Marketing Courses for Small Business    

SMALL BUSINESS -- DEFINITIONS & FACTS

• National Small Business Week is April 21-25, 2008. Since 1963, every President has declared National Small Business Week to formally recognize the important role of America’s small business community. ¹

• Communities around the United States also celebrate their own Small Business Weeks. For example, Small Business Week in San Francisco is May 12-17.

• According to SEC "small businesses are defined as domestic companies with revenues of under $25 million, and not investment companies. Subsidiaries of larger companies do not qualify as small businesses.

• From the SBA: "The Office of Advocacy defines a small business for research purposes as an independent business having fewer than 500 employees. Firms wishing to be designated small businesses for government programs such as contracting must meet size standards specified by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Size Standards. These standards vary by Idustry.¹

• U.S. Small Business Administration has established a size standard for most industries in the U.S. economy. The most common size standards are as follow:
  -500 employees for most manufacturing and mining industries
  -100 employees for all wholesale trade industries
  -$6.5 million for most retail and service industries
  -$31 million for most general & heavy construction industries
  -$13 million for all special trade contractors
  -$0.75 million for most agricultural industries

• From 2002- 2006 3,113,763 new small businesses opened.¹

• Within the same time 2,777,195 small businesses closed and 166,790 went bankrupt.¹

• Small businesses employ 112.4 million people.²

• In 2002 there were 23,343,821 small businesses and 6.5 million were owned by women.²

• The 6.5 million small businesses that were owned by women generated $950.6 billion dollars in revenue, employed 7.2 million workers, and had $179.9 billion in payroll. ²

• Out of the 23,343,821 small businesses in 2002, 4.1 million firms were owned by minorities.²
  -6.9% were owned by Hispanic Americans
  -5.2% were owned by African Americans4.8% were owned by Asian Americans
  -0.9% was owned by American Indians

• In 2002 the minority owned businesses generated $694.1 billion in revenue and employed 4.8 million workers. ²

• Male veterans' self-employment rates were higher than those of nonveterans from 1979 to 2003. ²

• About 22 percent of veterans in the U.S. household population were either purchasing or starting a new business or considering purchasing or starting one, and almost 72 percent of these new veteran entrepreneurs planned to employ at least one person at the outset of their new venture.²

• As of 2005 the top 5 sectors of small businesses are as follows:
  1. Other services (except public administration) 2,872,927
  2. Professional, scientific, and technical services 2,853,625
  3. Construction 2,530,890
  4. Real estate and rental and leasing 2,441,600
  5. Retail trade 1,881,115
   

• Compared to in 2002 where the 5 top sectors of small businesses were:
  
  1. Professional, scientific, and technical services 2,552,880
  2. Other services (except public administration) 2,459,409
  3. Construction 2,071, 317
  4. Real estate and rental and leasing 1,880,042
  5. Retail trade 1,838,992
  
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  ¹ Small Business Administration
  
  ² U.S. Census
  
   

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