Un sondage de BDC démontre que 46 % des entrepreneurs se fixent des cibles de croissance des revenus d’au moins 10 %

Les résultats détaillés du sondage sont disponibles sur le site Web de la Semaine de la PMEMD de BDC, à l’adresse www.bdc.ca/fr/sbw2010/pages/medias.html.



Un sondage de BDC démontre que 46 % des entrepreneurs se fixent des cibles de croissance des revenus d’au moins 10 %



Faits saillants du sondage



Une vaste majorité (78 %) des entrepreneurs affirment que la croissance de leur entreprise est importante pour eux.

• Les propriétaires d’entreprise canadiens sont optimistes en matière de croissance. Presque la moitié (46 %) d’entre eux visent une augmentation d’au moins 10 % de leurs revenus l’an prochain. Les cibles de croissance varient toutefois d'une région à l'autre. En Ontario, 18 % des entrepreneurs visent une hausse élevée des revenus de 20 % ou plus; dans les provinces de l’Atlantique cette proportion descend à 3 %.

• La taille de l’entreprise et le secteur d’activité influencent considérablement le désir de croissance. Les propriétaires des entreprises qui comptent 50 à 499 employés accordent plus d'importance à la croissance que les propriétaires des entreprises qui comptent 1 à 4 employés. Les entrepreneurs qui aspirent le plus à la croissance œuvrent dans les secteurs suivants : médias et culture, fabrication ainsi que transport et entreposage.

• Les entrepreneurs estiment que l’amélioration de la productivité générale et l’accès à de nouveaux marchés sont les mesures les plus efficaces pour favoriser la croissance d’une entreprise.

Montreal, le 21 octobre 2010 – La Banque de développement du Canada (BDC) a dévoilé aujourd’hui le troisième volet d’un sondage visant à mieux comprendre l’expérience et les intentions des entrepreneurs en matière d’investissement, d’innovation, et de croissance. Réalisé par Opinion Publique Angus Reid, le sondage a notamment démontré que 78 % des entrepreneurs croient que la croissance de leur entreprise est importante. À peine 6 % affirment qu’elle ne l’est pas. Les données du sondage ont été dévoilées dans le cadre de la Semaine de la PMEMD, qui se déroule du 17 au 23 octobre afin de célébrer l’entrepreneuriat canadien.



Près de la moitié (46 %) des entrepreneurs visent une croissance des revenus pour la prochaine année de 10 % ou plus. Plus précisément :

• 22 % ont un objectif de croissance de 10 à 14,9 %

• 9 % visent une croissance entre 15 et 19,9 %

• 15 % ont un objectif élevé de 20 % et plus (18 % en Ontario, mais seulement 3 % dans les provinces de l’Atlantique, ont un tel objectif)

« Contrairement à certaines idées reçues, la grande majorité des entrepreneurs canadiens ont soif de croissance, a constaté Jean-René Halde, président et chef de la direction de BDC. Quand on sait que près de 98 % des entreprises canadiennes sont petites, c'est-à-dire avec moins de 100 employés, et que la compétitivité est souvent fonction de la taille, il est encourageant de constater que nos entrepreneurs gardent le cap sur la croissance. »



Le désir de croissance varie en fonction de la taille de l’entreprise et le secteur d’activité. Les entrepreneurs dont l’entreprise compte 50 à 499 employés sont plus nombreux à considérer la croissance comme importante. C’est le cas de 89 % d’entre eux, comparativement à 82 % pour les propriétaires d’entreprise comptant 5 à 49 employés, et à 75 % pour les propriétaires d’entreprise comptant 1 à 4 employés. La croissance semble plus importante aux yeux de 96 % des entrepreneurs qui travaillent dans le secteur des médias et de la culture, de 92 % de ceux du secteur de la fabrication, et 90 % de ceux du secteur transport et entreposage.



