OREANDA-NEWS. The success of small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) in winning Government and private sector contracts hinges on collaboration with larger firms a new report reveals today, with just 6% of SME owners believing it has become easier to win these contracts independently in the last two years.

The Collaboration Nation, commissioned by technology firm Fujitsu and drawing on the views of around 500 UK SMEs, reveals that while smaller businesses are struggling to secure direct business from government, many want to collaborate with larger suppliers and see doing so as the most viable route to winning large contracts.

The study, conducted for Fujitsu by an independent research agency, shows that just 6% of SMEs have found it easier to win government business direct in the past two years and 50% noted that there had been “no change” in their ability to win government work, results that support the current Government focus on improving access for SMEs to the public sector bidding process.

Building on these measures however, SMEs believe it is collaboration that will give them the best access to large contracts. 58% of SMEs believe that smaller and larger suppliers should collaborate to win large contracts – but 43% warn that in their experience it rarely happens. When collaboration does occur, SMEs reveal that it helps them reap significant rewards. 70% who have won business this way believe that they couldn’t have done so without the support of a larger partner; 62% say that they believe this kind of partnership is a good idea and 80% of those who have worked with big companies to win business keen to do so again.

With SMEs citing a wide range of benefits – from greater revenues, new opportunities and the chance to tender for work they feel they would otherwise be excluded from – collaboration appears to be a major priority for many.