Research reports

Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (March 2024)
This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2013–14 to 2021–22. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at nearly $5 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $403 million or more in each year.

Firm-size wage gaps and hierarchy: Evidence from Canada (October 2023)
The report investigates the role of hierarchy in explaining the wage differential between large and small firms in Canada. The study uses the confidential-use files of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) from 2016 to 2022 and exploits the mini-panels form to control for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity.

SME Profile: Rural enterprises in Canada (June 2023)
This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in rural areas of Canada.

SME Profile: Canada Small Business Financing Program borrowers (March 2023)
This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non-CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

SME Profile: Clean technology in Canada (March 2023)
This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a glimpse into the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada (March 2023)
This profile presents comparisons between co-operatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME).

SME Profile: Recipients of the Canada Emergency Business Account (December 2022)
This report presents a business profile of small and medium-sized enterprises that received loans from the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) in 2020. The data used in the report is from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Untangling the seed and early stage funding environment in Canada (September 2022)
This report examines the key characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receiving seed capital from private sources (e.g., angel and venture capital) or government grants. It analyzes interlinkages between different forms of support and estimates the effect of risk capital support on the performance of recipient businesses.

SME Profile: Tourism Industries in Canada (August 2022)
This report contains a summary of key findings for Canada's tourism sector from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, and analysis on employment and financial performance from Statistics Canada's Provincial-Territorial Human Resources Module of the Tourism Satellite Account and ISED's Financial Performance Data, respectively. It provides an overview of business characteristics, innovation activities, and recent financing activities of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in tourism industries in comparison with Canadian SMEs in all industries.

SME Profile: Ownership demographics statistics (August 2022)
This report, based on data collected in the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Indigenous persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

SME Profile: Social Enterprises in Canada (March 2022)
This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium social enterprises in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of small and medium not-for-profit and for-profit social enterprises, are compared with those of co-operatives and of all SMEs.

Financing of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (May 2021)
This report uses data from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to study firm financing outcomes of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it examines whether, adjusting for firm and primary decision maker characteristics, there are gender differences associated with access to financing, debt financing approval and interest rates charged on debt financing.

Entrepreneurship in rural Canada: Necessity or opportunity driven? (April 2021)
This study aims to provide new insights into factors contributing to nascent entrepreneurship in rural Canada and analyze whether the motivation to become a nascent entrepreneur in rural Canada is driven by opportunity or necessity.

Canadian Start-ups: Growth and Scale-up Transitions (February 2021)
This study presents a description of Canadian firm size transitions of start-ups by examining five cohorts of firm entrants during the period 2002 to 2006. The study used  the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File (NALMF) up to 2014 in order to observe those start-ups employment size transitions (scale ups and scale downs).

The impact of regulatory compliance costs on business performance (October 2020)
This paper analyzes the regulatory compliance costs of small and medium-sized enterprises using data from Statistics Canada's 2011 Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs and Canada Revenue Agency's General Index of Financial Information. It examines the firm characteristics likely associated with higher regulatory compliance costs as well as the impact of regulatory burden on firm productivity and business growth.

What Drives Firm Growth? A Quantile Regression Analysis on Canadian Small and Medium Enterprises (July 2020)
The main objective of this paper is to understand the factors that have an impact on firm growth, specifically on Canadian SMEs. The paper complements and enriches the empirical literature on the mechanism underlying firm growth. This research uses Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 linked to administrative data. For this report, firm employment growth for the period 20112013 was studied.

High-Growth Firms Characteristics in Canada (May 2020)
The main objective of this study is to determine the factors that may have an impact on a firm's probability of becoming a high-growth firm (HGF). This analysis uses a sample over the period 2003–2012 of Canadian firms from a unique dataset, the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File, developed by Statistics Canada.

SME Profile: Clean technology in Canada (February 2020)
This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

SME Profile: Ownership demographics statistics (January 2020)
This report, based on data collected in the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Aboriginal persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

SME Profile: Financing and growth of co-operatives in Canada, 2017 (November 2019)
This report summarizes findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to offer a snapshot of the financing and growth activities of co-operatives corporations in Canada.

Canada Small Business Financing Program: Economic impact analysis (July 2019)
This analysis quantifies the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results indicate that the program continued to positively affect the economic growth of Canadian SMEs from 2014 to 2016.

Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (May 2019)
This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2008–09 to 2016–17. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at $3.9 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $350 million or more in each year.

Canadian high-growth SMEs and their propensity to invest in R&D and export (March 2019)
This research uses a unique set of survey data on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), linked with administrative tax data, to explore 1) whether the R&D propensity of SMEs increases with exporting and high-growth, and 2) whether the export propensity of SMEs increases with R&D and high-growth.

SME Profile: Canadian start-ups — A perspective based upon the 2014 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (September 2018)
The report profiles Canadian start-ups by examining owner characteristics, access to financing, exporting, innovation and sales growth. It also compares the distinguishing features between start-ups and non-start-ups. The quantitative analysis is based upon the Statistics Canada's 2014 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Canadian new firms: Birth and survival rates over the period 2002–2014 (May 2018)
This report studies the characteristics and performance of newly established Canadian firms – including new firms birth rates, survival rates and employment levels – at their year of entry into the Canadian economy and for up to ten subsequent years. The study was based on 13 cohorts of new firms – one cohort for each year between 2002 and 2014.

Incrementality study of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (March 2018)
The purpose of this report is to present the estimated level of incrementality of the Canada Small Business Financing Program using data from the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium enterprises, 2014.

The Contribution to Canadian net employment change by high-growth firms (December 2017)
The main purpose of this paper is to present accurate data on the total net employment change for high-growth firms in Canada over the 2009–12 period, in relation to dimensions such as firm age, firm size and industry sector.

Comparing measures of high-growth enterprises: A Canadian case study, (February 2017)
This methodological study compares three measures of High-Growth Enterprises (HGEs). Specifically the authors have developed a new definition of HGEs, the Top Decile Approach, and have compared it to two different approaches widely used, the OECD-Eurostat and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Kink Point.

A Comparison of the performance of female-owned and male-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (November 2016)
For the first time, econometric techniques are applied to data from Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 and 2014, as well as administrative data from Statistics Canada's Linkable File Environment, to examine the impact of majority gender ownership on the following measures of enterprise performance: sales per employee, profit per employee, employment, innovation, ratio of authorized to requested debt financing and interest rate on debt financing. Results from the paper show that gender affected all measures of enterprise performance in 2011, whereas only sales per employee and employment were affected in 2014.

SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada (April 2016)
This profile, for the first time in Canada, compares data on co-operatives with those of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This report specifically considers for-profit co-operatives that are SMEs . Leveraging the findings of the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2014 (SFGSME), the profile addresses various characteristics of co-operatives, such as types of financing sought, growth, exports and innovation activity. The benefit of the SFGSME is that it provides data on co-operatives whose characteristics are rarely studied in Canada.

SME Profile: Canada Small Business Financing Program borrowers (March 2016)
This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non- CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

Do Foreign Patent-Protection Rights Promote Domestic R&D Spending? Evidence from Canadian Firms (October 2015)
This paper examines the evolving role of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the context of globalization, where research and development incentives of Canadian firms are framed not only by Canadian IPR , but also by the IPR of Canada's export market.

SME operating performance (April 2015)
This report is about financial and operating performance and aims to shed light on how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generate and protect their money. No matter how much or how little money business owners have, they work hard to earn it and, with a little luck and a lot of devotion, see it grow over time.

SME Profile: Tourism industries in Canada (March 2015)
Using post-recession data, this update of the SME profile, first published in 2011, provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their similarities and differences when compared with SMEs in other industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

• Business Growth

  Canadian Start-ups: Growth and Scale-up Transitions (February 2021)
  This study presents a description of Canadian firm size transitions of start-ups by examining five cohorts of firm entrants during the period 2002 to 2006. The study used  the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File (NALMF) up to 2014 in order to observe those start-ups employment size transitions (scale ups and scale downs).

  What Drives Firm Growth? A Quantile Regression Analysis on Canadian Small and Medium Enterprises (July 2020)
  The main objective of this paper is to understand the factors that have an impact on firm growth, specifically on Canadian SMEs. The paper complements and enriches the empirical literature on the mechanism underlying firm growth. This research uses Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 linked to administrative data. For this report, firm employment growth for the period 20112013 was studied.

  High-Growth Firms Characteristics in Canada (May 2020)
  The main objective of this study is to determine the factors that may have an impact on a firm's probability of becoming a high-growth firm (HGF). This analysis uses a sample over the period 2003–2012 of Canadian firms from a unique dataset, the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File, developed by Statistics Canada.

  Canadian high-growth SMEs and their propensity to invest in R&D and export (March 2019)
  This research uses a unique set of survey data on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), linked with administrative tax data, to explore 1) whether the R&D propensity of SMEs increases with exporting and high-growth, and 2) whether the export propensity of SMEs increases with R&D and high-growth.

