored by referring to relevant academic literature. 50% of the total revenue generated by businesses in UK is attributable to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and they constitute 44% of the country’s labour force (Ukfinance.org.uk, 2022). The ability of SME to keep going is impacted by various business challenges being faced. One of the challenges being faced by such enterprises in the country is the Brexit and its looming economic impact, and at the moment, they are cited as the biggest issue being faced by SME in strategy development (Eggers, 2020). Some other issues faced by the SMEs in the country included rising cost of suppliers, increasing operating cost, competition, red tape, changing behaviour of customers, funding access and talent retention.

Estimated number of businesses in UK private sector by size band of employment:

(Source: Gov.uk, 2022)

For the SME’s, several challenges have been created due to the economic globalization because globalization has caused the competition to increase rapidly. The literature has noted the threat from the TNC’s (Trans-national Corporation) and MNC’s (Multinational Corporation) to SMEs as the challenge because the latter has less innovative capabilities, lack resources, fewer abilities in the international strategies and the inconveniences that is required to reach the global. However, they are also provided to improve their market competitiveness by interacting with the large-scale firms and be able to learn competitive strategies from them. Some of the challenges being faced by SME highlighted by the literature are the question of innovativeness, capital instability, taxes, regulatory licences, competitiveness and worker’s right (Johnson et al., 2020). The domestic SME would be more impacted by the global competition if their production is excessively segmented and localized. It is because the well performing foreign firms or retailers would be able to penetrate the market because of trade liberalization and thereby making it difficult for the SMEs to maintain their existing sales in their respective market. Moreover, it is also challenging for the SME to remain competitive in their domestic market that is London because of the ever changing and growing demand for differentiated and high quality intermediated and final goods and services. Also, due to increasing global competition, innovation of product has become a demanding procedure for the SME’s (Zutshi et al., 2021). An increasing concern to achieve the environmental sustainability is another key trend that poses challenge for SME as it becomes difficult for small business to focus on strengthen their competitiveness and adopts sustainable practices simultaneously. Another specific challenge for SME’s is the change in the demographic such as the business transfer needs and skill shortage (Zastempowski & Cyfert, 2021). Literature cites that due to the issues of business transfer, substantial number of SMEs who were economically sound disappeared from the market.

Contemporary Challenges Faced by SMEs in the UK

Emilia pasta’s business concept revolves around the Italian cuisine essence and it becomes important for the firm to meet the increasingly stringent international standard when it comes to the products and services (Emiliaspasta.com, 2022). A trend that has become challenging for Emilia pasta is the challenges posed by the MNC as the product competition in the domestic and regional market have been influenced by them considerably. Their increased domination in the country and their practices of monopoly and distribution and production merits under the economies of scale has posed a challenging trend to SME. The SME’s survival marketability particularly in the developed nation such as UK has also been questioned by MNC’s increased presence in the regional and domestic market (Emiliaspasta.com, 2022). It is because of several issues such as productivity issues, low managerial skills, low level of technology and product system that is labour intensive.

Number of private sector businesses in UK

(Source: merchantsavvy.co.uk, 2022) 

In order to further identify the contemporary challenges being faced by the SME’s, it is important to highlight the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the small enterprises business. Unprecedented challenges have been encountered by the small businesses due to the pandemic coupled with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. A series of demand and supply shocks have been faced by the economy of UK due to the practices of social distancing and lockdown measures. One of the most affected countries of Europe is UK and huge challenges are being faced by SME in managing risks and uncertainties in international trading (Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, 2022). However, there also exist some opportunities for the small businesses to explore distant markets. Events of 2020, had negative effect for the turnover and employment for such businesses. In the face of crisis, some SME’s might face difficulties in maintaining their activities. For instance, Emilia pasta is heavily dependent on their suppliers and customers for their business and this could lower their development and strategy implementation in managing their goods and services. Nevertheless, compared to employment, a decline in turnover has been experienced by SME. It is important for SME to have access to global value chains and disruptions in trade can be severe to small business in a disproportional manner. A major concern for SME is delay in receiving and sending goods and the adverse implication on the profit and cost due to the stockpiling requirement (Nikolic et al. 2019).

