America refused to tolerate the loss of its Main Streets. Small business is on the rebound, and this time, it is getting stronger at a much faster rate and is building itself with resiliency in mind. Americans have always had an emotional attachment to the idea of buying and selling on a local level with their neighbors and co-workers at their sides. This is one of the many reasons the centralization of retail isn’t likely to grow much further.
Small business is at the heart of almost all innovation and is responsible for, by some estimates, up to half the jobs in the nation. Here are some other reasons small businesses are the cornerstone of a healthy economy.
The Unreasonable Man
Large corporations are rarely, if ever, the source of breakthrough innovations. The reasons for this are evident to anyone who has ever worked in a hierarchical management structure. By the time a new idea gets anywhere near traction, someone will shut it down for political or personal reasons. Small businesses, on the other hand, those innovations are the only things that separate them from the competition. For this reason, small companies will almost always act to preserve and strengthen new ideas.
Agility
Small companies weather difficulty by developing new muscles. Large companies weather difficulty by burning fat. While one approach may or may not be superior to the other, the practical reality is those small companies are much more likely to find advantages if they are continuously building strength instead of shrinking and starving like their larger competitors. It is the small company that is likeliest to discover and develop new markets since they are continually trying new things. Once they find something that hits, they usually end up showing the rest of the world how to make money at it.
Alliances
Small business owners are far more likely to work together on new initiatives. Companies in similar industries, for example, often form associations and exchange ideas on how to build their businesses. While this sometimes brings competitors into conflict with each other, far more often it brings the latest and most significant strategies to a far larger audience than simple sales growth might otherwise. This can be the source of breakout successes and enormous value development industry to industry.
Small business succeeds for one other rather important reason, and that is the fact that large companies have to start somewhere. Those big companies can bring significant advantages to the economy, and every one of them was at one time or another a successful small business.