Des mesures pour favoriser la croissance

Pour favoriser la croissance de leur entreprise, les entrepreneurs considèrent qu’améliorer leur productivité (23 %) et accéder à de nouveaux marchés (22 %) seraient les mesures les plus efficaces. Les entrepreneurs considèrent également que développer de nouveaux produits et services (16 %) et embaucher plus de travailleurs qualifiés (16 %) pourraient également s’avérer bénéfiques pour la croissance de leur entreprise. Comparativement à la moyenne nationale, les entrepreneurs du Québec sont plus nombreux à mentionner le développement de nouveaux produits et services comme une mesure bénéfique à leur croissance (27 %).



Trouver des moyens d’accéder à de nouveaux marchés est particulièrement important pour les entrepreneurs du secteur de la fabrication (37 %). Embaucher davantage de travailleurs qualifiés est plus important pour les entrepreneurs du secteur de la construction (29 %).



« Les entrepreneurs sont optimistes par nature. Ils préfèrent voir le verre à moitié plein plutôt qu’à moitié vide et ne se laissent pas facilement décourager par les aléas de l’économie, a déclaré Jean-René Halde. Compte tenu du rôle clé que jouent les PME dans la création d’emploi et de richesse au pays, il sera crucial de redoubler d’efforts pour soutenir les entrepreneurs dans leurs projets de croissance. »



Méthode de sondage

Le sondage de BDC a été mené en ligne auprès des Canadiens participant au panel Forum Angus Reid, parmi lesquels des entrepreneurs ont été choisis au hasard. Les Canadiens propriétaires d’entreprise comptant de 1 à 499 employés ont été invités à remplir le sondage, entre le 15 et le 23 juin 2010. Un total de 830 personnes de toutes les provinces et de tous les territoires l’ont fait (taux de réponse de 33 %). La marge d’erreur maximale pour un échantillon de 830 répondants serait de ± 3,4 points de pourcentage, à un niveau de confiance de 95 %. Les résultats ont été pondérés en fonction des régions et du nombre d’employés pour demeurer représentatifs des PME canadiennes.



Les résultats détaillés du sondage sont disponibles sur le site Web de la Semaine de la PMEMD de BDC, à l’adresse www.bdc.ca/fr/sbw2010/pages/medias.html.

Using social media to find top recruits

from bdc.ca

Canadian businesses face a paradox. While unemployment remains high, employers can't find the skilled people they need. Can technology turn the tide?




Entrepreneurs who know how to use social media — or are willing to learn — will find that interactive Internet technologies are good for much more than telling the world what you had for lunch. Interactive communications tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook and even Twitter can help you identify great people sooner, become a talent magnet, and weed out people who don't fit your workplace culture.



Business-focused sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo, as well as industry-specific online forums, can connect you to potential candidates whose intelligence, drive and experience make them likely to succeed in your organization. How do you identify these people?

• Join industry forums and regional business discussion groups. Follow online discussions, or start conversations of your own, and you’ll connect with many smart, outgoing people who you can then arrange to meet offline.

• Many of these sites contain detailed resumes or descriptions of current activities. Use these databases as your own HR search engines. Want a CFO with big-firm experience, or a programmer who knows Apple apps? Instead of posting ads or hiring recruiters, you can now find and pitch these experts directly.

• Even ads are more effective with social media. Social sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn let you reach the market you’re targeting, whether it’s accountants, geological engineers or sales managers in Winnipeg. By purchasing specific demographics or keywords, you can target qualified candidates for a fraction of the cost of a traditional search. Using LinkedIn ads, one Montreal entrepreneur recently hired two hard-to-find technicians for about $500, one-twentieth of what he usually spends on a specialist recruiter.

Filter out bad candidates

You can also use social media to help to weed out unsuitable candidates. Employers have always complained about candidates who interview well, but don't have the underlying character they need. A recent study showed that 45% of North American employers are now using social media tools such as Facebook to learn more about promising candidates.



With more than 500 million active users, there’s a good chance many of your candidates are on Facebook — and as the site relaxes its default privacy settings, it’s becoming easier to follow what members are doing and saying. Reviewing messages that candidates post to their Facebook friends can give you a better idea of what they're like “off-stage.” Many employers have found this a useful way to filter out immature candidates who lack a professional work ethic or communication skills.



You can also look up individuals on Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites to get additional insight into their “candid” character.



