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The Creative Industries (CI) is a growth sector, yet understandings of CI practice remain limited. CI represent a heterodox sector with high variation levels between firms. Pressure has emerged on CI to adopt more orthodox business practices, maximising growth and contributing towards national economic objectives. Such practices however must be cognisant of a highly esoteric sector founded upon creative intensity and project-based systems. This question of business practice is explored through the Arts-based Creative Industries (ABCI). The article uses a novel SME diagnostic to explore practices, dependencies and exposures in an environment of reduced funding and pressure for commercialisation. It proposes ABCI supplement resource limitations and demands for creative intensity through networks; techniques used by ABCI could be of value more widely to SMEs in an increasingly network-based economy. Similarly, these networks risk locking firms into unrealistic dependence on external sources of knowledge and funding which exert significant influence on business development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]