Smith Business Close-Up

Surviving the Downturn

Broadcast Dates:
Thursday, April 9, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 12, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
Monday, April 13, 2009, 4:30 a.m.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 27 million small businesses in the United States, employing more than 40 million people. With the economy struggling in recession, for most small businesses the name of game is survival.

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, provides survival tips for small businesses.

The Robert H. Smith School of Business, together with Network Solutions, conducts the Small Business Success Index, an ongoing measurement of the overall health of U.S. small businesses based on a telephone survey of 1,000 small business owners. The benchmark survey, which gathered data used to create the Small Business Success Index, was conducted in December 2008 and January 2009 and found that 69 percent of small businesses were profitable in 2008. The Small Business Success Index also revealed the majority (69 percent) of those who showed a profit in 2008 said their success was equal to or better than the previous year and 70 percent of small businesses expect their firms to still be operating in five years as opposed to being closed, sold or transferred. Regardless of the current economic downturn, small businesses are still investing in their companies with 67 percent planning to spend the same or increase overall business spending, according to survey results.