Tracking SME Sentiment Across European Markets
RONIN delivered a large-scale CATI study among small and medium-sized businesses across Europe, providing a detailed view of business sentiment, future expectations, and recent performance. Commissioned by an EU agency for budget planning, the study was designed to generate representative insight from company directors across 23 European markets.
- 6,900 phone interviews
- 23 European markets
- 15 languages translated
Objectives
- Assess business sentiment among SMEs for the coming 12 months
- Understand how businesses viewed the previous 12 months
- Deliver representative market-level insight across Europe
- Support budget planning with consistent, comparable data across countries
Methodology
This was a quantitative CATI study conducted across 23 European markets, with 300 interviews completed per market for a total of 6,900 interviews. RONIN managed all questionnaire programming, hosting, local translations, open-ended translation, and weekly data delivery. Sample was drawn from the D&B database, with targeting based on employee size, revenue, and sector classification.
Sample & Coverage
-
300
interviews per market
-
4
employee size bands
-
Weekly
Data delivery
The study targeted company directors and used representative quotas aligned to the national SME profile in each market. Per market, quotas were structured as follows:
- 2 to 10 employees: 100 interviews
- 11 to 49 employees: 75 interviews
- 50 to 99 employees: 75 interviews
- 100 to 249 employees: 50 interviews
Markets covered included Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.
Challenge
The study required consistent delivery across a large number of European markets while maintaining representative SME coverage at country level. Managing quotas by business size, sector, and national market profile, while also coordinating translations and weekly reporting, required a tightly controlled multi-market fieldwork approach.
How RONIN approached it
RONIN managed the programme end to end, including sample design, CATI fieldwork, questionnaire programming, local-language translation, open-ended translation, and weekly data delivery. By using structured quotas and centralised project management, RONIN ensured consistency across markets while preserving the national representativeness required for each country sample.
Results
The study provided the client with a robust and comparable view of SME sentiment across 23 European markets. By combining representative sampling with large-scale multilingual CATI delivery, RONIN created a reliable evidence base for understanding business outlook, recent performance, and market-level differences across Europe.
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