It really is the economy Poll after poll shows that the public believes the state of the economy is the most important issue the country is facing.

To choose just one, according to data from YouGov’s weekly public opinion tracker, 54% of respondents picked the economy as the most important issue, well ahead of health (44%), immigration and asylum (39%), and the environment (27%).⁷

This reflects the concerns of entrepreneurs in our own survey, which found the ‘difficult economic climate’ and ‘supply chain disruption’ were considered the biggest potential risks affecting entrepreneurs’ businesses right now – being selected by 49% and 38% of entrepreneurs respectively. These are followed by an ‘unfavourable tax regime’ – selected by 27% of entrepreneurs – which is clearly another broadly ‘economic’ factor.

Most companies contend with many of these challenges in some way, but not all of them are affected equally or by every single one. The most striking difference we found is the disproportionate impact which difficult economic conditions seem to pose to smaller businesses. According to founders of companies with fewer than ten employees, 62% said that the economic conditions are having an effect on their businesses. This fell, however, to just 38% of founders of firms with over 50 employees.

A familiar split is visible when companies are compared according to their revenues. Founders of firms with annual revenues of under £1 million were more likely (55%) to rank ‘difficult economic climate’ as a primary risk to them, compared to owners of larger firms with above £10 million annual revenue (41%). Similarly, supply chain disruption risks are felt more commonly among smaller firm founders compared to bigger businesses.

We also asked entrepreneurs what potential risks they are most concerned about the impact of 12 months from now. Broadly speaking, we found that they expect the ordering of their concerns to remain consistent – with ‘difficult economic climate’ the leading concern among entrepreneurs.

When evaluating future risks, founders of smaller businesses, as defined by lower revenues, remain more likely to highlight supply chain risks and economic difficult climate issues compared to bigger businesses’ founders. However, the increasing scale comes with problems of its own. For instance, 35% of founders of businesses turning over more than £10 million a year see more future risk in cyberattacks, and 33% list the regulatory environment as a possible challenge to their firms. These issues are less commonly highlighted by the founders of smaller firms.