  SME Profile: Canadian start-ups — A perspective based upon the 2014 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (September 2018)
  The report profiles Canadian start-ups by examining owner characteristics, access to financing, exporting, innovation and sales growth. It also compares the distinguishing features between start-ups and non-start-ups. The quantitative analysis is based upon the Statistics Canada's 2014 Survey on financing and growth of small and medium enterprises.

  Canadian new firms: Birth and survival rates over the period 2002–2014 (May 2018)
  This report studies the characteristics and performance of newly established Canadian firms – including new firms birth rates, survival rates and employment levels – at their year of entry into the Canadian economy and for up to ten subsequent years. The study was based on 13 cohorts of new firms – one cohort for each year between 2002 and 2014.

  The Contribution to Canadian net employment change by high-growth firms (December 2017)
  The main purpose of this paper is to present accurate data on the total net employment change for high-growth firms in Canada over the 2009–12 period, in relation to dimensions such as firm age, firm size and industry sector.

  Comparing measures of high-growth enterprises: A Canadian case study (February 2017)
  This methodological study compares three measures of High-Growth Enterprises (HGEs). Specifically the authors have developed a new definition of HGEs, the Top Decile Approach, and have compared it to two different approaches widely used, the OECD-Eurostat and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Kink Point.

  Growth or profitability first?: The case of small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (October 2014)
  This study examine the relationship between a firm's growth and profitability for the period from 2006 to 2011. Among others, the study shows that human capital is a determining factor as it plays a positive role in a firm achieving superior performance in both growth and profitability.

  Small and medium-sized entreprises growth study: Actual vs. sustainable growth (March 2013)
  This report seeks to identify any misalignment between SME actual growth rates and SME sustainable growth rates. Using the "Higgins Sustainable Growth Model," the analysis reveals that, over the 2000–10 period, Canadian SMEs had the financial infrastructure in place and normal earnings capacity to support a rate of growth in sales of approximately 7.3 percent per year without the need to raise additional financing.

  Archived - Profile of growth firms: A summary of Industry Canada Research (March 2008)
  The profile summarizes the research on growth firms completed by Industry Canada's Small Business Branch and highlights their contribution to job creation, by firm size, region and industry and discusses the factors for successful growth and survival.

  Archived - The Growth process in firms: Job creation by firm age (November 2006)
  The ongoing Growth Firms Project of Industry Canada's Small Business Branch looks at how firms grow and, more specifically, at the job creation process. This fourth phase of the project examines job creation and firm turnover at the national level over the 1993-2003 period and compares the results with earlier findings that covered the 1985 to 1999 period. In order to investigate the link between firm growth and firm life cycle, the study also looks at firm survival, the ability of firms to maintain growth over time and job creation by firm age.

  Archived - Growth firms workshop synopsis (September 2004)
  This project aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics of economic growth using a firm-level longitudinal database to investigate which types of firms provide growth, their contribution to job creation, the barriers to growth and the areas where governments can make a contribution.

  Archived - Growth Firms Project: Phase II report (September 2004)
  Phase II of the Growth Firms project builds on the work done in Phase I by completing additional tabulations. The work in Phase II focussed on employment growth by firm age, the growth of start-ups and firm exits.

  Archived - Growth Firms Project: Key Findings (September 2003)
  The Small Business Branch has recently completed the first phase of an analysis of growth firms in Canada. The analysis provides answers to questions about which firms grow, who are the engines of growth and what their impact on creating employment has been.

• Entrepreneurship

  Entrepreneurship in rural Canada: Necessity or opportunity driven? (April 2021)
  This study aims to provide new insights into factors contributing to nascent entrepreneurship in rural Canada and analyze whether the motivation to become a nascent entrepreneur in rural Canada is driven by opportunity or necessity.

  Profile of mid-career entrepreneurs: Career trade-offs and income appropriation of high human capital individuals (February 2011)
  This report is based on 14 case studies of individuals who have been working for large companies and who have decided to launch their own companies at midpoint in their career. In addition to creating a profile of mid-career entrepreneurs, this report's objective is to identify the corporate practices that either promote or encumber the process of mid-career entrepreneurship and to verify whether prior knowledge is a key determinant of entrepreneurial success. The results are presented in the three following sections: general characteristics of entrepreneurs and firms; skills, knowledge and experience of the entrepreneur; and issues and barriers surrounding mid-career entrepreneurship.

  The teaching and practice of entrepreneurship within Canadian higher education institutions (December 2010)
  This report investigates how entrepreneurship is supported and delivered within Canadian Higher Education Institutions. Overall, the survey revealed that Canadian higher education institutions are active in offering entrepreneurship education as well as in providing a network of practitioners to support students interested in entrepreneurship.

  The State of entrepreneurship in Canada (February 2010)
  This report charts entrepreneurial activity in Canada over time and compares it with leading countries. Entrepreneurial performance indicators observed include: birth and death rates, survival rates, high-growth firms and gazelles, and research and development expenditures. Furthermore, the report provides a profile of the owners of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and identifies areas of strength, areas for improvement, and important areas that cannot currently be addressed.

• Exporting and international activities

  SME Profile: Canadian exporters (January 2015)
  This report highlights the distinguishing features of SME exporters compared to non-exporters by examining differences in business and owner characteristics, financing characteristics, international business activities, revenue growth and levels of innovation.

  SME Profile: Interprovincial trade (November 2013)
  This profile investigates the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that sell their goods and/or services to other provinces (internal traders) and examines their distinguishing characteristics compared with SMEs that do not sell to other provinces.

  Archived - Exporting matters: Job creation performance of exporters, 1993–2002 (November 2005)
  As part of the multi-year Growth Firms Project, the Small Business Branch investigated the job creation performance of exporters in the most recent phase of work. Results from tabulations covering 1993 to 2002 demonstrate that firms engaged in exporting were much more likely to be hyper or strong growth firms than those that did not export.

  Archived - Small business exporters: A Canadian Profile (August 2005)
  Small businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees) are an important engine of growth in the domestic economy. Given the significant role of exports in the Canadian economy, it seems pertinent to investigate the importance of small business in international markets. For the first time, this is possible thanks to enhancements to the Exporter Registry, which provides data on exports by size of firm. This paper uses these data to construct a profile of small business exporters that establishes new baseline information and provides a basis for policy development to better foster small business exports.

  Archived - More important than was thought: A profile of Canadian small business exporters (December 2004)
  This paper, which is a summary of a longer document, also provides information on exports by size of firm across provinces, industry and export destination, as well as a comparison with U.S. exporting firms.

• Financing

  • Business characteristics

    SME Profile: Canada Small Business Financing Program borrowers (March 2023)
    This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non-CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

    SME Profile: Clean technology in Canada (March 2023)
    This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a glimpse into the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

    SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada (March 2023)
    This profile presents comparisons between co-operatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME).

    SME Profile: Recipients of the Canada Emergency Business Account (December 2022)
    This report presents a business profile of small and medium-sized enterprises that received loans from the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) in 2020. The data used in the report is from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises.

    SME Profile: Tourism Industries in Canada (August 2022)
    This report contains a summary of key findings for Canada's tourism sector from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, and analysis on employment and financial performance from Statistics Canada's Provincial-Territorial Human Resources Module of the Tourism Satellite Account and ISED's Financial Performance Data, respectively. It provides an overview of business characteristics, innovation activities, and recent financing activities of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in tourism industries in comparison with Canadian SMEs in all industries.

    SME Profile: Social Enterprises in Canada (March 2022)
    This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium social enterprises in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of small and medium not-for-profit and for-profit social enterprises, are compared with those of co-operatives and of all SMEs.

    SME Profile: Clean technology in Canada (February 2020)
    This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

    Co-operatives in Canada – 2013 (Archived - March 2018)
    This report is an annual publication that provides baseline data on the co-operative sector in Canada. The Government of Canada has been collecting and publishing this data since the 1930s. The 2013 publication is the 80^th edition and has been prepared by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's Co-operatives Policy Unit. You can find the prior years' reports at www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/693.nsf/eng/h_00037.html

    SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada (April 2016)
    This profile, for the first time in Canada, compares data on co-operatives with those of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This report specifically considers for-profit co-operatives that are SMEs . Leveraging the findings of the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2014 (SFGSME), the profile addresses various characteristics of co-operatives, such as types of financing sought, growth, exports and innovation activity. The benefit of the SFGSME is that it provides data on co-operatives whose characteristics are rarely studied in Canada.

