Small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) are facing the future with tremendous optimism. 75% expect business in the next six months to be better than in the same period one year ago. With growth comes challenges, however. How do you hire and retain employees? How do you improve cash flow and manage cost centers? These are some of the top concerns for small businesses in the coming year.

Q4 2006 Overview
The latest findings in December 2006 concluded that:

• 75% of those surveyed expected business to be better, 6% expect it to be worse
• 62% are increasing their technology spending, only 2% are reducing their investment
• 50% are going to add staff, 5% are planning to reduce staff

The top small business concerns looking forward into 2007 were:

1. Managing cash flow
2. Managing business growth
3. Hiring/retaining employees
4. Employee health insurance

Download the results from AllBusiness.com's latest SMB State of the Union Study

The AllBusiness SMB Barometer measures the optimism of the small business sector in America. Two times per year, AllBusiness extensively surveys small businesses with less than 500 employees on the current issues and challenges facing them in the next 6 months.

Q2 2006 SMB State of the Union Study

Q4 2005 SMB State of the Union Study

Featured Article
AllBusiness Releases Its Latest Small Business Survey
By Keith Girard

Hiring worries, love of technology, and a generally upbeat mood about the economy — these are just some of the key findings in Allbusiness's newest SMB State of the Union survey, which polled almost 1,000 key small business leaders across the country. I want to take a quick look at our survey results and then delve deeper into a few of these findings to predict their likely impact on your small business...
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