Label

Firm size, numbers and share of employment UK

Label	Number of Staff		% UK Firms	% UK Employment
Micro	Up to 10		92.5	28.2
Small	11-100		6.8	22.2
Medium	101-500		0.6	16.8
Large	over 500		0.1	32.8
			100	100

Only 0.1% of companies in the UK are large. Have over 500 employees. Most high street retailers are large, yet they only make up 1 in every 1000 - 0.1% of the total number of companies. However, they employ the largest number of people - 32.8%.

Relativist definitions of size of size does not suit governments or other agencies seeking to develop policies favouring small businesses. Even discussing a sector such as that comprising Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) is inappropriate.

 

Small businesses whose owners are not entrepreneurial, and who take little active part in the business, employing professional managers instead, are doing so at huge cost and are risking the very existence of the business.

Entrepreneurs tend to be found in the large number of micro and small firms. Exceptions are two fold. Some grow their firms into large ones while others find their way to the top of companies. The term for the latter is an intrapreneur. These are individuals displaying entrepreneurial attributes within a large institution or corporate company..

Distinguishing between those SMEs that are unlikely to change and those with growth potential has become important for governments. Job creation comes from growing firms. This has been evident since the second world war after the great depression.

Governments throughout the world have begun to recognise this point, although the problem of identifying potential remains. I can give some examples of policy, although its difficult to compare figures outside the UK because of the variable definitions. Direct comparisons are difficult to draw.

There was a study by (APEC) The Asia Pacific Economic Corporation. 18 countries. The group showed the importance of SMEs in memebr economies, especially in manufacturing. One third of manufacturing established economies, their establishments, with 50 % of that sectors employment, are held by SMEs.

Japan, the most sensitive country in the world, to any global economic crisis. In 1998 Japan's SMEs number 99.1% of the country's 6.5million businesses, and account for 77% of employment. SME account for 60% of the employment in Poland, 55% in Hungary & 50% in the Czech Republic. The number of SMEs in Bulgaria rose from 23,000 to 360,000 by the mid nineties.
 

What makes an entrepreneur?

Some people are naturally more entrepreneurial than others. Futhermore, they show the tendency more at different times of their life and indiffernet situations.

Explanations vary from those concentrating on personality traits to those that examine the relationship between a person and the social environment.. An extension of the latter point. How much of a person's  entrepreneurial skill be learned and therefore taught?

For instance, it can be argued that one function of business training is to give people confidence to take on responsibilities, therefore removing a personal barrier.

Coming soon..I will examine the personal, social and situational factors for entrepreneurs.