Once you find good people, you still have to sell them on joining your company. So use social media to position your business as the place to be. Encourage staff to blog about their work, and why your company is so cool. Create Twitter streams for your company or products that let customers, suppliers, employees and potential employees know about your market-leading initiatives, and what makes it a fulfilling place at which to work. Ask a staffer to put up a company page (a mini-website) on Facebook as a place for employees and customers to share their ideas and enthusiasms.



How do you find the content to fill those channels? You can announce new products, introduce new employees, report on company events or comment on industry trends. Just make sure that all your communications consistently represent the company as you want it to be seen: a market leader, a positive member of the community and a satisfying place to work. Because great employees want nothing less — while you're Facebooking them, they're Googling you.

Meeting with success

from www BDC.ca

Meeting with success


Poorly managed meetings have been called the black holes of the work day and can weaken your company's productivity. According to a worldwide study conducted by Microsoft Corp., business people spend nearly 6 hours a week in meetings and nearly 70% of the participants reported that their meetings were unproductive.

"Too many meetings, lack of preparation, no follow-up and employees zoning out because they've lost interest are among the typical problems," says Pamela Darragh, assistant vice president, market solutions at BDC. "Badly managed meetings can also have a negative effect on employee morale and teamwork. If people routinely arrive late for your meetings, stare at their BlackBerrys and aren't taking notes, your company has some improvements to make."



Darragh recommends these best practices for brushing up on your company's meeting culture:

• Reduce the number of meetings by finding other ways to address business. If it's simply information-sharing or reviewing project status, for example, consider email or other written communications. Your employees will be grateful and use the time more productively.

• If you're undecided whether or not you need a meeting, ask yourself: do I need the input of other people, to make team-based decisions or solve a contentious issue? If not, you may not have a valid reason to hold that meeting.

• Create a company culture where meetings are valued and respected. If you allow people to be systematically late or arrive unprepared, you are sending out a message that your meetings are unimportant. Close the door once the meeting begins and don't start over for latecomers.

• Send out an agenda in advance so that participants can be fully prepared. Be sure it is action-oriented. If participants aren't key to achieving a goal, they shouldn't be there. You can allot specific times for each topic to keep the meeting on track and request that somebody take notes.

• If you find you're attending too many meetings, check with the organizer first to see if your presence is necessary. Maybe you can assign somebody else on your team to attend.

• In today's demanding business environment, last-minute meetings are sometimes necessary, but they should be an exception and not the rule. Don't hold meetings outside of normal business hours unless it's an emergency.

• If you hold a meeting to solve a problem, start with a brainstorming session first to stimulate creativity; write ideas somewhere visible in the room and don't censor employee input. Once everybody has had a chance to express their point of view, you and your team can decide which ideas work best.

• Keep the atmosphere positive. Don't criticize colleagues at meeting. If participants become angry or highly critical, politely draw them back to the original agenda.

• To keep your meetings shorter, give the participants brief summaries of topics and avoid handing out lengthy documents. If people are flipping through a PowerPoint while you talk, they're probably not listening.

• To deter overly vocal participants from dominating a meeting, be sure that everyone there has an opportunity to speak with a suggested time limit.

• If you reach a stalemate on a contentious issue, know when to move on; don't linger on issues because you can't reach a consensus. Come back to it at a later date.

• Close with a plan of action and circulate it at the end of the meeting. Ensure that everyone leaves knowing what is expected of them.

Plan your growth step-by-step

from bdc.ca

When your company is growing fast, you may not have enough cash to deal with day-to-day operations. In today's business environment, your liquidity or cash flow is your lifeline. After all, you have to pay your bills, payroll, supplies and meet any other financial obligations, often on a daily basis.

It's a bit of a paradox but companies are often crushed by their own growth. A boom can bring about many changes in your organization – you might be taking on numerous commitments at once, sign lucrative contracts in record time and watch orders soar. But of course, all of this requires greater cash flow needs, growth planning and the right financing.

Take a proactive approach
Fast growth is not always easy to handle, but a step-by-step approach can help entrepreneurs make it more manageable. It is essential that, even in a boom period, you keep control of the situation.

