From the list of training needs here, it can be seen that they relate largely to more basic, generic types of skills. Such skills are, of course, manifestly required by many SMEs if they are to be successful (see also Skills and Enterprise Network, 1998; 2000b). The decision was taken for the "Towards a healthy high street (II)" project to move away from training in basic numeracy, customer service and food hygiene[2], to concentrate on higher-level skills development. As noted by Baron et al. (2000, p. 9) in their research undertaken for the "Small retail skills forecasting" project: