Trainers, educators, and small business people have for some time, argued the issue of “the need for and the usefulness of” small business training. On the one hand, some individuals believe that small business training is both unwanted and in some cases, impossible to deliver. Those on the other side of the issue would point to the constant need for knowledge, the obsolescence of learned skills, and the highly competitive nature of the market place in which small businesses exist. In this paper an attempt is made to examine the issues surrounding small business training, a brief overview discussing the rationale and operation of a new innovative national training program jointly created by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC) — “The Small Business National Training Network,” (SNTN) and the results from an empirically based research analyzing the attendees’ perception concerning the effectiveness of the program.