Average small business turnover

(Source: merchantsavvy.co.uk, 2022)

For the construction of competitive regional economies, the vital factors include the positive roles and dynamism of SME. Furthermore, it is important for SME such as Emilia pasta to be vigilant of their business strategies due to the influences from the economic competition. It is important that SME start to recognize the innovation importance as it helps in rapidly penetrating the existing products and services value addition (Brown, Liñare & Wilson, 2019). The competitiveness of SME’s product and services would increase if innovation forms a part of their business strategy. However, the critical challenges being faced by SME are required to be addressed by the development of strategic approaches. It is essential for them to utilize the new knowledge to work on their product development in order to remain competitive in their domestic market which is highly influenced by the global economic competition (Oecd.org, 2022). Hence, regarding the planning and operating, it is important for SME to develop their strategy by improving their technology and innovation adaptions capabilities.

Brexit and Its Looming Economic Impact

Number of private sector businesses in UK:

(Source: Gov.uk, 2022)

The internal and external environment of Emilia pasta is evaluated by using the strategical framework such as SWOT and PESTEL analysis.

With the help of SWOT analysis, a business organization would be able to identify the relevant strengths and weaknesses that enable them to deal with changes that are taking place in the business environment.

Strengths- Emilia crafted pasta is a fresh pasta restaurant that serves Italian cuisine and is known for its simplicity and freshness. Emilia is the culmination of Romagna region and other parts of Italy and the interior of the restaurants combines the earthy, homely, simple, cosy atmosphere (Emiliaspasta.com, 2022). The strength of the restaurant lies in the sustainability initiative which is reflected from the membership of sustainable restaurant association. With the hand-picked suppliers, the restaurant strives to work with the farmers, companies and growers and so that they do best to source the products locally.

Weakness- The dishes served by Emilia crafted pasta is solely pastas and the menu of the restaurant incorporates only four different kinds of pastas. With only four kinds of pastas as the main dishes on the menu, customers are provided with the limited choice (Emiliaspasta.com, 2022).

Opportunities- The restaurant always sought to excite their customers innovation and it is reflected in their ingredients and raw materials. However, it is important for the restaurant to back up their innovation with the production capability. Apart from the challenges being faced by the small organization, the crisis has also presented some remarkable opportunities that drives the firms to reorient their strategy, target market and business model (Kelso, 2022).

Threats- The key issue being faced by SME such as Emilia pasta is the retention of staffs and it is evident from the data that the sector struggle significantly compared to others. There seems to have a material impact of the uneven distributed talent. The challenges faced in terms of recruitment implies that some of the business elements of the restaurant have not grown as expected (Chege & Wang, 2020). Apart from this, operations of Emilia crafted pasta also face threats from its competitors in terms of stealing the employees and products and services as well.

SME business creation and closures:

(Source: merchantsavvy.co.uk, 2022)

Using the PESTEL analysis, an organization can strategically plan by identifying the macro environmental factors impacting the business. It is important for SME to scan their external environment to investigate various factors that impact their operations (Johnson et al., 2020) These factors can be discussed as below.

Political factors- One of the major obstacles being faced by the small organizations such as Emilia pasta is the uncertainty surrounding the political factors and the concern is highest for the business based in London. When it comes to unforeseen event such as Brexit, it is observed that SMEs are less resilient and they are in particular impacted by the political and institutional uncertainty. In addition to this, any future changes in the regulation are also likely to impact the business of SME. Furthermore, the access to the EU markets and increase in the cost of imports are some of the major concerns for the small business organization Emilia Pasta. Decisions and future strategic intentions of the small organization would be impacted by the exogeneous shocks (Media.bethebusiness.com, 2022).

Rising Cost of Suppliers and Increasing Operating Cost

Economic factors- For the economy of UK, SME represents a core part and they are considered integral part for the productivity growth and innovation. The difficulties faced by the small business can be acknowledged in terms of access to the finance in the prevailing macro-economic climate. Emilia pasta might face the issues related to gaining access to finance to fund their business when needed. In addition to this, small enterprises face the issue of higher administration cost due to the sheer complexities of the enterprise. Cost of administration is higher for Emilia pasta and a considerable decline in the trading activities has threatened the business of SME such as Emilia (Oecd-ilibrary.org, 2022)

Percentage of SME using banking facilities

(Source: oecd-ilibrary.org, 2022)

Social factors- Social factors is of great importance to SMEs because of the benefits it brings. It exposes the organization to the new managerial practices, communication and innovative business model to collaboration and knowledge sharing. When it is about the social change, small business is considered to be the opportunity creators and agent of bringing such change. Cultural social factor also tends to impact the performance of the small organizations. Business performance of Emilia pasta is impacted by the social trend such as changing tase and preferences of customers and their eating habits. It is important for the business to be aligned with the local culture, for which it is essential for the firms to leverage uniqueness (Ali et al., 2021). Hence, social factors play an influential role in the performance of SME’s.

