In the face of economic uncertainty, Canadian small businesses focus on customer experience and employee satisfaction to drive decision making around managing rising costs. The quarterly American Express Small Business Monitor reveals small business owners find significant value in investing in customer and employee loyalty over short term financial gain, with almost half 47% agreeing they would rather reduce profitability than risk losing customers due to price increases. Alternatively, they would rather reduce overhead costs in general 52%, become more stringent regarding accounts receivable in order to improve cash flow 48% or reduce travel and entertainment budgets 36% in order to control costs.