    SME Profile: Canada Small Business Financing Program Borrowers (March 2016)
    This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non- CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

    SME Profile: Tourism Industries in Canada (March 2015)
    Using post-recession data, this update of the SME profile, first published in 2011, provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their similarities and differences when compared with SMEs in other industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

    Credit conditions faced by small and medium-sized enterprises investing in research and development (December 2012)
    This report ascertain general characteristics of Research and Development-intensive firms and assess their access to financing. It provides some evidence that Research and Development-intensive firms have less access to financing than other firms.

    Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in tourism industries (December 2011)
    This profile provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their differences compared with SMEs in non-tourism industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

    Financing Innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Canada (October 2009)
    This paper examines whether the financing activities and experiences of innovative small and medium-sized (SMEs) in accessing financing are different from those of non-innovative SMEs . This paper also examines whether innovative SMEs face different financing terms and conditions than non-innovative SMEs seeking financing.

    Financing Profile: Financing Innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Canada (March 2009)
    This profile describes innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs) along a range of characteristics and examines whether they differ from non-innovative SMEs in terms of access to financing, financing terms and conditions, and obstacles faced in accessing financing.

    Financing Profile: Borrowers under the Canada Small Business Financing Program (February 2009)
    This profile compares several characteristics of borrowers under the Canada Small Business Financing Program with small businesses not using the Program. These groups are compared in terms of financing (source and type), including provincial distribution, size, industries and satisfaction with lenders, as observed in 2004.

    Archived - Canadian SME exporters (January 2008)
    This report was undertaken to document the profiles of Canadian SME exporters and to gain a better understanding of the processes of internationalization adopted by SMEs . The relevance of four theories of internationalization was tested using logistic regression analysis to examine the relative influence of owner and firm characteristics on the propensity of a firm to export.

    Archived - Financing Canadian SME exporters (June 2007)
    This report was conducted to examine the extent to which Canadian SME exporter firms face difficulty in accessing debt financing from commercial lenders compared to non-exporters. The results show that commercial lenders reject applications for operating loans from early-stage SME exporters at a rate more than four times that of the rejection rate for established firms.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Exporter SMEs (September 2006)
    This article presents a profile of Canadian SMEs that exported in 2004. The profile examines the distinguishing features of SME exporters and their financing needs, and provides insight into the differences between exporters in the manufacturing and service sectors. It also challenges some assumptions about how Canadian businesses expand.

    Archived - Financing Profile: High-growth SMEs (May 2006)
    This profile on HGSMEs presents key characteristics, financing patterns and potential financial barriers for these high-performing firms.

    Archived - Financing Global Gazelles (March 2006)
    This report develops a working definition of "Global Gazelles" and analyzes financing issues faced by such firms. The report also gathers information on the financial needs of global gazelles and their financing experience; documents international global gazelle lending and investment trends and behaviours; and identifies key financial issues and barriers, including taxes and other government policies and programs, that impact on the ability of Canadian global gazelles to secure financing.

  • Owner characteristics

    SME Profile: Ownership demographics statistics (August 2022)
    This report, based on data collected in the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Indigenous persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

    Financing of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (May 2021)
    This report uses data from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to study firm financing outcomes of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it examines whether, adjusting for firm and primary decision maker characteristics, there are gender differences associated with access to financing, debt financing approval and interest rates charged on debt financing.

    SME Profile: Ownership demographics statistics (January 2020)
    This report, based on data collected in the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Aboriginal persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

    Comparison of the performance of female-owned and male-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (November 2016)
    For the first time, econometric techniques are applied to data from Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 and 2014, as well as administrative data from Statistics Canada's Linkable File Environment, to examine the impact of majority gender ownership on the following measures of enterprise performance: sales per employee, profit per employee, employment, innovation, ratio of authorized to requested debt financing and interest rate on debt financing. Results from the paper show that gender affected all measures of enterprise performance in 2011, whereas only sales per employee and employment were affected in 2014.

    Majority female-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (May 2015)
    Majority Female-Owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises–May 2015 is a special edition of Key Small Business Statistics aiming to provide readers with a picture of the general distribution of majority female-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada.

    Financing Profile: Women entrepreneurs (October 2010)
    An update of the November 2004 article on women entrepreneurs, this article describes the recent financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) majority-owned by women in Canada. General business characteristics and financial growth performances are compared with SMEs majority-owned by men to highlight past and current gender differences.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Young Entrepreneurs (January 2006)
    This article provides a portrait of Canada's young entrepreneurs and examines the effect, if any, of the age of the owner on financing a small business.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Visible minority entrepreneurs (March 2005)
    This article provides a portrait of visible minority entrepreneurs. It examines whether and how financing a small business is affected by the ethnicity of its owner.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Women entrepreneurs (November 2004)
    This profile describes the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) majority-owned by women in Canada. General business characteristics and financial growth performances are compared with SMEs majority-owned by men to highlight past and current gender differences.

    Archived - Financing SMEs in Canada: Barriers faced by women, youth, aboriginal and minority entrepreneurs in accessing capital - Phase 2: Gap analysis and recommendations for rurther research (March 2002)
    The report provides further analysis and evaluation of the literature review undertaken in Phase 1 in order to identify any business owner characteristic-related barriers to financing that are evident on the basis of existing data; identify data gaps that need to be filled in future data collection, a gap analysis model will be developed depicting any gaps in data available; and recommend data collection methodology to fill identified information gaps.

    Archived - Financing SMEs in Canada: Barriers Faced by Women, Youth, Aboriginal and Minority Entrepreneurs in Accessing Capital - Phase 1: Literature Review (Janauary 2002)
    The report presents a review of existing literature and examines obstacles to small business financing for various profiles of business owners in Canada, with particular emphasis on discrepancies attributed to gender, youth, Aboriginal, visible minority, and language minority business ownership.

  • Regions

    SME Profile: Rural enterprises in Canada (June 2023)
    This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in rural areas of Canada.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Rural-based entrepreneurs (October 2008)
    This profile compares several characteristics of rural-based SMEs with those of SMEs in urban regions, including size, provincial distribution and source and type of financing required, as observed in 2004.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Ontario (September 2007)
    The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ontario in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Atlantic Provinces (September 2007)
    The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Atlantic Provinces in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Prairie provinces (September 2007)
    The profile examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Prairie provinces in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in Quebec (August 2007)
    The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Quebec in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in British Columbia (June 2007)
    The profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in British Columbia in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

  • VC and other equity

    Untangling the seed and early stage funding environment in Canada (September 2022)
    (1.33 MB , 19 pages)
    This report examines the key characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receiving seed capital from private sources (e.g., angel and venture capital) or government grants. It analyzes interlinkages between different forms of support and estimates the effect of risk capital support on the performance of recipient businesses.

    The performance of Canadian firms that received Venture Capital financing (June 2013)
    [located on the CVCA website, (1.2 MB , 32 pages)]
    Using research data provided by Thomson Reuters, Statistics Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada, this study assess the impacts of Venture Capital (VC) on the performance of Canadian firms. Based on the empirical analysis performed in this study, this report concludes that the suggested benefits of VC are indeed demonstrated in the performance of Canadian VC -backed firms.

    Archived - Institutional Investor Engagement Project: Final report (November 2006)
    This report identifies ways of improving institutional investor awareness of and allocations to the Private Equity asset class.

    Archived - Financing Profile: Informally financed SMEs (September 2006)
    This profile looks at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that received financing for risk capital through the informal marketplace in Canada. The informal marketplace is composed of two types of investors: family or friends, and business angels (individuals who invest their personal funds at arm's length in businesses owned and operated by individuals unrelated to them). This article examines the differences between these two types of investors and the impact of their investments on SMEs .

    Archived - Growing the Businesses of Tomorrow: Challenges and Prospects of Early-Stage Venture Capital Investment in Canada (March 2005)
    This report examines early-stage activity in Canada and Ontario since 1996, using statistics extracted from Macdonald & Associates' database and comparative U.S. data; coupled with the insights of senior venture capital (VC) professionals obtained in interviews conducted over the period December 2004–January 2005.

    Archived - Estimating informal investment in Canada (March 2005)
    This report estimates the flow and potential stock of capital available for informal investment from respondents to the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2001. The work also reports on ways in which these data have improved, and can potentially improve, our understanding of the flow and stock of financing beyond the estimates available in the literature.

    Archived - Finding the Key: Canadian institutional investors and private equity (June 2004)
    This report explores the role of institutional investors (i.e. corporate and public sector pensions, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, and so forth) in Canada and the U.S. In the summer of 2003, interviews were conducted with key informants representing 74 institutional funds, with headquarters in all regions of Canada, on issues relevant to their interest or activity in private equity at home or abroad. At the same time, senior managers of 20 of the largest pensions, endowments and funds-of-funds in the U.S. were interviewed concerning their market experience and interest in Canadian private equity opportunities.

    Archived - Canadian Venture Capital Activity: An Analysis of Trends and Gaps (1996–2002) (May 2004)
    This report provides a realistic assessment of the state of the Canadian VC market and aims to build a common understanding of the Canadian VC market, and foster private and public stakeholder coordination and collaboration to develop sound policies that will address key outstanding issues and gaps in the market.

