Why do small business hesitate to invest in people management and training?

Investing in people management and training is the only chance for a small business to overcome market disconnectedness in an Era of Knowledge-Based Economies. BDS can be the bridge for providing access to procedures and practises, standards and innovation. Entrepreneurs accustomed to free services are likely to resist paying for those services later. Resistance should not be equated with inability to pay. Reasons behind resistance can be various economic or socio-cultural facts. Advisors must be conscious about the owner-manager’s difficulties and resistance when passing on power and knowledge to the staff for reaching a team managed stage of organisation. Instead of pushing the owner-manager too much into this conclusion, BDOs can have better results, if the owner-manager can be assisted in developing own thoughts and strategies towards skills development. BDO can stimulate demand by marketing the benefits and possibilities of their services, considering the reasons behind resistance to training.

Paper by Karsten Weitzenegger 2005
http://www.weitzenegger.de/new/noinvest.pdf