Technological factors- Business performance of SME’s can be enhanced by the implementation of technology as it is expected to impact all the areas of business. With the ongoing trend of serving the customers using the digital solutions, it is essential that the small businesses such as Emilia pasta also adapt to the digital transformation as it provides the business with scale of opportunity. In addition to this, rapid changes in the supply and demand are being experienced by SME which further helps in improving their process efficiency (Prasanna et al., 2019). Since, business of Emilia pasta is impacted by the rapid environmental changes, it is essential that the business follows the trend and adopt the technological solution to deal with it.  However, Emilia faces several difficulties in implementing the technology to their business put forward by the human and behavioural set of challenges (Nikoli? et al., 2019). Moreover, the adoption of technology by SME faces the barrier due to the cost of new technology solutions. Also, any intention to switch from one system to another might disrupt their business. Lack of execution support and executives also impacts the process of technology adoption. 

Environmental factors-SME is also impacted by the growing environmental concern and the increasing necessity of the firms to comply with the environmental regulations. For the firm such as Emilia pasta and with its growing business, it is required that it complies with the environmental regulations and laws. Moreover, with the growing importance of environmental regulations in the country, it is important for Emilia pasta to comply and adopt the environmental regulations. The adoption of the practices of the environment management is impacted by the normative and coercive pressures. It is necessity for the SME to adopt appropriate environment management practices due to the regulatory forces and increasing public concerns as such pressures shapes the environment management practices of the firm (Chege & Wang, 2020). 

Competition, Red Tape, and Changing Behavior of Customers

Legal factors- Legal factors have a huge impact on the business of SME’s and it is important for them to get an understanding of the risks associated with the legal issues. Legal liabilities and the legal obligations are the biggest challenge faced by the small organizations. In order for Emilia to run the business successfully, it is important for oblige the legalities of the country where it is carrying out its operations. Company can be put at the risk of legal issues because of the non-compliant term, manual mistakes and inability to meet the deadlines.

Competitiveness of business of SME such as Emilia Pasta can be evaluated using the model of Porters five forces. The five factors that determines the competitiveness pf Emilia using Porter includes:

• Suppliers bargaining power- Suppliers threaten to integrate backward due to newer technology that has resulted in increased competition (Stekelorum, 2020). Hence, suppliers bargaining power facing Emilia pasta is high.
• Customer bargaining power- Customers are provided with wider choice of channels to connect with the brands, hence, bargaining power of buyer for Emilia pasta is higher.
• New entrant threats-SME such as Emilia Pasta’s threat of new entrant is heightened by the technology because the economies of scale in the industry is nullified the technology (co.uk 2022). Hence, new entrant threat is high.
• Competition from rivalry- Reduction in the strength and differentiation due to the introduction of new technology intensifies the overall industry competition. Hence, Emilia pasta faces high degree of competition.
• Substitutes goods availability- The introduction of new products and services and improvement in the existing products offered by the players in the industry. However, Emilia pasta specializes in Italian cuisine, it has lower substitute goods threats.

It is likely that the small and medium enterprises such as Emilia crafted pasta would base their choice for the foreign market entry mode based on the available resource because of their limited personnel ad financial resources. Hence, in this regard, it is important to identify the determinants of the mode of the foreign market entry. Some of the particular characteristics that influence entry mode of such firms in the foreign market include their commitment level, level of control it has on the foreign market activities and how they deal with the host country risks (Zastempowski & Cyfert, 2021). However, the choice of appropriate mode of entry into the foreign market can have a far reaching and significant consequences on the survival and performance of SMEs. Emilia crafted pasta can expand its global operations into the country Netherland using mode such as joint venture (Schellenberg, Harker & Jafari, 2018).

