How Small Firms Can Achieve Competitive Advantage in an Interdependent World

Small firms play a larger role in the economy than is often realized. Close to 90 percent of American firms employ fewer than twenty persons, and almost half the work force is employed by companies with fewer than 500 employees. In smaller countries, an even larger percentage of the work force is employed by small firms. More important, these smaller organizations are creating the new employment opportunities, not their bigger, better known counterparts. The number of these firms that have cast their eyes beyond the domestic market may come as a surprise: A survey conducted for the Small Business Administration showed that 37 percent of the U.S. firms with fewer than 500 employees are exporting overseas, and that one quarter of all exporting companies, or more than 16,000, employ fewer than 100 people…