    Archived - Foreign VC investment in Canada: A profile of foreign investors and domestic investees (October 2003)
    This report provides a high-level profile of a small number of foreign venture capital (VC) investors, including both those that do and do not invest in Canada, and of Canadian firms financed by foreign and domestic VC funding.

    Archived - Financing with Venture Capital: Advances in knowledge over the last ten years and research avenues (April 2003)
    This report aims to index and classify academic and professional research, in French and English, as well as public programs and policies that relate to financing by venture capital; identify the primary researchers and centres of expertise on venture capital in Canada and elsewhere; and contribute to the definition of a specific research agenda on the venture capital market for SMEs .

    Archived - Initial public offerings: Status, flaws and dysfunctions (April 2003)
    This report offers a complete picture of primary offerings in Canada by operating companies and capital pool companies (CPCs) from 1991 to 2000, based on the identification and analysis of 1891 share issues.

    Archived - Practices and patterns of informal investors (May 2001)
    This report provides information with respect to the characteristics, practices, patterns and perspectives of Canadian informal investors. The work describes the nature of informal investments and identifies key parameters of the investment process, focusing on investors' investment behaviour.

    Archived - Value added by informal investors (March 2001)
    This report documents the types of contributions, beyond the monetary investment itself, made by private investors to businesses in which they invest. It also presents a preliminary investigation of business owners' perceptions of the value of these contributions.

    Archived - Issues surrounding Venture Capital, Initial Public Offering (IPO) and post- IPO equity financing for Canadian SMEs (March 2001)
    This report develops issues surrounding equity financing for SMEs in Canada through the venture capital, initial public offering (IPO) and post- IPO stages of development.

    Archived - A literature review and industry analysis of informal investment in Canada: A research agenda on angels (March 2000)
    This report uses Porter's Five Forces Model of Industry Competitiveness to evaluate the status of the angel investment industry. The model details the five competitive forces acting upon the players in an industry — in this case, angels.

    Archived - Informal equity capital for SMEs : A review of literature (March 2000)
    This report reviews the public literature regarding the supply of, and demand for, early-stage equity from private (informal) investors.

    Archived - Equity financing alternatives for small business: A review of best practices in the United States (January 2000)
    This report reviews the best practices of equity financing alternatives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United States. The review uncovered a number of programs, policies and processes in place that have allowed the United States to be the world leader in new innovation and entrepreneurial activities.

  • Other financing report

    Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (March 2024)
    This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2013–14 to 2021–22. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at nearly $5 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $403 million or more in each year.

    Canada Small Business Financing Program: Economic impact analysis (July 2019)
    This analysis quantifies the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results indicate that the program continued to positively affect the economic growth of Canadian SMEs from 2014 to 2016.

    Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (May 2019)
    This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2008–09 to 2016–17. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at $3.9 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $350 million or more in each year.

    Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (May 2019)
    This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2008–09 to 2016–17. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at $3.9 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $350 million or more in each year.

    Incrementality Study of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (March 2018)
    The purpose of this report is to present the estimated level of incrementality of the Canada Small Business Financing Program using data from the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium enterprises, 2014.

    SME operating performance (April 2015)
    This report is about financial and operating performance and aims to shed light on how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generate and protect their money. No matter how much or how little money business owners have, they work hard to earn it and, with a little luck and a lot of devotion, see it grow over time.

    Requantifying the rate of incrementality for the Canada Small Business Financing Program (March 2015)
    The federal government has put various programs in place to assist SMEs to access financing and, most notably, the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP). The CSBFP is a loss-sharing program designed to stimulate lending through a joint government / private sector agreement. A perennial question is the extent to which it has assisted businesses to access financing that they would not otherwise have been able to access in the absence of the program. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to quantify the rate of financial incrementality of the CSBFP .

    Cost-benefit analysis of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (January 2015)
    This study measures the cost of resources devoted to administering the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP), as well as the direct and indirect economic benefits that result from the program. The report calculates program net benefits/costs and performs a sensitivity analysis to determine the lower and upper bounds of these benefits/costs, which might not otherwise accrue to the economy in the absence of the program.

    Canada Small Business Financing Program: Updated and extended economic impact analysis (November 2014)
    This report examines the extent to which participation in the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) impacts areas such as growth in revenue, employment, profits, salary, labour productivity, firm viability and investment in R&D . The report also compares the performance of CSBFP borrowers to the small and medium-sized population as a whole, as well as to denied borrowers.

    Business Development Bank of Canada, 10-year legislative review: 2001–2010 (June 2014)
    This report examines the economic forces that have affected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the review period. It assesses how the BDC has responded to the changing needs of its clients and to government priorities.

    Cyclicality of SME financing in Canada (May 2014)
    This paper quantifies and assesses the relationship between the business cycle, as measured by the output gap, and chartered bank loans to small, medium-sized and large businesses using aggregate data from the Bank of Canada's Banking and Financial Statistics Database combined with National Account and financial market data covering the 1988 to 2012 period.

    Small business access to financing: Request and aproval rates, interest rates and collateral requirements (2000–10) (July 2013)
    This report compiles and analyses the results of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Credit Conditions Survey to showcase information on small business financing activities between 2000 and 2010.

    An interpretation of discouraged borrowers based on relationship lending (August 2010)
    This paper investigates the determinants of discouragement for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regarding financing sought.

    The Economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program
    (June 2010)
    This paper investigates the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) by using the 2004 edition of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises. Based on this analysis, the CSBFP contributed to approximately 10 percentage point growth in salary, employment and revenues of its participants between 2004 and 2006. Furthermore, CSBFP participants created 0.63 jobs per loan over this period.

    Determinants of trade credit use by small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (December 2009)
    This paper examines the relationship between demand, supply and importance of trade credit, and financing constraints for Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

    Archived - Gaps in SME financing: An analytical framework (February 2002)
    This report presents a review of the empirical and theoretical literature on market failures, gaps, and imperfections. On the basis of this review, this report advances a series of hypotheses that relate to various perceptions of financing gaps that pertain to SMEs .

• Innovation

  Do foreign patent-protection rights promote domestic R&D spending? Evidence from Canadian firms (October 2015)
  This paper examines the evolving role of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the context of globalization, where research and development incentives of Canadian firms are framed not only by Canadian IPR , but also by the IPR of Canada's export market.

  Archived - Case studies of collaborative innovation in Canadian small firms (May 2007)
  Using five companies as case studies, the report on Case Studies of Collaborative Innovation in Canadian Small Firms provides insights into new policy directions regarding university-private sector collaboration on research and development and commercialization. The results highlight the importance for successful collaboration and commercialization of credible research, key individuals, the ability to access potential partners through networks, the availability of angel investors and appropriate support for incubation.

• Management

  Firm-size wage gaps and hierarchy: Evidence from Canada (October 2023)
  The report investigates the role of hierarchy in explaining the wage differential between large and small firms in Canada. The study uses the confidential-use files of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) from 2016 to 2022 and exploits the mini-panels form to control for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity.

  Archived - Management skills workshops (April 2006)
  The Small Business Branch (SBB) of Industry Canada engaged Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. to facilitate a series of four workshops with small business advisors in Vancouver, Sudbury, Halifax and Quebec City. These workshops, conducted in February and March 2006, provided SBB with face-to-face contact with members of the business community to obtain feedback appropriate to a decision on whether or not to proceed with the development of a management competency tool.

  Archived - Management competencies and SME performance criteria: A pilot study (December 2003)
  This pilot study reports on two relatively unexplored aspects of firm performance: the roles of management competencies and owners' perceptions about success. The research is a pilot test of a Management Competency Index, a diagnostic tool that seeks to measure the nature and diversity of managerial skills and knowledge of owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

  Archived - Management skills for small business (March 2001)
  The background to this work stems from Industry Canada's central emphasis in the policy agenda on a strategy to encourage innovation as the engine of growth for productivity and competitiveness in the globalized knowledge-based economy. It stems, too, from the department's recognition of competent management skills as the sine qua non for successful innovation, productivity growth and competitiveness and, in particular, of the importance of such skills in the large proportions of overall economic activity that are undertaken in the small business sector.

• Regulation

  Analysis of regulatory compliance costs
  These publication showcase the findings from Industry Canada-Statistics Canada Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs.

  The impact of regulatory compliance costs on business performance (October 2020)
  This paper analyzes the regulatory compliance costs of small and medium-sized enterprises using data from Statistics Canada's 2011 Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs and Canada Revenue Agency's General Index of Financial Information. It examines the firm characteristics likely associated with higher regulatory compliance costs as well as the impact of regulatory burden on firm productivity and business growth.

