The relationships between business support, managerial practices and firm performance

In this research paper, we analyse data from the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) between 2018 and 2022 to examine the links between receiving business support in 2018, the managerial practices implemented in 2019, and firm performance (turnover growth and employee growth). [...] As such, our third research question aims to explore the combination of business advice and grants: RQ3: Is there an immediate or lagged relationship between receiving a combination of business advice and a government grant with firm revenues and employment growth among SMEs? While understanding the associations between business support and firm performance points to positive benefits, relatively. [...] DATA AND METHODOLOGY To explore the relationship between receiving business support (including business advice, grants, and a combination of both), enactment of a range of managerial practices, and business performance (turnover and employment growth), we utilised data drawn from the UK Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS). [...] In the second part of the analysis, we focused on identifying specific business practices that are closely linked to performance, as measured by turnover and employment growth, and examined how advice and grants, and combinations thereof, contribute to these practices and ultimately to firm performance through mediation effects. [...] This substantiates the importance of examining the mediated effects of business support to fully unpack the mechanisms underlying their influence on performance in both the short term and over the longer term.