Define your growth objectives
Be strategic about your growth. It's a good exercise to first ask yourself some very basic questions in order to determine your key objectives.

• Do I have the necessary capital to finance my growth?
• Am I having cash flow problems, or am I managing well? For instance, do I have assets that I could turn into cash if need be?
• Am I expanding too quickly?
• Am I growing because I want to be more profitable or is it growth for growth's sake?
• Am I hiring too fast?
• Am I collecting my receivables fast enough?
• Is my inventory in line with my growth?
• Is my production line efficient?
• Does my management team have the right competencies to handle my company's growth?

Do a growth diagnosis of your company
Essentially this means analyzing how you manage your company and how to gain more control over the aspects of your business that affect your cash flow. Generally, a comprehensive growth diagnosis includes an analysis of your sales, overhead, receivables, inventory and assets. Try and assess whether your inventory and capital assets are absorbing too much of your cash flow, if they do, take the necessary steps to tightly control them. This will help you define your refinancing requirements and help you avoid future liquidity problems.

Ensure your growth is sustainable.Be certain that your company is not undergoing seasonal or one-time-only growth.

Prepare a growth strategy which will enable you to understand the risks and opportunities for your company. Your strategy is a result of looking closely at internal resources, the market, the economy, competitors, marketing and distribution channels and demographics.

Forecast your cash requirements by doing an analysis of your cash inflow and outflow. This will enable you to determine future cash requirements. Knowing this, you can look at your current financial situation and assess if you can make improvements. You may be able to get additional financing for working capital, restructure your debt or convert unused assets into cash.

Analyze receivables and payables to see how you can improve your liquidity problems. To improve how you manage your receivables, be sure that you:

• Do credit checks on clients
• Have clear payment terms
• Use the right collection methods
• Resolve problems quickly
• Monitor the collection time and take the right means for substantially overdue accounts, such as freezing accounts
• If your credit policy is affecting your cash flow, are there any ways to reduce your collection time?

Apply the same logic in examining your payables: a sale is not a sale until the money is in your bank. Ask yourself:

• How much commercial credit do you get from your suppliers? How much interest do you pay?
• Do you wait until the due date to pay your suppliers or do you pay them in advance?
• Can you get an extension on your commercial credit?
• Do you use the "just-in-time" method i.e. reduce your inventory by closely coordinating reorders and deliveries?

Control costs through vigilant planning. You can consider using a rigorous streamlining system that addresses overhead such as: rent, equipment, human resources, office supplies, etc. Be sure you set concrete goals for cost-cutting, assign somebody accountable and secure employee buy-in to help reduce costs. Be particularly careful about maintaining cost controls during growth spurts where businesses often binge with spending.

Control debt to ensure that your lenders will continue to consider you as a viable client and give you the financing that you need to meet your needs. Remember that high-growth companies can be risky for financial institutions. You can also look for alternatives to conventional debt financing. For example, you can negotiate better payment schedules with suppliers, or look at leasing vs. buying assets.

Get the refinancing you need
After analyzing your company, you will be better able to examine your payment procedures. Refinancing can help reduce your monthly payments by rescheduling your debts and spreading your payments over a longer period.

A refinancing application is very similar to a financing application. In both cases, the lender establishes certain debt repayment conditions, which you must be able to fulfill. If you cannot demonstrate your repayment ability, the lender cannot assume the risk alone.

BDC provides loans to refinance debt for businesses undergoing rapid expansion, purchasing equipment or increasing financial flexibility. For example, you could replace multiple debts with a single debt that is easier to manage. BDC also provides flexible-term refinancing which can be repaid in equal monthly, progressive or seasonal installments. Terms take your enterprise's rate of cash flow into account. The repayment period is determined by the nature of the assets provided as security.

If you answer yes to several of the five questions below, BDC may be able to grant you a loan to refinance your debt:

• Is your management team competent and experienced?
• Are you able to clearly demonstrate your ability to repay the loan?
• Does your business have good equity capital?
• Taking your business project into account, is your working capital sufficient to cover short-term needs?
• If your business is in the start-up or development stage? Has a complete business plan (including a financial forecast and a description of your management team, products and market) been prepared?