  Archived - Small Business and Regulatory Burden (October 2003)
  The purpose of this document is to delineate the issues surrounding regulatory burden. Such an examination is intended to provide a foundation for further analysis of this issue to support small business policy development.

• Other

  Canada's billion dollar firms: Contributions, challenges and opportunities (July 2014)
  [located on the DEEP Centre website]
  This study was commissioned through a partnership between the Business Development Bank of Canada, the Canadian Digital Media Network, Export Development Canada and Industry Canada. It presents a demographic analysis of Canada's largest firms, their contributions to Canadian employment and research and development spending, as well as a jurisdictional analysis of Canada's performance in producing globally competitive firms relative to a series of comparator economies, including Australia, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

  Archived - Employee training decisions, business strategies and human resource management practices: A study by size of business (October 2006)
  The aim of this study is to investigate in detail the proposition often found in the literature that small businesses train their employees less than medium-sized and large businesses. The small business population is much more heterogeneous than that of medium-sized and large firms in terms of motivation because it includes not only growth firms but also foundation firms, which may be less interested in growth.

  Archived - Infrastructure of advisory services for entrepreneurs in the Waterloo region (October 2005)
  This study is part of an international study being led by the Centre for Economic and Business Research in the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs on behalf of the International Consortium on Dynamic Benchmarking of Entrepreneurship. Up to eight countries will be participating in the study, each focusing on an in-depth examination of a successful region in their country.

  Archived - Sustaining the momentum: An economic forum on women entrepreneurs – Summary report (March 2005)
  This report, prepared by the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University and by Industry Canada, presents a synopsis of the research and recommendations stemming from Sustaining the Momentum: An Economic Forum on Women Entrepreneurs. The Forum took place in Ottawa from October 27 to 29, 2004. Its objectives were to share leading-edge research about women entrepreneurs; to examine government support for women business owners and; to identify gaps in research and public policy.

  Archived - Growth determinants of micro-businesses in Canada (July 2002)
  This study draws on the rich information obtained from the 'Micro-Enterprises, 2000' survey, undertaken by Statistics Canada in collaboration with Industry Canada. The survey targeted owner-founders of micro-businesses in seven industries other than manufacturing that had between one and four employees in 1995 and were still in operation in 1999.

  Archived - Micro-enterprises survey, A progress report (June 2001)
  This paper presents background on the data collection and coverage of the 'Micro-Enterprises Survey 2000' and it highlights key results.

  Archived - A Business case framework for small firms transitioning to E-business (March 2001)
  This paper provides a framework for assessing the business case for small firms regarding the transition from traditional business practices to e-business.

  Archived - Small business information needs assessment survey (February 2001)
  The purpose of the survey was to better understand the needs, particularly information needs, attitudes and behaviours of small businesses, including their main sources of information and preferred delivery methods.

  Archived - A longitudinal analysis of young entrepreneurs in Canada (November 2000)
  It has long been the belief that small business is the engine of economic expansion. The recent increases in self-employment in many developed countries have further reinforced this belief. Canada, in particular, has experienced an unprecedented growth of job creation in the self-employment sector over the last decade.

  Archived - Multivariate analysis of small business information needs (March 2000)
  In order to put the basic results in context, multivariate analysis was undertaken. A technical report presents a discussion of the research techniques employed. Substantively, the analysis involved exploring the relationship between various subjective and objective factors and issues that are most central to businesses' orientations toward the federal government as a business information provider.

• 2024

  Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (March 2024)
  This study uses a cost-benefit analysis framework to estimate the net social benefit of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) for the fiscal years 2013–14 to 2021–22. The results suggest the CSBFP continues to provide significant net social benefits, estimated at nearly $5 billion over the nine-year evaluation period, with a positive net benefit of $403 million or more in each year.

• 2023

  Firm-size wage gaps and hierarchy: Evidence from Canada (October 2023)
  The report investigates the role of hierarchy in explaining the wage differential between large and small firms in Canada. The study uses the confidential-use files of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) from 2016 to 2022 and exploits the mini-panels form to control for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity.

  SME Profile: Rural enterprises in Canada (June 2023)
  This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in rural areas of Canada.

  SME Profile: Canada Small Business Financing Program borrowers (March 2023)
  This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non-CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

  SME Profile: Clean technology in Canada (March 2023)
  This report presents results from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer a glimpse into the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

  SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada (March 2023)
  This profile presents comparisons between co-operatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME).

• 2022

  SME Profile: Recipients of the Canada Emergency Business Account (December 2022)
  This report presents a business profile of small and medium-sized enterprises that received loans from the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) in 2020. The data used in the report is from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises.

  Untangling the seed and early stage funding environment in Canada (September 2022)
  This report examines the key characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receiving seed capital from private sources (e.g., angel and venture capital) or government grants. It analyzes interlinkages between different forms of support and estimates the effect of risk capital support on the performance of recipient businesses.

  SME Profile: Tourism Industries in Canada (August 2022)
  This report contains a summary of key findings for Canada's tourism sector from the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, and analysis on employment and financial performance from Statistics Canada's Provincial-Territorial Human Resources Module of the Tourism Satellite Account and ISED's Financial Performance Data, respectively. It provides an overview of business characteristics, innovation activities, and recent financing activities of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in tourism industries in comparison with Canadian SMEs in all industries.

  SME Profile: Ownership demographics statistics (August 2022)
  This report, based on data collected in the 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Indigenous persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

  SME Profile: Social Enterprises in Canada (March 2022)
  This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of small and medium social enterprises in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of small and medium not-for-profit and for-profit social enterprises, are compared with those of co-operatives and of all SMEs.

• 2021

  Financing of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (May 2021)
  This report uses data from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to study firm financing outcomes of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it examines whether, adjusting for firm and primary decision maker characteristics, there are gender differences associated with access to financing, debt financing approval and interest rates charged on debt financing.

  Entrepreneurship in rural Canada: Necessity or opportunity driven? (April 2021)
  This study aims to provide new insights into factors contributing to nascent entrepreneurship in rural Canada and analyze whether the motivation to become a nascent entrepreneur in rural Canada is driven by opportunity or necessity.

  Canadian Start-ups: Growth and Scale-up Transitions (February 2021)
  This study presents a description of Canadian firm size transitions of start-ups by examining five cohorts of firm entrants during the period 2002 to 2006. The study used  the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File (NALMF) up to 2014 in order to observe those start-ups employment size transitions (scale ups and scale downs).

• 2020

  The impact of regulatory compliance costs on business performance (October 2020)
  This paper analyzes the regulatory compliance costs of small and medium-sized enterprises using data from Statistics Canada's 2011 Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs and Canada Revenue Agency's General Index of Financial Information. It examines the firm characteristics likely associated with higher regulatory compliance costs as well as the impact of regulatory burden on firm productivity and business growth.

  What Drives Firm Growth? A Quantile Regression Analysis on Canadian Small and Medium Enterprises (July 2020)
  The main objective of this paper is to understand the factors that have an impact on firm growth, specifically on Canadian SMEs. The paper complements and enriches the empirical literature on the mechanism underlying firm growth. This research uses Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 linked to administrative data. For this report, firm employment growth for the period 20112013 was studied.

  What Drives Firm Growth? A Quantile Regression Analysis on Canadian Small and Medium Enterprises (July 2020)
  The main objective of this paper is to understand the factors that have an impact on firm growth, specifically on Canadian SMEs. The paper complements and enriches the empirical literature on the mechanism underlying firm growth. This research uses Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 linked to administrative data. For this report, firm employment growth for the period 20112013 was studied.

  High-Growth Firms Characteristics in Canada (May 2020)
  The main objective of this study is to determine the factors that may have an impact on a firm's probability of becoming a high-growth firm (HGF). This analysis uses a sample over the period 2003–2012 of Canadian firms from a unique dataset, the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File, developed by Statistics Canada.

  SME Profile: Clean technology in Canada (February 2020)
  This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.

  SME Profile: Ownership demographics statistics (January 2020)
  This report, based on data collected in the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Aboriginal persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.

• 2019

  Canada Small Business Financing Program: Economic impact analysis (July 2019)
  This analysis quantifies the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results indicate that the program continued to positively affect the economic growth of Canadian SMEs from 2014 to 2016.

  Canada Small Business Financing Program: Cost-benefit analysis (May 2019)
  This study measures the cost of resources devoted to administering the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP), as well as the direct and indirect economic benefits that result from the program. The report calculates program net benefits/costs and performs a sensitivity analysis to determine the lower and upper bounds of these benefits/costs, which might not otherwise accrue to the economy in the absence of the program.

  Canadian High-Growth SMEs and their propensity to invest in R&D and export (March 2019)
  This research uses a unique set of survey data on Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), linked with administrative tax data, to explore 1) whether the R&D propensity of SMEs increases with exporting and high-growth, and 2) whether the export propensity of SMEs increases with R&D and high-growth.

