The Economics Of Small Businesses

This book provides an international perspective on small business, and includes many useful pedagogical features such as questions for discussion, international case studies and empirical research.

Is small still beautiful? The recent economic and financial crisis has shown that developed countries in which firms are smaller suffered the biggest GDP plunges. Today, economic growth depends more than in the past on sound and well-organized firms, which means more innovation, a better educated labor force, higher likelihood of access to financial resources and efficient investments. This does not mean the end of small-sized firms, but that they need to be different from the way they were in the past. This book provides an international perspective on analyses and policy recommendations for how small businesses can reinforce their role in modern economies.

Are Small Firms Important? Their Role and Impact proposes and supports the claim that small firms make two indispensable contributions to the economy. First, they are an integral part of the renewal process that pervades market economies. New and small firms play a crucial role in experimentation and innovation that leads to technological change, productivity and economic growth. Second, small firms are the essential mechanism by which millions enter the economic and social mainstream of American society. The public policy implications for sustained economic growth and social well-being is the continued high-level creation of new and small firms by all segments of society. It should be the role of government policy to facilitate that process by eliminating entry barriers, lowering transaction costs, and minimizing regulation.

Oftentimes, the owners and entrepreneurs whose small businesses are undergoing financial problems suffer high emotional costs. These individuals can experience significant setbacks in their entrepreneurial journeys as well as depression and other negative emotions from the stress of crisis episodes. However, businesses that are in crisis also provide valuable learning opportunities for adapting and changing in order to successfully face future challenging situations. Cases on Small Business Economics and Development During Economic Crises presents a diverse range of perspectives and insights into global developments in entrepreneurship and captures a diverse collection of methodologies and outcomes from various countries in the realm of small business economics and their development. Including case studies that discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, risk management, and entrepreneurial resiliency, this case book serves as an excellent companion for entrepreneurs, small business owners, managers, executives, economists, business professionals, academicians, students, and researchers.

Student-friendly and international in scope and relevance, this book provides an accessible introduction to the economics of small business for those with little knowledge of economics. Economics, alongside other disciplines and interacting with them, has some important insights to offer and it is in this context that The Economics of Small Firms examines the formation, survival, growth and financing of small businesses, spatial variations in business formation, the economic role of small businesses, and key policy issues. This informative text is an essential purchase for anybody studying business and management who is eager for an easy-to-use and engaging overview of economics, entrepreneurship and small business.

From the colonial era to the present day, small businesses have been an integral part of American life. First published in 1991 and now thoroughly updated, this study explores the central but ever-changing role played by small enterprises in the nation's economic, political and cultural development.