Business Questionnaire

Full Circle Management Solutions Ltd has been commissioned by Newry Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) to consult with SME owner-managers in the region to understand their priority needs.

From this exercise, we will then work with the Council to develop a business support framework for the next 5 years. Your feedback is therefore very important in order that we can develop a business support framework that reflects the needs of small businesses like yours in the area.

We appreciate you taking the time to complete this short online survey - it should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

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* 1. Contact Details

Contact Name

Company Name

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* 2. Please tell us how you would describe your business' principle activities. [If you are a pre-start business, please let us know which sector you anticipate your business will operate in from the list below]

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* 3. Please tell us which of the categories below best describe your business

Pre Start [Early Stage, Idea Generation, Proof of Concept, little or no trading]

Business Start [A newly formed trading company that is in the initial stages of business]

Business Growth [Where the business reaches the point for expansion and seeks additional options to generate more profit]

Cross-Border [A company exploring or already exporting into the Republic of Ireland]

International Growth [A company exploring or already exporting into International Markets]

Other

None of the above

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* 4. Please tell us how many people your business employs [If you employ part time staff, please assume 2 part time staff as one full time employee, please include yourself as one employee]

0-9

10-25

26-50

More than 50

No Comment

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* 5. One a scale of 1-5, where 1 is not at all and 5 is absolutely - please tell us the extent to which you consider that:

	1	2	3	4	5	n/a
You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.]	You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.] 1	You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.] 2	You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.] 3	You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.] 4	You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.] 5	You have all the business skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond [Finance / Marketing / Sales etc.] n/a
You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond	You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond 1	You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond 2	You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond 3	You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond 4	You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond 5	You have all the confidence required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond n/a
You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc.	You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc. 1	You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc. 2	You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc. 3	You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc. 4	You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc. 5	You have all of the soft skills required to build your business over the next 12 months and beyond - Resilience, Communication, People Skills etc. n/a

Comments

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* 6. Please tell us if you have availed of any external support over the last few years to assist you to improve / grow your business

Yes - Please go to Q8

No - Please go to Q7

Not sure - Please go to Q10

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* 7. If you have not previously accessed external support to help you to improve / grow your business, please tell us why this was the case?

I didn't know that external business support was available

I didn't know how to apply for this business support

I didn't think that external support would benefit my business

I didn't have time to investigate what my options were in terms of possible business support

I was turned off by the administration involved in applying for business support

None of the above

Please provide comments to your response

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* 8. If you have previously accessed external support to help you to improve / grow your business, please tell us which support. Please include details of specific programmes / supports you have been provided over the last 3 years.

NMD District Council

InvestNI

InterTradeIreland

Southern Regional College

South Eastern Regional College

Local Enterprise Agency

Newry BID

Social Enterprise NI

East Border Region

Dept for Economy

Down Business Connect

Hospitality NI

Tourism NI

Hotels Federation

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* 9. If you have previously accessed external support to help you to improve / grow your business please tell us to what extent this support has added real value to your business. 1 = no value and 5 = excellent value

	1	2	3	4	5	N/A
NMD District Council	NMD District Council 1	NMD District Council 2	NMD District Council 3	NMD District Council 4	NMD District Council 5	NMD District Council N/A
Invest NI	Invest NI 1	Invest NI 2	Invest NI 3	Invest NI 4	Invest NI 5	Invest NI N/A
InterTrade Ireland	InterTrade Ireland 1	InterTrade Ireland 2	InterTrade Ireland 3	InterTrade Ireland 4	InterTrade Ireland 5	InterTrade Ireland N/A
Southern Regional College	Southern Regional College 1	Southern Regional College 2	Southern Regional College 3	Southern Regional College 4	Southern Regional College 5	Southern Regional College N/A
South Eastern Regional College	South Eastern Regional College 1	South Eastern Regional College 2	South Eastern Regional College 3	South Eastern Regional College 4	South Eastern Regional College 5	South Eastern Regional College N/A
Local Enterprise Agency	Local Enterprise Agency 1	Local Enterprise Agency 2	Local Enterprise Agency 3	Local Enterprise Agency 4	Local Enterprise Agency 5	Local Enterprise Agency N/A
Newry BID	Newry BID 1	Newry BID 2	Newry BID 3	Newry BID 4	Newry BID 5	Newry BID N/A
Social Enterprise NI	Social Enterprise NI 1	Social Enterprise NI 2	Social Enterprise NI 3	Social Enterprise NI 4	Social Enterprise NI 5	Social Enterprise NI N/A
East Border Region	East Border Region 1	East Border Region 2	East Border Region 3	East Border Region 4	East Border Region 5	East Border Region N/A
Department for the Economy	Department for the Economy 1	Department for the Economy 2	Department for the Economy 3	Department for the Economy 4	Department for the Economy 5	Department for the Economy N/A
Down Business Connect	Down Business Connect 1	Down Business Connect 2	Down Business Connect 3	Down Business Connect 4	Down Business Connect 5	Down Business Connect N/A
Hospitality NI	Hospitality NI 1	Hospitality NI 2	Hospitality NI 3	Hospitality NI 4	Hospitality NI 5	Hospitality NI N/A
Tourism NI	Tourism NI 1	Tourism NI 2	Tourism NI 3	Tourism NI 4	Tourism NI 5	Tourism NI N/A
Hotels Federation	Hotels Federation 1	Hotels Federation 2	Hotels Federation 3	Hotels Federation 4	Hotels Federation 5	Hotels Federation N/A

Please provide comments to your response

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* 10. Is your business / sector currently facing any challenges in the area of recruiting and retaining appropriately skilled staff? Please provide details of the challenges being faced. E.g. Recruitment and selection process, attracting labour to the region, retaining staff, support in training / upskilling staff, etc.

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* 11. Is your business / sector currently facing any specific skills shortages, or projecting any future skills shortages- if so, please identify the specific skill sets or areas of the business where this is likely to have an impact.

Current

Future

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* 12. If you think about the challenges that face your business over the next 12 months and beyond, to what extent do you anticipate that you would avail of external business support if this were appropriate for your business? (1= definitely not 5= absolutely).

N/A

Please provide an explanation for your score

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* 13. Please rank those areas of most importance to your business (with 1 = top priority)

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* 14. External business support can be provided in a variety of formats. Please tell us what your preference(s) are of the following formats and their value to a business like yours.

One-to-one business advice - on site at your premises, face to face support from an experienced business advisor

One-to-one business advice - remote support from an experienced business advisor via Zoom/ Teams

Group skills development workshops where owner- managers come together to learn about best practice in areas such as sales, marketing etc.

Networking events where the focus is on establishing contacts with other owners-managers in the region

Meet the buyer events where you have the opportunity to meet with potential customers and find out more their specific needs

Best practice visits where you get to experience at 1st hand - either locally, nationally or internationally - what best practice in your fields looks like

Blended approach - more than one of the above

Other - please specify

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* 15. How could Newry, Mourne and Down District Council help support your business / sector in the area of recruiting and retaining appropriately skilled staff? E.g. Access to skills and training, apprenticeships, upskilling / retraining staff, recruitment & selection process etc.

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* 16. How could Newry, Mourne and Down District Council help support your business / sector in addressing specific skills shortage in the region

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* 17. Please provide any other comments / feedback relating to the provision of business support to small businesses in the Newry, Mourne and Down region in the box below.