Joint venture- Since Emilia tends to specialize in the Italian cuisine and they should opt for the vertical integration benefit as it would help in enlarging the scope of operations within that particular industry. Emilia can opt for joint venture as the entry strategy into the market of Netherland as it would help in achieving the vertical integration benefits without incurring higher fixed cost. SME such as Emilia Pasta can enter into joint venture with local firm in Netherland and such venture would help the small organization to gain an understanding of the market, local culture and ways of doing business. (Naradda et al., 2022). For the small business, funding is considered important factor when deciding to expand their business in the international market. Joint venture entry mode would enable growth without having to look outside for the investors or to borrow funds. For the Emilia Pasta SME, cost is a critical factor when expanding their business as they have limited financial resources available (Lin, J & Ho, 2019). Emilia pasta would be able to access greater expertise and new knowledge when entering into venture with the firms operating in the international market.

In addition to this, the SME would also be able to retail control over the suppliers to some degree when the investment cannot be allocated backward and funds is scarce. With the help of joint venture entry modes options, Emilia pasta can access the strategic resources required for the business expansion. It is because under this mode, the two firms or the organizations jointly share or exchange the resources which implies that the business resources are pooled in a manner that would be beneficial to both the parties (Garg, 2014). Emilia would be able to derive the benefits from established marketing, product development and wider distribution channels.  Furthermore, above all, the option of entry mode using joint venture has the lowest possible risk. In the today’s global competition, for the strategic importance, both the small enterprise and multinational corporation for the international expansion depends on the joint venture. Project based on joint venture helps the company to be organizationally and strategically flexible in the market that is being targeted (Johnson et al., 2020).

Funding Access and Talent Retention

Business are being encouraged to conduct their business in a socially responsible manner by implementing sustainable development initiatives and complying with guiding principles and laws. There’s an increasing impetus on part of SME’ s to adopt the practices of corporate social responsibility. Literature cites that for the smaller organization, the adoption rate of CSR has been low and the business structure are not well equipped to monitor the efforts so that the guidelines for the sustainability development can be provided. It has been found that the practices of CSR have a direct impact on the organization’s profitability and the adoption of CSR model is essential based on the legal, ethical, economic and discretional perspectives (Bocquet, Le Bas, Mothe & Poussing, 2019). Development and embracing the activities of CSR is SME has limitations in terms of the resource capabilities and size of the company. CSR is viewed to be the business case that drives the competitiveness of the firms. It is because the organizations embracing such activities are able to operate innovatively, are acquainted with the social challenges and are also supported by their stakeholders (Stekelorum, 2020). In Netherlands particularly, there are international and domestic societal expectations to become mor socially responsible when carrying out their operations. There is increasing focus of the stakeholders on the value chain performance of the firms, especially the suppliers. It is important for Emilia pasta to work closely with their partners or alliance when operating in Netherland to address social, business and environmental issues and ensure that their operations have positive impact on their communities (Peakb.uk, 2022). For this, SME should also incorporate sustainability efforts in their procurement strategy so that they have better insights into the CSR practices. In addition to this, the efforts and initiatives of CSR can be established as a strategy in SME that would make them progressively proactive towards it and also helps in maximizing the financial returns (Maldonado et al., 2020). Therefore, CSR should be used by SME as the tool of strategic planning in enhancing their business competitiveness in the new market.

Innovative areas are considered to be one of the key areas for the business long term success. And the activities of CSR tend to have an impact on the innovation of the services and products offered by SMEs. It implies that there exists a relationship between innovation and socially responsible activities. Moreover, it is suggested by the research work that the activities of innovation in SME is positively impacted by the CSR activities and hence managers of the small organization should be encouraged to engage in the CSR competencies development and engage in socially responsible projects (Stekelorum, 2020). Therefore, Emilia pasta should focus on CSR activities and strategize such efforts to facilitate innovation for the future development in the market of Netherland. CSR activities influence the business practice and it is important that the sustainable development concept should be implemented by SME because they make significant contribution to the overall development and economic growth.

Conclusion:

SME has been facing various issues when it comes to the implementation and development of the product and services because of their limited resources and limited access. Also, the globalization has posed several challenges for small organization to carry out their business effectively. The overall analysis of the macro environmental factors on the business of SME is assessed which shows that the political, economic and technology are the relevant factors amongst them impacting the business. Some threats faced by the organization is the issue of staff retention and the prevailing players in the market. Entrance in the foreign market such as Netherland can be opted using the joint ventures mode as it provides wide range of benefits to the firm expanding in the international market.

COVID-19 Pandemic and SME Challenges

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