• 2018

  SME Profile: Canadian start-ups — A perspective based upon the 2014 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (September 2018)
  The report profiles Canadian start-ups by examining owner characteristics, access to financing, exporting, innovation and sales growth. It also compares the distinguishing features between start-ups and non-start-ups. The quantitative analysis is based upon the Statistics Canada's 2014 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises.

  Canadian new firms: Birth and survival rates over the period 2002–2014 (May 2018)
  This report studies the characteristics and performance of newly established Canadian firms – including new firms birth rates, survival rates and employment levels – at their year of entry into the Canadian economy and for up to ten subsequent years. The study was based on 13 cohorts of new firms – one cohort for each year between 2002 and 2014.

  Incrementality study of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (March 2018)
  The purpose of this report is to present the estimated level of incrementality of the Canada Small Business Financing Program using data from the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium enterprises, 2014.

• 2017

  The Contribution to Canadian net employment change by high-growth firms (December 2017)
  The main purpose of this paper is to present accurate data on the total net employment change for high-growth firms in Canada over the 2009–12 period, in relation to dimensions such as firm age, firm size and industry sector.

  Comparing measures of high-growth enterprises: A Canadian case study (February 2017)
  This methodological study compares three measures of High-Growth Enterprises (HGEs). Specifically the authors have developed a new definition of HGEs, the Top Decile Approach, and have compared it to two different approaches widely used, the OECD-Eurostat and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Kink Point.

• 2016

  A Comparison of the performance of female-owned and male-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (November 2016)
  For the first time, econometric techniques are applied to data from Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 and 2014, as well as administrative data from Statistics Canada's Linkable File Environment, to examine the impact of majority gender ownership on the following measures of enterprise performance: sales per employee, profit per employee, employment, innovation, ratio of authorized to requested debt financing and interest rate on debt financing. Results from the paper show that gender affected all measures of enterprise performance in 2011, whereas only sales per employee and employment were affected in 2014.

  SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada (April 2016)
  This profile, for the first time in Canada, compares data on co-operatives with those of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This report specifically considers for-profit co-operatives that are SMEs . Leveraging the findings of the Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2014 (SFGSME), the profile addresses various characteristics of co-operatives, such as types of financing sought, growth, exports and innovation activity. The benefit of the SFGSME is that it provides data on co-operatives whose characteristics are rarely studied in Canada.

  SME Profile: Canada Small Business Financing Program borrowers (March 2016)
  This report profiles the general characteristics of Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) borrowers, and compares them to the characteristics of non- CSBFP borrowers. These groups are compared across several characteristics, including, but not limited to gender, age, experience, industry, innovation activity, growth and financing activity.

• 2015

  Do foreign patent-protection rights promote domestic R&D spending? Evidence from Canadian firms (October 2015)
  This paper examines the evolving role of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the context of globalization, where research and development incentives of Canadian firms are framed not only by Canadian IPR , but also by the IPR of Canada's export market.

  SME operating performance (April 2015)
  This report is about financial and operating performance and aims to shed light on how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generate and protect their money. No matter how much or how little money business owners have, they work hard to earn it and, with a little luck and a lot of devotion, see it grow over time.

  SME Profile: Tourism industries in Canada (March 2015)
  Using post-recession data, this update of the SME profile, first published in 2011, provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their similarities and differences when compared with SMEs in other industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

  Requantifying the rate of incrementality for the Canada Small Business Financing Program (March 2015)
  The federal government has put various programs in place to assist SMEs to access financing and, most notably, the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP). The CSBFP is a loss-sharing program designed to stimulate lending through a joint government / private sector agreement. A perennial question is the extent to which it has assisted businesses to access financing that they would not otherwise have been able to access in the absence of the program. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to quantify the rate of financial incrementality of the CSBFP .

  SME Profile: Canadian exporters (January 2015)
  This report highlights the distinguishing features of SME exporters compared to non-exporters by examining differences in business and owner characteristics, financing characteristics, international business activities, revenue growth and levels of innovation.

  Cost-benefit analysis of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (January 2015)
  This study measures the cost of resources devoted to administering the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP), as well as the direct and indirect economic benefits that result from the program. The report calculates program net benefits/costs and performs a sensitivity analysis to determine the lower and upper bounds of these benefits/costs, which might not otherwise accrue to the economy in the absence of the program.

• 2014

  Canada Small Business Financing Program: Updated and extended economic impact analysis (November 2014)
  This report examines the extent to which participation in the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) impacts areas such as growth in revenue, employment, profits, salary, labour productivity, firm viability and investment in R&D . The report also compares the performance of CSBFP borrowers to the small and medium-sized population as a whole, as well as to denied borrowers.

  Growth or profitability first?: The case of small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (October 2014)
  This study examine the relationship between a firm's growth and profitability for the period from 2006 to 2011. Among others, the study shows that human capital is a determining factor as it plays a positive role in a firm achieving superior performance in both growth and profitability.

  Canada's billion dollar firms: Contributions, challenges and opportunities (July 2014)
  [located on the DEEP Centre website]
  This study was commissioned through a partnership between the Business Development Bank of Canada, the Canadian Digital Media Network, Export Development Canada and Industry Canada. It presents a demographic analysis of Canada's largest firms, their contributions to Canadian employment and research and development spending, as well as a jurisdictional analysis of Canada's performance in producing globally competitive firms relative to a series of comparator economies, including Australia, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

  Business Development Bank of Canada, 10-Year legislative review: 2001–2010 (June 2014)
  This report examines the economic forces that have affected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the review period. It assesses how the BDC has responded to the changing needs of its clients and to government priorities.

  Cyclicality of SME financing in Canada (May 2014)
  This paper quantifies and assesses the relationship between the business cycle, as measured by the output gap, and chartered bank loans to small, medium-sized and large businesses using aggregate data from the Bank of Canada's Banking and Financial Statistics Database combined with National Account and financial market data covering the 1988 to 2012 period.

• 2013

  SME Profile: Interprovincial trade (November 2013)
  This profile investigates the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that sell their goods and/or services to other provinces (internal traders) and examines their distinguishing characteristics compared with SMEs that do not sell to other provinces.

  Small business access to financing: Request and approval rates, interest rates and collateral requirements (2000–10) (July 2013)
  This report compiles and analyses the results of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Credit Conditions Survey to showcase information on small business financing activities between 2000 and 2010.

  The performance of Canadian firms that received Venture Capital financing (June 2013)
  [located on the CVCA website, (1.2 MB , 32 pages)]
  Using research data provided by Thomson Reuters, Statistics Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada, this study assess the impacts of Venture Capital (VC) on the performance of Canadian firms. Based on the empirical analysis performed in this study, this report concludes that the suggested benefits of VC are indeed demonstrated in the performance of Canadian VC -backed firms.

  Small and medium-sized entreprises growth study: Actual vs. sustainable growth (March 2013)
  This report seeks to identify any misalignment between SME actual growth rates and SME sustainable growth rates. Using the "Higgins Sustainable Growth Model," the analysis reveals that, over the 2000–10 period, Canadian SMEs had the financial infrastructure in place and normal earnings capacity to support a rate of growth in sales of approximately 7.3 percent per year without the need to raise additional financing.

• 2012

  Credit conditions raced by small and medium-sized enterprises investing in research and development (December 2012)
  This report ascertain general characteristics of Research and Development-intensive firms and assess their access to financing. It provides some evidence that Research and Development-intensive firms have less access to financing than other firms.

• 2011

  Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in Tourism industries (December 2011)
  This profile provides a descriptive overview of SMEs in tourism industries and examines their differences compared with SMEs in non-tourism industries in terms of business and owner characteristics, access to financing, financing terms and conditions and obstacles to business growth.

  Profile of mid-career entrepreneurs: Career trade-offs and income appropriation of high human capital individuals (February 2011)
  This report is based on 14 case studies of individuals who have been working for large companies and who have decided to launch their own companies at midpoint in their career. In addition to creating a profile of mid-career entrepreneurs, this report's objective is to identify the corporate practices that either promote or encumber the process of mid-career entrepreneurship and to verify whether prior knowledge is a key determinant of entrepreneurial success. The results are presented in the three following sections: general characteristics of entrepreneurs and firms; skills, knowledge and experience of the entrepreneur; and issues and barriers surrounding mid-career entrepreneurship.

• 2010

  The teaching and practice of entrepreneurship within Canadian higher education institutions (December 2010)
  This report investigates how entrepreneurship is supported and delivered within Canadian Higher Education Institutions. Overall, the survey revealed that Canadian higher education institutions are active in offering entrepreneurship education as well as in providing a network of practitioners to support students interested in entrepreneurship. Two areas of concern, however, were uneven access to entrepreneurship education across faculties and limited support for early-stage entrepreneurship on campus.

