Defining precisely the exact meaning of what is a small business today differs from country to country.

Many people have difficulty defining exactly what is a small business as the governing authorities in different countries have differing criteria. A small business in many western countries today more often than not refers to family run businesses earning less than one million dollars with up to 500 employees.

It is true that very few small businesses can afford to employ 500 people and the greater percentages don’t. Most small businesses today are family run “Mum and Pop” enterprises employing fewer than 100 people.  The interesting thing is that overall, in the scheme of employment for a population; it is these small businesses that employ the larger percentage of a country’s population.

Small business today is essential for the Gross Domestic Product or GDP of a country’s productivity and financial well-being to be realized. Without the input of a healthy small business segment of a country, living standards tend to fall and economies to struggle.

Small business today is a barometer of a country’s financial stability and growth. With many small businesses operating they provide the competition in most industries that keep prices at a minimum and pay a very large part of the taxation requirements to our Governments. Without a healthy small business segment paying a wide array of taxation, the personal taxation of a country’s population would be horrendous.

If Governments had to rely on personal taxation of a population, living standards would be low.

The taxes that each small business pays goes towards schools, hospitals, education, transportation and other essential services of a developed economy.

It is a very unfortunate situation today that many small family-run businesses are being pushed aside in the name of “progress”. That is, the big shopping retailers in the shopping centres and malls are competing against small businesses in the same shopping centre. With the buying power that these big business corporations can utilise to buy goods so much cheaper, it is unfair competition and many small business retailers are going broke.

If you are thinking of starting a small business today, then you will need to do your ‘homework’ very carefully.

With a lot of due diligence on your part before starting your small business, you will be able to succeed because even if the bigger business corporations are able to buy their goods cheaper and therefore sell them cheaper and for a higher profit percentage, you as a small business owner will have an advantage that they simply will never have.

What is Small Business advantage? The advantage that most small businesses have over the big corporatized businesses is speed! The speed to react to market needs because the owner has the power to make decisions without applying to a board of directors for permission to implement change.