Table 2. Perceived Managerial Skill Deficiencies

1. Fifty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with employers in ten different categories of hospitality businesses-hotels, large, medium and small, bed and breakfast establishments- restaurants- cafes- pubs, bars and clubs.
2. The research instrument asked respondents to identify where they might have a training need. The skill areas were arranged under finance, marketing, communications, management, computer skills, etc. The research did in fact provide rich data on managerial perceptions of training needs across the sector’s small firms.

Key themes noticed in the research were:

·Limited additional resources to invest in the business

·Few firms have on-going development plans, training and development is often triggered by short-term problems (trying to mitigate issue)

·It is a mistake to assume that all small business owner managers are motivated by the same drives and ambitions

·The terms “small business” and “entrepreneur” mean different things to the individuals represented these generalisations

·“Small business” implies that the key focus is in relation to the size of the resources available to it

·The term “Entrepreneur” reflects the motives and nature of management