  Financing Profile: Women entrepreneurs (October 2010)
  An update of the November 2004 profile on women entrepreneurs, this profile describes the recent financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) majority-owned by women in Canada. General business characteristics and financial growth performances are compared with SMEs majority-owned by men to highlight past and current gender differences.

  An Interpretation of discouraged borrowers based on relationship lending (August 2010)
  This paper investigates the determinants of discouragement for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regarding financing sought.

  The Economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (June 2010)
  This paper investigates the economic impact of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) by using the 2004 edition of the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises. Based on this analysis, the CSBFP contributed to approximately 10 percentage point growth in salary, employment and revenues of its participants between 2004 and 2006. Furthermore, CSBFP participants created 0.63 jobs per loan over this period.

  The state of entrepreneurship in Canada (February 2010)
  This report charts entrepreneurial activity in Canada over time and compares it with leading countries. Entrepreneurial performance indicators observed include: birth and death rates, survival rates, high-growth firms and gazelles, and research and development expenditures. Furthermore, the report provides a profile of the owners of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and identifies areas of strength, areas for improvement, and important areas that cannot currently be addressed.

• 2009

  Determinants of trade credit use by small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (December 2009)
  This paper examines the relationship between demand, supply and importance of trade credit, and financing constraints for Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

  Financing innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (October 2009)
  This paper examines whether the financing activities and experiences of innovative small and medium-sized (SMEs) in accessing financing are different from those of non-innovative SMEs . This paper also examines whether innovative SMEs face different financing terms and conditions than non-innovative SMEs seeking financing.

  Financing Profile: Financing innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada (March 2009)
  This profile describes innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs) along a range of characteristics and examines whether they differ from non-innovative SMEs in terms of access to financing, financing terms and conditions, and obstacles faced in accessing financing.

  Financing Profile: Borrowers under the Canada Small Business Financing Program (February 2009)
  This profile compares several characteristics of borrowers under the Canada Small Business Financing Program with small businesses not using the Program. These groups are compared in terms of financing (source and type), including provincial distribution, size, industries and satisfaction with lenders, as observed in 2004.

• 2008

  Archived - Financing Profile: Rural-based entrepreneurs (October 2008)
  This profile compares several characteristics of rural-based SMEs with those of SMEs in urban regions, including size, provincial distribution and source and type of financing required, as observed in 2004.

  Archived - Profile of growth firms: A summary of Industry Canada research (March 2008)
  This profile summarizes the research on growth firms completed by Industry Canada's Small Business Branch and highlights their contribution to job creation, by firm size, region and industry and discusses the factors for successful growth and survival.

  Archived - Canadian SME exporters (January 2008)
  This report was undertaken to document the profiles of Canadian SME exporters and to gain a better understanding of the processes of internationalization adopted by SMEs . The relevance of four theories of internationalization was tested using logistic regression analysis to examine the relative influence of owner and firm characteristics on the propensity of a firm to export.

• 2007

  Archived - Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in Ontario (September 2007)
  This profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ontario in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Atlantic provinces (September 2007)
  This profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Atlantic Provinces in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Prairie provinces (September 2007)
  This profile examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Prairie Provinces in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Quebec (August 2007)
  This profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Quebec in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in British Columbia (June 2007)
  This profile shows the general characteristics and examines the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in British Columbia in 2004, and compares them with the national averages.

  Archived - Financing Canadian SME exporters (June 2007)
  This report was conducted to examine the extent to which Canadian SME exporter firms face difficulty in accessing debt financing from commercial lenders compared to non-exporters. The results show that commercial lenders reject applications for operating loans from early-stage SME exporters at a rate more than four times that of the rejection rate for established firms.

  Archived - Case studies of collaborative innovation in Canadian small firms (May 2007)
  Using five companies as case studies, the report on Case Studies of Collaborative Innovation in Canadian Small Firms provides insights into new policy directions regarding university-private sector collaboration on research and development and commercialization. The results highlight the importance for successful collaboration and commercialization of credible research, key individuals, the ability to access potential partners through networks, the availability of angel investors and appropriate support for incubation.

• 2006

  Archived - Institutional Investor Engagement Project: Final report (November 2006)
  This report identifies ways of improving institutional investor awareness of and allocations to the Private Equity asset class.

  Archived - The growth process in firms: Job creation by firm age (November 2006)
  The ongoing Growth Firms Project of Industry Canada's Small Business Branch looks at how firms grow and, more specifically, at the job creation process. This fourth phase of the project examines job creation and firm turnover at the national level over the 1993-2003 period and compares the results with earlier findings that covered the 1985 to 1999 period. In order to investigate the link between firm growth and firm life cycle, the study also looks at firm survival, the ability of firms to maintain growth over time and job creation by firm age.

  Archived - Employee training decisions, business strategies and human resource management practices: A study by size of business (October 2006)
  The aim of this study is to investigate in detail the proposition often found in the literature that small businesses train their employees less than medium-sized and large businesses. The small business population is much more heterogeneous than that of medium-sized and large firms in terms of motivation because it includes not only growth firms but also foundation firms, which may be less interested in growth.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Informally financed SMEs (September 2006)
  This profile looks at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that received financing for risk capital through the informal marketplace in Canada. The informal marketplace is composed of two types of investors: family or friends, and business angels (individuals who invest their personal funds at arm's length in businesses owned and operated by individuals unrelated to them). This article examines the differences between these two types of investors and the impact of their investments on SMEs .

  Archived - Financing Profile: Exporter SMEs (September 2006)
  This article presents a profile of Canadian SMEs that exported in 2004. The profile examines the distinguishing features of SME exporters and their financing needs, and provides insight into the differences between exporters in the manufacturing and service sectors. It also challenges some assumptions about how Canadian businesses expand.

  Archived - Financing Profile: High-growth SMEs (May 2006)
  This profile on HGSMEs presents key characteristics, financing patterns and potential financial barriers for these high-performing firms.

  Archived - Management skills workshops (April 2006)
  The Small Business Branch (SBB) of Industry Canada engaged Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. to facilitate a series of four workshops with small business advisors in Vancouver, Sudbury, Halifax and Quebec City. These workshops, conducted in February and March 2006, provided SBB with face-to-face contact with members of the business community to obtain feedback appropriate to a decision on whether or not to proceed with the development of a management competency tool.

  Archived - Financing Global Gazelles (March 2006)
  This report develops a working definition of "Global Gazelles" and analyzes financing issues faced by such firms. The report also gathers information on the financial needs of global gazelles and their financing experience; documents international global gazelle lending and investment trends and behaviours; and identifies key financial issues and barriers, including taxes and other government policies and programs, that impact on the ability of Canadian global gazelles to secure financing.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Young entrepreneurs (January 2006)
  This profile provides a portrait of Canada's young entrepreneurs and examines the effect, if any, of the age of the owner on financing a small business.

• 2005

  Archived - Exporting matters: Job creation performance of exporters, 1993–2002 (November 2005)
  As part of the multi-year Growth Firms Project, the Small Business Branch investigated the job creation performance of exporters in the most recent phase of work. Results from tabulations covering 1993 to 2002 demonstrate that firms engaged in exporting were much more likely to be hyper or strong growth firms than those that did not export.

  Archived - Infrastructure of advisory services for entrepreneurs in the Waterloo region (October 2005)
  This study is part of an international study being led by the Centre for Economic and Business Research in the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs on behalf of the International Consortium on Dynamic Benchmarking of Entrepreneurship. Up to eight countries will be participating in the study, each focusing on an in-depth examination of a successful region in their country.

  Archived - Small business exporters: A Canadian Profile (August 2005)
  Small businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees) are an important engine of growth in the domestic economy. Given the significant role of exports in the Canadian economy, it seems pertinent to investigate the importance of small business in international markets. For the first time, this is possible thanks to enhancements to the Exporter Registry, which provides data on exports by size of firm. This paper uses these data to construct a profile of small business exporters that establishes new baseline information and provides a basis for policy development to better foster small business exports.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Visible minority entrepreneurs (March 2005)
  This article provides a portrait of visible minority entrepreneurs. It examines whether and how financing a small business is affected by the ethnicity of its owner.

  Archived - Growing the businesses of tomorrow: Challenges and prospects of early-stage Venture Capital investment in Canada (March 2005)
  This report examines early-stage activity in Canada and Ontario since 1996, using statistics extracted from Macdonald & Associates' database and comparative U.S. data; coupled with the insights of senior venture capital (VC) professionals obtained in interviews conducted over the period December 2004–January 2005.

  Archived - Estimating informal investment in Canada (March 2005)
  This report estimates the flow and potential stock of capital available for informal investment from respondents to the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2001. The work also reports on ways in which these data have improved, and can potentially improve, our understanding of the flow and stock of financing beyond the estimates available in the literature.

