Businesses working out of serviced offices in Northampton may be some of the organisations that are said to be pessimistic about the immediate future.
Research from Aviva discovered that only 13 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) anticipate the economy to get better during 2011, with nine per cent expecting to close down if this does not happen.
When this survey was conducted in autumn 2010, 18 per cent forecast the economy to improve during the current year, representing a five per cent drop.
The number that believes there is a likelihood of a double-dip recession has stayed static, at 28 per cent.
"The recent spate of failures on the high street confirms that the consumer-facing economy is feeling a particular squeeze at the moment as discretionary spending falls," declared David Bruce, commercial product manager at Aviva.
He added that SMEs are likely to continue reducing the size of their workforce and will engage in discounting and diversification in order to survive.
This research follows a statement from a Federation of Small Business spokeswoman, who claimed that improving conditions for SMEs should be the focus of government policy.
