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This research explores a sample of 192 struggling small and very small businesses in France’s Haute-Vienne department from 2010 to 2013 and proposes a typology based on the ability of those companies to make use of resources including partnerships and the context in which they operate. To do this, we use both quantitative data (such as sales, staffing levels, and the ages of the company and its manager) and qualitative information concerning the manager’s personality, family network, and heritage. While emphasizing that support must be provided to these businesses, it confirms that this support is needed both upstream and downstream of the difficulties they experience. Moreover, it must be adapted to the company in question and its director.