Business Owners' Year in Review: Wave II (BDC Capital)

Summary

• The survey covers 569 respondents with a maximum margin of error of ± 4.1 percentage points for a probabilistic sample.p.2
• Sales revenue was the top growth area for small (26%), medium (34%) and large (30%) businesses.p.5
• The economic downturn was the biggest setback for small (21%), medium (23%) and large (22%) businesses.p.5
• Increasing sales revenue is the top 2026 goal for small (59%), medium (54%) and large (49%) businesses.p.5
• Managing cash flow was the biggest challenge for small businesses at 25%.p.4
• US tariffs were a top setback for 18% of medium and 20% of large businesses.p.5

Key insights

1. Medium businesses most often cited the importance of valuable employees (56%) as their key learning, followed by a good management team (49%).p.4
2. Large businesses ranked the importance of a good management team (44%) ahead of valuable employees (43%).p.4
3. Small businesses cited the need for strong financial management (36%) and agility or adaptation (35%) as their top learnings.p.4
4. Medium and large businesses both aim to improve productivity and efficiency in 2026, at 33% each.p.5
5. Operational efficiency was a growth area for 29% of medium businesses.p.5
6. Navigating the economic context was the top challenge for medium (19%) and large (18%) businesses.p.4