{"id":1286,"slug":"harting-sprengel-2019-data-driven-smes-productivity","title":"Härting & Sprengel 2019 (UK study) — data-driven SMEs ~5% more productive and ~6% more profitable; magnitudes are self-reported correlations","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["data-infrastructure","data-moats"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** A UK study (**Härting & Sprengel 2019**) found self-identified data-driven SMEs ~**5% more productive** and ~**6% more profitable**; a separate analysis found top-quartile online-data users ~**13% more productive** than bottom-quartile.\n\n**Source:** sbij.scholasticahq.com (summary of both)\n\n**Confidence:** Single-source / academic; **direction consistent across studies**, magnitudes are self-reported correlations, not proven causation.\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** The honest framing for clients — yes there is a modest measurable edge, no it is not the \"data is the new oil\" 10× narrative. Pair with [[a16z-empty-promise-data-moats-2019]] for the defensibility side.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"techaisle-smb-data-adoption-survey","title":"Techaisle: ~10% of small businesses (1-99 employees) use analytics; only ~6% \"highly data-driven\"; 54% \"rarely data-driven\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-data-driven-tools-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: live data and data-driven tools for SMBs — when it's an edge, when it's overkill (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-20T16:57:38.930Z","updated_at":"2026-06-20T16:57:38.930Z"}