DEMANDS MADE BY SMALL BUSINESS UPON THE UNITED STATES SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

The Problem. The problem of the study was to determine the kinds of assistance in greatest demand from the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) and the priority of each. It was assumed that the increasing inability of small businesses to secure commercial loans and the realization that small businesses constituted an American economy mainstay were factors in creating SBA. To meet the goals of the study it was necessary to determine: (a) demand frequency of various SBA services, (b) growth potential for those services, (c) visibility of those services, and (d) priority of each type of service.;Results. Data analysis revealed that loans constitute 73.2 percent of SBA service requests, followed by management, marketing, technical publications, management conferences, workshops, and problem clinics for which the demand had risen to about 45 percent. Knowledge of SBA services is limited. Small businesses hold commercial loans guaranteed by the SBA as their priority SBA service.;The following conclusions were drawn: (1) Loans continue to dominate the Agency's assistance efforts. (2) Demand for SBA services will remain high, but an increasing interest in management, technical, and procurement services will cause a shift in type and frequency. (3) A few SBA assistance programs are highly visible. Those few are overused; the balance available services, underused. (4) Regarding the priority of assistance type, little consensus was evident since the interests of different businesses differ.;Because minority-owned small businesses may be beset by peculiar problems, it is recommended that a study designed along this line may be a useful SBA tool in catering to this market. Furthermore, differing interests of small businesses suggest a study, more specific than this, to determine the peculiar problems of various sectors of the small business community.;Method. The study design consisted of a descriptive survey and an application of the Delphi technique (Consensus Forecasting). All data were secured, using a questionnaire, from small businesses.