  Archived - Sustaining the momentum: An economic forum on women entrepreneurs – Summary Report (March 2005)
  This report, prepared by the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University and by Industry Canada, presents a synopsis of the research and recommendations stemming from Sustaining the Momentum: An Economic Forum on Women Entrepreneurs. The Forum took place in Ottawa from October 27 to 29, 2004. Its objectives were to share leading-edge research about women entrepreneurs; to examine government support for women business owners and; to identify gaps in research and public policy.

• 2004

  Archived - More important than was thought: A Profile of Canadian small business exporters (December 2004)
  This paper, which is a summary of a longer document, also provides information on exports by size of firm across provinces, industry and export destination, as well as a comparison with U.S. exporting firms.

  Archived - Financing Profile: Women entrepreneurs (November 2004)
  This profile describes the financing activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) majority-owned by women in Canada. General business characteristics and financial growth performances are compared with SMEs majority-owned by men to highlight past and current gender differences.

  Archived - Growth firms workshop synopsis (September 2004)
  This project aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics of economic growth using a firm-level longitudinal database to investigate which types of firms provide growth, their contribution to job creation, the barriers to growth and the areas where governments can make a contribution.

  Archived - Growth Firms project: Phase II report (September 2004)
  Phase II of the Growth Firms project builds on the work done in Phase I by completing additional tabulations. The work in Phase II focussed on employment growth by firm age, the growth of start-ups and firm exits.

  Archived - Finding the key: Canadian institutional investors and private equity (June 2004)
  This report explores the role of institutional investors (i.e. corporate and public sector pensions, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, and so forth) in Canada and the U.S. In the summer of 2003, interviews were conducted with key informants representing 74 institutional funds, with headquarters in all regions of Canada, on issues relevant to their interest or activity in private equity at home or abroad. At the same time, senior managers of 20 of the largest pensions, endowments and funds-of-funds in the U.S. were interviewed concerning their market experience and interest in Canadian private equity opportunities.

  Archived - Canadian Venture Capital activity: An analysis of trends and gaps (1996–2002) (May 2004)
  This report provides a realistic assessment of the state of the Canadian VC market and aims to build a common understanding of the Canadian VC market, and foster private and public stakeholder coordination and collaboration to develop sound policies that will address key outstanding issues and gaps in the market.

• 2003

  Archived - Management competencies and SME performance criteria: A pilot study (December 2003)
  This pilot study reports on two relatively unexplored aspects of firm performance: the roles of management competencies and owners' perceptions about success. The research is a pilot test of a Management Competency Index, a diagnostic tool that seeks to measure the nature and diversity of managerial skills and knowledge of owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

  Archived - Foreign VC investment in Canada: A profile of foreign investors and domestic investees (October 2003)
  This report provides a high-level profile of a small number of foreign venture capital (VC) investors, including both those that do and do not invest in Canada, and of Canadian firms financed by foreign and domestic VC funding.

  Archived - Small business and regulatory burden (October 2003)
  The purpose of this document is to delineate the issues surrounding regulatory burden. Such an examination is intended to provide a foundation for further analysis of this issue to support small business policy development.

  Archived - Growth Firms project: Key findings (September 2003)
  The Small Business Branch has recently completed the first phase of an analysis of growth firms in Canada. The analysis provides answers to questions about which firms grow, who are the engines of growth and what their impact on creating employment has been.

  Archived - Initial public offerings: Status, flaws and dysfunctions (April 2003)
  This report offers a complete picture of primary offerings in Canada by operating companies and capital pool companies (CPCs) from 1991 to 2000, based on the identification and analysis of 1891 share issues.

  Archived - Financing with Venture Capital: Advances in knowledge over the last ten years and research avenues (April 2003)
  This report aims to index and classify academic and professional research, in French and English, as well as public programs and policies that relate to financing by venture capital; identify the primary researchers and centres of expertise on venture capital in Canada and elsewhere; and contribute to the definition of a specific research agenda on the venture capital market for SMEs .

• 2002

  Archived - Growth determinants of micro-businesses in Canada (July 2002)
  This study draws on the rich information obtained from the 'Micro-Enterprises, 2000' survey, undertaken by Statistics Canada in collaboration with Industry Canada. The survey targeted owner-founders of micro-businesses in seven industries other than manufacturing that had between one and four employees in 1995 and were still in operation in 1999.

  Archived - Financing SMEs in Canada: Barriers faced by women, youth, aboriginal and minority entrepreneurs in accessing capital - Phase 2: Gap analysis and recommendations for further research (March 2002)
  The report provides further analysis and evaluation of the literature review undertaken in Phase 1 in order to identify any business owner characteristic-related barriers to financing that are evident on the basis of existing data; identify data gaps that need to be filled in future data collection, a gap analysis model will be developed depicting any gaps in data available; and recommend data collection methodology to fill identified information gaps.

  Archived - Gaps in SME financing: An analytical framework (February 2002)
  This report presents a review of the empirical and theoretical literature on market failures, gaps, and imperfections. On the basis of this review, this report advances a series of hypotheses that relate to various perceptions of financing gaps that pertain to SMEs .

  Archived - Financing SMEs in Canada: Barriers faced by women, youth, aboriginal and minority entrepreneurs in accessing capital - Phase 1: Literature review (Janauary 2002)
  The report presents a review of existing literature and examines obstacles to small business financing for various profiles of business owners in Canada, with particular emphasis on discrepancies attributed to gender, youth, Aboriginal, visible minority, and language minority business ownership.

• 2001

  Archived - Micro-Enterprises Survey, A Progress Report (June 2001)
  This paper presents background on the data collection and coverage of the 'Micro-Enterprises Survey 2000' and it highlights key results.

  Archived - Practices and Patterns of Informal Investors (May 2001)
  This report provides information with respect to the characteristics, practices, patterns and perspectives of Canadian informal investors. The work describes the nature of informal investments and identifies key parameters of the investment process, focusing on investors' investment behaviour.

  Archived - Value Added by Informal Investors (March 2001)
  This report documents the types of contributions, beyond the monetary investment itself, made by private investors to businesses in which they invest. It also presents a preliminary investigation of business owners' perceptions of the value of these contributions.

  Archived - Issues Surrounding Venture Capital, Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Post- IPO Equity Financing for Canadian SMEs (March 2001)
  This report develops issues surrounding equity financing for SMEs in Canada through the venture capital, initial public offering (IPO) and post- IPO stages of development.

  Archived - A Business Case Framework for Small Firms Transitioning to E-Business (March 2001)
  This paper provides a framework for assessing the business case for small firms regarding the transition from traditional business practices to e-business.

  Archived - Management Skills for Small Business (March 2001)
  The background to this work stems from Industry Canada's central emphasis in the policy agenda on a strategy to encourage innovation as the engine of growth for productivity and competitiveness in the globalized knowledge-based economy. It stems, too, from the department's recognition of competent management skills as the sine qua non for successful innovation, productivity growth and competitiveness and, in particular, of the importance of such skills in the large proportions of overall economic activity that are undertaken in the small business sector.

  Archived - Small Business Information Needs Assessment Survey (February 2001)
  The purpose of the survey was to better understand the needs, particularly information needs, attitudes and behaviours of small businesses, including their main sources of information and preferred delivery methods.

• 2000

  Archived - A Longitudinal Analysis of Young Entrepreneurs in Canada (November 2000)
  It has long been the belief that small business is the engine of economic expansion. The recent increases in self-employment in many developed countries have further reinforced this belief. Canada, in particular, has experienced an unprecedented growth of job creation in the self-employment sector over the last decade.

  Archived - Comparison and Reconciliation of SIC and NAICS Industry Codes Used to Define Knowledge-Based Industries (KBIs) (May 2000)
  This report compares and reconciles Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes used to define KBIs to the equivalent North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes as a first step towards developing a series of NAICS codes that could be used for defining KBIs more generally.

  Archived - A Literature Review and Industry Analysis of Informal Investment in Canada: A Research Agenda on Angels (March 2000)
  This report uses Porter's Five Forces Model of Industry Competitiveness to evaluate the status of the angel investment industry. The model details the five competitive forces acting upon the players in an industry — in this case, angels.

  Archived - Informal Equity Capital for SMEs : A Review of Literature (March 2000)
  This report reviews the public literature regarding the supply of, and demand for, early-stage equity from private (informal) investors.

  Archived - Multivariate Analysis of Small Business Information Needs (March 2000)
  In order to put the basic results in context, multivariate analysis was undertaken. A technical report presents a discussion of the research techniques employed. Substantively, the analysis involved exploring the relationship between various subjective and objective factors and issues that are most central to businesses' orientations toward the federal government as a business information provider.

  Archived - Equity Financing Alternatives for Small Business: A Review of Best Practices in the United States (January 2000)
  This report reviews the best practices of equity financing alternatives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United States. The review uncovered a number of programs, policies and processes in place that have allowed the United States to be the world leader in new innovation and entrepreneurial activities.