Local business owners look forward to hiring and growing, proving more confident in the future than their national peers, according to a first-of-its-kind survey by UC's Carl H. Linder College of Business and the
Goering Center for Family and Private Business, launched the Greater Cincinnati Family Business Survey (GCFB).
The study was sent to more than 900 local businesses to gage their opinions on the economy and the future. It mirrors the National Federation of Independent Businesses, but adds a local focus. After comparing the local findings to the broader study done by the NFIB, Cincinnati businesses owners expected higher sales and earnings and favored the prospect of expansion.
“For a long time, I thought it would be interesting to do a study on the family businesses in the area.” says Sid Barton, executive founder of the Goering Center. “You can get national surveys and indications of large companies, but there wasn’t anything focused on local businesses.”
Barton knows the results aren’t the most reliable because of the sample size of 200, but he plans on conducting the survey each quarter to grow the sample size until it is large enough to break apart into specific business types. Barton would also like to measure the accuracy of business owners' projections.
“Our intention is to get as much promotion as we can,” Barton says. “We think this can really tell us about the economic landscape. We also want to see how good business owners are at predicting future growth.”
Barton says a main focus was employment expansion in the area.
“Most of the employment over the past decade has come from private business,” Barton says. “It hasn’t come from the large firms, because those are slowly becoming smaller.”
By Evan Wallis
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