The effectiveness of small business training programs

Small businesses comprise over 95% of all Australian businesses and smne 35% of the nation's total weekly earnings (QSBC 1992). During the 15 year period between 1973 and 1987, small business generated approximately 70% of Australian net employee growth, or 1.4 million new jobs (Williams 1989). However, stnall businesses also exhibit high failure rates and too often lack the resources and skills to operate effectively. A major failure factor is a "lack of management skills" (see McMahon et al, 1993, for a detailed appraisal of this issue). Over the past decade, nun1erous courses designed to improve management skills have been directed toward the small firm sector. However, the level of participation in such programs by owners/managers remains low (BIE 1991). Of the 51,377 owner/managers studied by Williams (1991), 39% had studied beyond high school, although 25% of this group had not earned a tertiary qualification. Given this low level of participation, it is interesting that there are very few reported evaluations of training programs. Such evaluations are fundmnental to the development of any training program. The following report evaluates three training courses in order to assess their impact on the developn1ent of small business management skills among students who have undertaken the course