SMALL-BUSINESS COMMUNITY'S EVALUATION OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

The primary objective of this research is to determine to what extent the small-business community is satisfied with Small Business Administration (SBA) services and what solutions to the problems are foreseen.;Questionnaires to measure subject satisfaction with SBA's services, and to predict quality of future services, should SBA merge with the Department of Commerce, were given to academicians, small-business persons and SBA employees at two separate conferences.;The results of the study were: (1) Users place a higher value on SBA's service than non-users (p ;The conclusions indicated that SBA should be retained; emphasis should be on effectiveness and efficiency, with focus on smaller firms and practical applications.;Three hypotheses are addressed: (1) Users of SBA services will evaluate the SBA more positively than non-users. (2) The small-business community does not support the adoption of SBA's non-credit services by the Department of Commerce, but would like improvements made in the quality of services offered by the SBA, especially through private sector involvement. (3) The services most often used, consultation and management assistance, are different from the ones most highly valued, financial services.